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Black Perception Missing

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So PJ and I went to Culdaff for the Sat evening to join Margaret & Gertie for dinner, having forsaken the Owey weekend in favour of a 20 mile Dublin marathon training run.

Got up next day feeling thoroughly wrung out but thinking “A wee climb and then home. Black Perception it is. We’ll work out where it is once and for all, get the GPS coordinates, mark it on a map, climb the fecker and go home and tell the world.”

1 hour later and with PJ protesting about her sore knee from the running and me my sore arse from falling on the black rocks near the sea (a squeaky bum moment with the waves whooshing in below) we gave up the search.

We blundered our way back to the top of SRS Slabs to abseil down and found Alfie, Anise and Aaron, who said we couldn’t join their AAA team because they liked 3 letter acronyms and anyway PJ’s name was totally out of kilter.

A wee saunter up Belfast Blitz Boys passed 30 minutes while Alfie doled out lessons on abseiling, Z-pulleys, rope coiling and sandwich making to our erstwhile beginners. He was no help in finding Black perception though.

My own pet theory is that it’s hidden behind a fairy gate that only the good and pure of heart can pass through, in which case I can forget ever climbing it again, or that it’s made from the mythical element “noclimbium” that fades in and out of our planar existence as the whim takes it. Usually it’s more “out” than “in.

I’m sure I climbed it once during a bygone ClimbFest, but they tended to be heavily-alcohol-fuelled (with a side order of herbs) weekends back then before PJ tapered me down to a mere 2 crates and a bottle of whiskey, so maybe I imagined climbing it?

If anyone can provide a 10 figure grid reference (12 or 14 if you have it) for this most elusive of climbs I’d be very grateful.

 

Anthony

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Classical Revival

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Classical Revival
Geoff and I climbed this *** route yesterday as a photoshoot for a new book on the mountains of Ireland by Gareth McCormick. We dropped a 100m rope from the top for Gareth, and climbed the route in two pitches. It was more vegetated than I remember, but still a classic HVS. Geoff was more ecstatic than I have seen him for a while. The 2 hour each way trudge into Belshade did little to dampen our spirits in Biddies afterwards.

Guidebook link to Classical Revival here.

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Malin Headcase and Brasil nuts.

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Still somewhat euphoric after Owey, Geoff and I planned to take advantage of the good weather and lack of employment to get out climbing somewhere/ anywhere. We were joined by apprentice layabout Anis, still struggling to reconcile his training with Glenmore Lodge, with a day or two out with Alfie. I dont think we helped the situation any!
A glorious day at Malin Head soon turned sour when we found all the rock oily, and in the shade, with no immediate prospect of improving. Carbolic Crack was apt, and Malin Headcase’s lower section best avoided , though the upper half was alright, well no worse than usual. We gave up and went to Dominic’s Bamba cafe for coffee and solice.
Should have gone to Dunmore as it doesn’t face north, so we did. Anis had been there, so we diverted to Brasil Rock at the last minute, and were rewarded with sunshine and dry rock. Alhambra ( Geoff says 3***) Hustler( Geoff says technical for a HS), and Broadbinns Emporium ( better than it looks apparently) finished off the day nicely, and suddenly it was all worth while.