Geyikbayiri

…The goat bounced off and rejoined the herd. We then had our first acquaintance with ‘Goat Lady’ – a short, stocky woman wearing traditional Turkish dress; this is best described as baggy, floral patterned trousers, with a floral blouse/top and a colourful knitted cardigan on top. All items of clothing are chosen to clash as much as possible. The Goat Lady’s most defining feature is her continuous shrieking, shouting and swearing at the goats. Her cries can be heard throughout the valley, but thankfully she doesn’t start till about 8am.

Geyikbayiri is a small village about 500m above sea level and 15km outside of Antalya. The main sport climbing crags are situated below Geyikbayiri and are mostly south facing. The main crag is over 1.5km long and has routes up to about 50m. The area has over 500 routes, with most of the quality routes in the French seventh and eighth grades.

We spent our first week staying at the ‘Josito’ campsite, where we made the most of hot running water and hot showers. The campsite is beautifully situated in the valley and has convenient access to the lower crags. We spent New Year here and had an amusing evening taking part in a silly bouldering competition! The competition involved trying to complete a set route; however, the stronger climbers were handicapped in a variety of amusing ways. These ranged from two people tied together to drinking a beer whilst completing the route. Needless to say, we felt quite rough on New Year’s day!

Asia

As we arrived in Argolis, our hopes of finding sunny weather were quickly dashed as we encountered yet more rain. With the forecast for the area and the rest of Greece predicting rain for the foreseeable future, we made the decision to move on and head to Antalya in Turkey. This was no small decision; with good conditions and no delays we estimated that the journey would take at least two full days of driving covering about 1300 miles. With no time to waste we bought some cake and set off.

The journey was long and rather dull until we entered Turkey. After the Turkish customs man kindly informed us it was very dangerous to sleep in the van we set off in the direction of Istanbul. After an overnight stop in a Turkish truck stop (where Jason quickly learnt what Ladies is in Turkish) we set off for, hopefully, our final day of driving. We quickly realised that perhaps stopping before Istanbul was not one of our brighter ideas. Driving round Istanbul in rush hour traffic on a Monday morning is much more dangerous that any climbing I’ve done! Jason did an excellent job to negotiate the traffic and tolls, and we made it through in one piece.

The further south we drove the worse the driving conditions got… Central Turkey was significantly colder than the coast and had suffered some moderate snow. The rough and pot-holed roads became even worse when covered in a layer of compacted snow and ice. The van’s bald front tyres weren’t ideal, but we somehow slipped and slid our way south, passing a variety of crashed cars, lorries and coaches.

We thankfully made it to Antalya in one piece and parked up for the night under the crags. We were awoken the next morning by a goat running into the side of the van…

Christmas Day - Merry Christmas Everyone!

We took a rest day and after opening our bag of goodies we attempted to walk to the top of the mountain overlooking the crags. [Special thanks to Jason’s parents for the bag of goodies and to my parents for the gift that helped us get to some of these beautiful places.]

We set of at a blistering pace confusing the many Goat farmers we passed who we’re going at a more leisurely pace. Unfortunately, a few hours at the pace became too much for Jason, whose new shoes had decided to tear his feet apart. We had 2 options: turn back, or come up with some way of stopping the blisters on Jason’s feet becoming worse. The first idea was to try to continue wearing only his socks; it became obvious at the first stream that this wouldn’t work. So he came up with a new ‘shoe configuration’ which I cannot explain so I took a picture (he managed 7 miles and 1000m of decent so must be comfier than it looks)! We carried on up until it became obvious we weren’t going to make it to the top safely and started our decent.

That night it started to rain and we made the decision to move on to the coast and hopefully too some ‘warm rock’…

Is Jason a Gay Porn Star?

After many hours of driving (with the help of a 90 year old woman and a teenage boy) we arrived in Alepochori. This tiny village is stunningly situated high in the mountains with some of the most beautiful scenery we’ve seen in Greece so far and even more amazing climbing.

The ‘warm up’ crags for the area are east facing so to make the most of the climbing we got up early (early for us at least 8:15) and headed off. The 1km track to the crag appeared to be concreted and in good condition, well at least the first 100m was! The track got progressively steeper and rougher as we ascended, but was no match for the van as we cruised up with ease.

The only guide for the area was, in typical Greek Style, rather vague, stating that this crag comprised 10 or so routes between the grades F5c to F6b. The climbing was on excellent quality, although rather sharp, rock. The last two routes of the afternoon went straight up an impressive looking wall. Jason made the crux moves, whilst clinging on with his finger nails, then exclaimed “If that’s 6b than I’m a gay porn star!.”. I also climbed the route and am fairly certain that he’s not.

On Christmas eve we decided to go and play on the Big Boy’s (and girl’s) wall, a very steep wall of tufas where all the climbs are hard – at least for us they as. As we set out for the days climbing the crag was still in the shade and felt warm at 0 degrees C.

After we ‘warmed up’ on a 6c in poor style (luckily no on else was there to see), Jason chose a nice 7a+ as his next route. The route was steep and technical and looked do-able but no gift at the grade. Jason rejected my suggestion of using the clipstick [an extendable pole to attach quickdraws too out of reach bolts on the route] to put the rope up to the 3rd bolt, deciding to go for the onsight and just put the quickdraws in up to the 3rd bolt. The problem with the clip stick is that its excellent for putting gear up, but useless for getting it back if you can’t climb up to retrieve it yourself! Unfortunately the crux of the route was between the 2nd and the 3rd bolts, and the gear was hanging tantalisingly out of reach. The crux move involved a very long move, on small holds, poor feet and 30 degree overhanging rock! After a few failed attempts, some swinging about and pulling on draws Jase managed to get the rope up.

Kalogria

The crags at Kalogria were stunningly located over a beautiful lagoon. The mosquito’s liked the view and the lagoon too, but mostly liked eating Claire! We spent two days climbing in the warm sunshine. One F7a+ was particularly good… The 35m pitch scaled a steep wall and comprised lots of great move in an exposed situation, with a stunning view. Unfortunately, the crux (overhanging headwall) came to its climax at around 33m and spat me off right at the end!

The forecast hinted at stable weather so we headed up into the mountains for Christmas.

Billy...

The drive down was cool and wet, but as we reached our destination the clouds parted and we had, at last, found some ‘warm rock’! Varasova, Greece’s first sport climbing destination, was dominated by massive rock faces with a variety of routes from massive slabs to steep and overhanging walls. There was even some bouldering too! We managed to find a beautiful spot (see view from van below) about 2m from the sea. We discussed tides briefly and decided the van’s tyres should stay dry…

To our pleasant surprise the following day was warm and sunny. We spend the day practising our technique on some long slab routes. After a shakey start, things improved and we managed not to embarrass ourselves too much…!

The following night we stayed in the same beautiful spot. At 1am I was struggling to sleep (Claire wasn’t)… The van, in its rather exposed position, was being battered by gale force winds – I can best describe it as trying to sleep in a tumble dryer! I went outside, nearly got blown of my feet, got soaked by the (wind blown) spray, then realised it may be prudent to park somewhere else.
We spent the following day bouldering on (very sharp) limestone boulders.

That evening we made use of the local facilities and took a bracing shower on the local beach. It was then we realised that ‘Billy’, the baby goat, had got him/herself into a rather tight spot a few hundred feet up on the crag. It was a bit heartbreaking to hear his/her continuous cries, but there was little we could do…

We spent a final day climbing some of the steeper walls and then headed to another beach. Billy was still bleating – perhaps he/she eventually escaped, we like to think so…

Meteora, Greece

That evening we arrived in Meteora in Northern Greece. Meteora is a beautiful place in the mountains, where numerous monasteries have been built atop huge rock monoliths. It was a full moon that evening and the moon-bathed rocks looked stunning in the eerie light. We awoke the following morning to yet more rain (would we ever find warm rock?). The weather forecast predicted yet more rain, so we (reluctantly) left Meteora to head even further south.

Rain

The next day it rained. The day after, it rained. The day after that, it rained! Croatia was having its worst rain for 30 years! We’d had enough of rain on the third day so started driving south.

Getting to Greece from Northern Croatia was not as simple as we’d hoped. The direct route through Croatia, Montenegro and Albania consisted mainly of poor roads, so we opted for the indirect route! Our planned route would head across the top of Croatia, through Serbia and Macedonia and into Greece. This was close to 2000km and would take about two days. All was going well until we tried to cross the border into Serbia. Since Serbia is non-EU, they required us to have third party insurance for the van. We’d anticipated this, but were not pleased that the minimum insurance was for one month and would cost 120 euros. We only wanted one day, but that wasn’t an option! Driving around Serbia would’ve proved even more costly, so we paid our 120 euros and continued on.

Driving through Belgrade in the rush was not that wise, but we and the van survived. After some miles we’d crossed most of Serbia and it was time for sleep. We stayed that night parked in a Serbian truck stop!

Our planned route would head south through Macedonia, however, since it is also non-EU we were worried about more insurance costs. We opted for a slightly longer route and continued via Bulgaria (who had very friendly border staff!). Bulgarian roads were a little worse for wear, but the van survived and everything stayed in the cupboards. Sofia also provided lots of driving excitement and we avoided various vehicles, holes in the road and dogs to survive another day.

Five hundred handbags and a naked ex-wife

After a few wrong turns, and a windy, hilly road we arrived at the parking for the first crag. The guidebook described a campsite near the crag, so we wondered if anyone was about so that we could get any useful information on the climbing – perhaps this was a mistake… Not long after pulling up, a friendly Croatian man greeted us and invited us into is house. He spoke reasonable English and seemed very pleased to see other human life. His house was simple, cluttered and quite cold. It was also clear that he lacked a dishwasher. He put a few logs on the fire and offered us some wine. We accepted and he poured us some slightly cloudy liquid from a plastic bottle – it tasted OK though. He then proceeded to give us his life story with supplementary photos from the extensive photo album. We saw pictures of his daughters, and various pictures of his ex-wife posing naked on a boat! There were videos of his kids too, thankfully not of his naked ex-wife. After a while he exclaimed to Claire that he had something she’d like… He then took us upstairs and proudly presented many bin liners stuff full of cheap handbags. We wondered why or how he had so many handbags, and Claire declined his kind offer – although I think she secretly liked them!

We felt like we had to stay in his campsite now. He seemed quite depressed and a little unstable, so we thought is wise not to upset him. We made our excuses and went to bed for the night. We were awoken early by the sound of a chainsaw. Thankfully, they were just felling trees. It was a sunny day so we headed down to the crag to climb. I wasn’t feeling great – think his wine was a bit dodgy. The crag was beautifully situated and overlooked a pretty valley and an old ruined castle.


The climbing mostly consisted of short slabs and walls. I spent a while trying to do a F5c (for non-climbers: F5c should be reasonably straightforward). I just could not do the first move. Claire tried also, but was equally confused. I eventually managed to climb the route after some ideas from Claire. We then practised our footwork on some technical slab climbs.

Four countries in one day...

We awoke to a stunning morning (quite a cold night though - minus 4) in Cresciano and the warm sun soon made the road more passable. We decided to return to Cresciano later in the trip when there'd (hopefully) be less snow.

We spent the whole day on the move. Drove south into Italy, then across the whole of Northern Italy and into Slovenia. After a brief crossing of Slovenia we arrived in Croatia, where we are hoping to find some 'Warm Rock'...

Cresciano... Nearly!

After Rich and Raffaela's we drove south and decided to stop off at Cresciano for a spot of bouldering. We arrived in Cresciano at about 9pm and were greeted by slightly more snow and ice than we'd hoped for. We decided to try and stay in the car park, which is about a mile up a steep and winding single track road. The Van did a great job of getting up the first hair-pin bend and even made short work of a few large patches of snow/ice. We then passed through a narrow tunnel, which had been blasted through the rock. Unfortunately, the snow/ice became too much for the van and it was having no more. The rock tunnel was tough to drive through forwards, but proved a complete sod to reverse through in the dark. We then spent about 20 mins wheel spinning and sliding around. Eventually we turned the van in a lay-by and half-parked, half-slid it into a passing. Whether we liked it or not, the black ice and snow had dictated our parking spot for the night.

Winter Wonderland

The climbing road trip has, so far, comprised very little rock climbing. This didn't really change much in snowy Switzerland.

That said we both had a great time in Switzerland. It was lovely to see Rich, Raffaela and little Sebastian (and Luna the cat!). Rather than donning our rock shoes, we got togged up and set off to play in the snow. One day we hiked up into the snowy hills and had a lovely view into the hills and over a frozen lake. (Forgot the camera, so you'll have to picture it!). The day didn't just involve hiking as we spent a large amount of time burying each
other in snow drifts. Rich tried to bury a snow drift in my (Jason's) trousers too!

The next day we all went to the Fribourg Christmas market to see St Nicholas on his donkey and drink mulled wine. We didn't see St Nicholas but the mulled wine was good! Jason then found a new game of pushing Sebastian in his push chair up the big hill racing anyone who looked like competition - or those who had enough of a head start.

On our last day in Switzerland we headed to a ski resort and went sledging. We thoroughly enjoyed the sledging and both crashed repeatedly off the luge run. Claire managed to crash spectacularly on camera too - what a show off! We've zoomed in the picture too, so you can see her splattered in the snow.

Rich is showing how it’s done in another shot.

cold and wet, but happy!

Three countries down and the bus is still ace...

The 'rock climbing' trip has so far included little rock climbing. We started touring the UK, which included a stop at Norwich, a well known climbing mecca. For those who've never been, check out the sand cliffs. Bit like St. Bees, but slightly better!

Continuing the sandy theme, we headed onto to Font (for those who don't climb: a place with big rocks in the woods). We arrived late-ish and thoroughly enjoyed the rush-hour traffic in Paris...

After selecting a quiet car park in the woods we set to enjoying our first night in the big bus. We cooked, ate, drank and thoroughly enjoyed the stunning light show...

The stars were pretty good too. As some will know, the van is rammed full of high-tech insulation. We went to bed toasty and slept safe in the knowledge that we were as insulated as a sheep. Needless to say, we both awoke in the middle of the night freezing our t*ts off!

Day one in Font was beautiful and we both enjoyed bouldering in the Col de Chein area.

However, one french lady didn't enjoy horse riding... On entering the forest a horse speeded past without rider. 10 mins later we met the slighty pissed off looking rider, who mentioned something about a 'cheval'. We pointed her in the right direction...

That was the end of the great weather in font, it then proceeded to rain continuously. However, the next night was much warmer as we managed to aquire two pairs of sexy (matching) ski socks - we both look very fetching (I look slightly better tho... 'Claire get off the computer!').

We fled wet font and are now visiting Rich, Raffa and little Sebastian in Switzerland...