Costa Blanca Part 2

Next stop ... the pavement!

Down we go!

Ok I will hold my hands up.  My enthusiasm got the better of us.  Day 4 and I had another plan up my sleeve. A 9 pitch HVS up the most striking feature on the Costa Blanca.  Diedro UBSA on the South Face of Penon de Ifach.  Unfortunately I didn't take into consideration that John has been maxing out for the last 3 days so we should have opted for a rest day straight away.  Anyway the 2 pitches and 2 abseils we did were great, we got dive bombed by sea guls, looked around another marina and topped up on more vitamin D, not a total wasted day.

The Bernia Ridge

We did get worried as the white stuff came in from the left..

Our 5th day we went for the mighty Bernia Ridge, another opportunity to keep the weight on our legs and rest the arms.  So, fantastic scrambling on bone dry limestone, in blue sky weather with a sea breeze...what's not to like?  John enjoyed the crux so much he threw a quick draw back down so he could be lowered and climb it again..!  We had the ridge to ourselves until the final summit of 1126m.  It was shorter than the Cuillin but nicely sustained.

It was very windy here...when I said 'smile' I didn't mean let go!

All good fun!

Today, we went for it, I wanted to tick the whole of the Costa Blanca guidebook, however we settled for the brilliant Puig Campana (1406m).  We had a view of this giant from our apartment and knew we had to climb it.  The classic Espolon Central, 13 pitches, early start...no problem!  "Ahh John.....slight problem" "What" "didn't pack my climbing shoes".  John response..."Oh"  Maybe I'm too stubborn or just too lazy but I didn't want to walk back down without climbing this route so we pressed on and I led the 13 pitches in my trainers which turned out to be far more comfortable than I could have imagined!

Pitch....12 I think

After a interesting beach/dinner experience in Benidorm we headed back to the ranch and John was happy to finish on a high so we are having a relaxed day tomorrow then catching a flight in the afternoon.  The drams are flowing and it's been a fantastic 6 days climbing...despite being constantly dehydrated!  This is a must for winter sun and spring time rock climbing strength!

The view didn' change much, it was nice!