Keep on Truckin'

Another trip to Blue Scar! Well, even though there has been rain through the week it hasn't been enough to significantly affect things so it was always worth trying. There were a few more damp patches compared to last week but they didn't get in the way of the climbing.

A F6a warm-up (had done this last week anyway) then it was on to harder stuff. A very unbalanced F6a+ then a long sustained F6b+ which I failed to read correctly but I hung in there until the last bolt when I had to rest as I couldn't see any more holds. Needless to say as soon as I'd slumped I saw a jug off to the right!

We then headed over to a buttress that was developed (read - retro-bolted and more routes packed in) last year. One steep F6b later and I'm pumped and have to top-rope the last route of the day, another F6b.

Sunday I went for a slow run round the same loop as I'd done last week. No real niggles this time though my knee still hurts. The appointment for the MRI scan has come through - along with a mass of questions about insertions, implants and piercings! So we'll see what comes about once the results come back.

A bit of midweek climbing on Tuesday with a trip to Wilton Three. Gaz had designs on Brastium which I'd led with Mike a few weeks ago while I wanted to lead Canine Crucifiction which I'd followed on the same occasion. The forecast was for showers passing through and clearing in the afternoon, but no rain actually fell. Unfortunately the previous week of showers meant that when we got in to the quarry the wall containing both routes was decidedly wet. Rather than worry about it we did a batch of HVS and VS routes that either we hadn't done before or done a long time ago.

Last week's post about sorting out our water supply was a little premature. We checked again last night after the feed to our header tank failed again. The cattle trough was half full so it looked like there was no water going there either. A look in the field tank showed why - the tank was empty and the input was a mere dribble. It would take a day to fill a bucket at that rate! It looks like it could be several weeks before any significant water makes it way into the tank. So mixed feelings really - I'd like more fine weather to keep climbing but need rain to get water back into the tank.