Mull

Another west coast sunset

Another trip away, to the Isle of Mull on the west coast. Mull is a bit of a climbing back water, as whilst there is plenty of rock around, alot of it is broken, loose and vegetated - nice!

However, if you look around, there are some pretty sweet spots, mainly in the south western tip of the island. The isle of Erraid, accessible only at low tide, has some nice dws and short single pitch crags, and in general the area around the village of Finnophort has some cracking bouldering, on big granite lumps sitting amongst the machair. There's no guide to the bouldering as far as I know, which is kind of cool, and you will probably get a few first ticks. The rock is wonderfully grippy, though a bit snappy and sharp - a result of having no traffic!

I've included a few mini topo's of some of the boulders, mainly for my own amusement. Grade snobs look away now!

Great boulder. 1. Font 4. 2. font 4. 3 font 6a, crux at top

Great easy routes. Both about font4+


This was a pretty sweet layback and heel hooking on smears type affair. Did not top out due to being a feartie. About font6b+


A nice long traverse. About font 6a, with an excellent mantle to finish

Route 1. Layback and jam the crack, font 5+ Route 2, excellent technical climbing full of sidepulls, underclings to start and an exciting finish. Font 6a

Unfortunately, didn't make it to Erraid, as I was persuaded to spend the rest of the time lying on deserted sunny beaches, and exploring other parts of the wild coastline..

Big sky on Mull

Old croft on Ulva

Looking to America

Dutchman's hat isle

Layered rock

Must be fun waiting all day in your own poo to be fed some fish oil

Kelpie seaweed at v. low tide

Fritatta - oh yeah

Another deserted beach

Cool rock formations

Approaching Midnight

Climbing on uninhabited islands

I mentioned in an earlier post that the extended break over the winter has not affected my lowly climbing ability. Well, I think it has, unfortunately.. Not too much, but enough to drop a grade or two, that's for sure. The week long trip to Mingulay in the Outer Hebrides was blessed with sunshine every day, with only one or two showers to contend with the whole time, perfect. I'm sure the weather up in the north west of Scotland is not as bad as people make out, I'm sure Glasgow see's more rain than up there...

The Mingulay beach/landing area

With weather like this, the team of 10 set about climbing as many routes as possible, almost looking forward to a rainy day for a rest.. Highlight routes of the week seemed to be 'Voyage of Faith', E3 5b,5b,5b,5c, climbed by Neil and Ally, 'Sula', E2 5b,5b,4b, climbed by most, though not by myself due to having 'the fear', and the ridiculous 'The Arch Deacon' HVS, Scotlands answer to A Dream of White Horses and climbed by all. This route follows an incredibly exposed traverse line above the very lip of a huge sea cave/arch, and when looking down to find footholds, your eye can't help but be drawn to the 60m drop straight to the crashing sea. A fall on this pitch would be extremely serious, involving a big swing, ropes going over sharp edges, and a rather long prusik back up the rope to reach rock. A distinct 'schpincter training' moment indeed.. A couple of new routes were also climbed, mainly due to abbing off the wrong spot of the cliff while looking for the South Pillar, by Neil and Ally, 'Conspiracy Theory' and Swine Fever', both E1 5b. Good effort! Maybe they'll find South pillar next year..

Malcom and Neil on Arch Deacon

Malcom on traverse of 'Deacon'

Dougie on second traverse pitch of 'Deacon'

After the excitement of The Arch Deacon, which frankly scrambled my head, the rest of the week was spent at a more leisurely pace for myself, though still climbing every day and enjoying the very unique rock architecture and ambiance of the island. Other enjoyable climbs done were 'Mcall of the Wild', which crosses over the Arch Deacon somewhere on its second pitch, with 'Port Pillar', 'Mary Doune', and 'Hawaiian Tropic' also being memorable.

Andy and Dave at the Gerium Walls

Malcom at Gerium Walls

There used to be around 180 people living on Mingulay, until they were all evacuated around 1914. Living on seabirds, eggs, and fish, climbing down huge grassy cliffs to catch birds and battle the waves to catch fish, it must have been a tough existence.. Even in the one week we were there, our fishing boat skipper Donald, would not take us out until the sea's calmed down, and came to collect us a day early due to a bad forecast. I cannot imagine what it would be like to live on the island year round, being stranded in winter for possibly months at a time.. On the other hand, the islanders would never had know war, or money worries, and, hell, its always windy so that keeps the midges away..

Mingulay Bay as it was 100 years ago

Old rusty bed post

Our 'base camp' by the old school house

Only one building remains in reasonably good condition, the old school house, which looks like it has been used as a bothy from time to time. The other buildings are little more than rubble, testimony to the power of the winter storms out here.

The island is covered in wildlife, mainly birds, some of which seem relatively unbothered by humans climbing all over them. Puffins, Razorbills, Fulmars, Shags, Auks and loads of others I don't know the name of all patrol the skies and cliffs, watch out for the dive bombing Bonxies, bloody big creatures! Seals everywhere, they seem curious of the jangling sound made by climbing gear, and often watched us make progress on routes, interspersed with lazing about on the beach taking in the sun.

So, a great trip. 15 routes climbed, some big, some short, some easy, some tricky, all good. But have to get stronger again!

Looking over to Pabbay from Gurnsey Mor, beware Bonxies!

The cliffs of the South Pillar area

Donald leaves us for the week

Razorbill?

Scotland??

Tidying up the mess at top of Gerium Walls

Unloading onto the Island

The Great Arch on Pabbay - Imagine the traverse on the lip of that..

Jim (photo: Burnsie)

Mingulay 16th - 24th May

Away to Mingulay for some remote trad climbing action next week. Lets hope the weather forecast I saw was wrong..

Some shots from Pabby last year..

Lets have more of this:

And less of this:

Skye...

Was on the Isle of Skye for a couple of days, and the weather was amazing, wall to wall sunshine, and no midges! Perfect. No 'proper' routes climbed, as it was a bit of a family trip, but still managed to take a family freind up the Inaccessible Pinnacle, solo up Collie's Route to the Cioch, and bag plenty of Munros. Think i'll be back soon for the whole Cullin ridge and some proper tradding, the rock is amazing, and there's so much of it out there...

Some more pictures from the rocky island..