So you live in the London area and you’re a rock climber? You want to get out of the city and climb on some real rock? This Article will look at the options for a day or a weekend away rock climbing outside of the City of London. The places I have described are close by so as to not break the bank or increase your carbon foot print too much. If you want to go to North Wales, go. The same with Spain. This article will look at the crags you can get to in a day if you’re keen.
London city – our nation’s capital. The big cheese, the smoke, the hustle and bustle of the business world and yes, now it’s your day off and you want to escape – of course you do. If you’re a rock climber who lives in the City of London then you know the battles of trying to get away and enjoy some time in the countryside, escaping the rat race for a day and freeing your mind from the grip of the office. It has a great effect.
Having a car is the first thing that you will find very handy, or having a friend with a car, or stealing a car, borrowing a car, hiring a car, or just generally getting a car is helpful as a climber. A lot of the climbing spots in the UK are not best fed by public transport. A train will drop you off in the centre of a city but the crag you want to climb at is 11 miles south in the depths of the wilderness. Having a car is the biggest advantage to getting out easily and regularly.
So find a car, find a mate with a car, rent a car, borrow a car, pack your crag bag and let’s get outside rock climbing, but where?
In this article I’ve added links to the climbs and cliffs mentioned, so if you see white text and are interested, then click the link and it will give you more information on the climb or cliff. I hope you enjoy.
Southern Sandstone
Southern Sandstone
The Southern Sandstone area is an extensive area of sandstone climbing and the closest area to London for rock climbing. Here is a link to the areas around London that are available to you – LINK HERE.
There are many different crags to visit but I am going to use Harrison’s Rocks as an example.
Harrison’s rock is a famous crag. It’s local-ish to London, so that’s a good start. It’s not to everyone’s tastes, especially if you’re looking to get some trad leads under your belt and some experience of being on the sharp end.
Harrison’s rocks is a sandstone cliff and the rock is very soft and worn easily, because of this leader placed protection such as camming devices and nuts can damage the rock and therefore is forbidden. This leaves us climbers with a few options.
Option 1 – Solo – “What!!!!”. “Solo this route” Pete said. “You must be mad, it’s 10 meters high and massively overhanging with no holds right at the top”… Yes, this could be you. If you like your ankles in one piece and both legs unbroken then this might not be the best option to choose. If you have chosen to solo the route in question then you should already know what you’re doing or you’re stupid.
Option 2 – Top or Bottom Rope – Rigging ropes in order to climb the route with a rope above you. So if you do fall off your legs are not broken. This option is much safer than option 1 but requires more time to set up and more equipment. If you’re like me, then this extra time taken is worth it. If you are setting up ropes at the top of the crag then the etiquette is to take some static rope to rig off. This minimises the amount of movement in the rigging rope and therefore the amount the rope saws through the soft rock. That said go and have a look at the top of the crag and you will see the grooves worn by countless climbers rigging ropes over the years. Please respect the rocks. If you can place a jumper under the end of your rigging rope to stop this happening then please do so. People will want to climb here for years to come and trashing the rocks now is not great for generations to come.
Here is a link to the BMC – Southern Sandstone Code of Practice – LINK HERE – a must read before climbing in this climbing area.
Summary – The closest outdoor climbing area to London!! Sandstone Climbing on soft rock giving good bouldering, top and bottom roping and soloing. Usually in a forested area. The closest climbing to London city. Not for lead climbing.
This area is in the Southern Sand Stone guide book and can be purchased here. BUY HERE
The Chalk Cliffs
The Chalk Cliffs.
What the f**k? Climbing on chalk, yes you can. Now I don’t really want to go into this too much as you should be a experienced climber to climb on chalk and therefore you should know the areas you’re going to, why and how you’re going to climb on them.
That said, chalk climbing is a strange and interesting medium for us rock climbers. You can climb it with your hands and feet like normal or you can attach ice axes and crampons and batter the rock to death. There are different crags that lend itself to each type of climbing. Usually this depends on how hard or soft the rock…..chalk is. Here is a link to the cliffs at Dover.
Climbing on chalk can be very dangerous due to the nature of the rock breaking off at any moment, or the entire section of cliff falling down – am I selling it to you yet?
Some of the cliffs are more solid than others and the chalk can actually be very hard. Much harder than you think. Due to this some of the crags are bolted and some rely on natural protection.
The bolted crags usually lend themselves to the dark art of dry tooling and if placing natural protection you will have to have some of the following – Quote from UKC – Beachy Head – “Requires ice screws, pegs, large nuts (anything less than 7/8 is useless) BIG hexes, warthogs, a healthy disregard for sanity and wooden stakes for protection.” If you’re still keen, here’s a video of myself and Andy climbing the chalk stakes of the Needles on the Isle of Wight for the BBC program ‘Coast’.
This area is in the Southern Sand Stone guide book and can be purchased here. BUY HERE
Swanage
Swanage – Swanage is an extensive area of cliffs with lots of options on hand for all rock climbers. Swanage has its own micro-climate which means that when it’s raining everywhere else, Swanage can be dry and warm for rock climbing.
During the winter months you can be climbing on the cliffs of Swanage in shorts and a T-shirt, you might be freezing but you can do it. No, no, really it can be very warm here in January.
Swanage hosts a magnificent display of options from heart stopping trad leads to small sport climb clip ups. Solid rock sweeps to loose blocks leading to steep grass banks. It has it all, and to top it all off Swanage town is lovely.
You can buy the guide book here – Buy Guide Book
Swanage is not a great place to go if you’re new to the trad game, due to abseil descents, water below your feet and loose top outs. There is an area called Subluminal that does host a few routes that are useful for the novice to learn the tricks of sea cliff climbing but most are harder than you think and tend to be very busy.
Only a stones throw away is the monster that is Boulder Ruckle which has some amazing routes around the HVS grade but don’t be fooled! These routes need to be saved for when your bag of tricks is full. If you can’t do one of the routes here a 40 metre prussik up your abseil rope, that is only attached to one stake awaits. You have been warned!!
Swanage is known for being steep and intimidating and a lot of the climbing is just this. However, there are two areas that are bolted and prove to be very popular. Winspit Quarry is the first. It is sheltered, has a short walk in and there are some pleasant grades. If you do decide to venture here it’s worth taking a clip stick as some of the bolts can be very far apart or high off the ground. Another popular area for sport climbing is Dancing Ledge with its sunny aspect and tonnes of routes to go at. You won’t be alone at Dancing Ledge that’s for sure. You know that you’re not alone here because of a large amount of polish on a lot of the foot holds but I am not that bothered by that sort of thing. So clean your rock shoes well and crack on with it.
Swanage even has some superb deep water solo spots. Again deep water soloing is not for the novice, those who say that climbing above the sea is safe because you fall into water are very wrong. I have seen many people fall on their backs, fronts and bums. All from height and that hurt them. I’ve seen people get into real problems trying to fight tides when tired after falling in. Putting that all aside however – it’s great. On a warm day with a bunch of you go and do ‘The Conger‘ in a line as a big send train – choo choo.
The problem with Swanage and the same with Portland, is that there are no motorway links and fast roads. So when you travel here from London it will take you ages (longer still when you get stuck behind a family caravan holiday wagon!). This is why it’s quicker to get to Avon Gorge or the Wye Valley when you just bang it down the M4 – more on that later.
I went to Swanage a lot when I started climbing as it offered so much. It will to you too, but go steady. Know how to prussik and haul and take a long abseil rope!!
Portland
Portland – There’s not a climber in London that hasn’t heard of Portland or in the rest of the UK for that matter. Fair enough I say. It’s got the largest selection of sport routes in the UK so if you’re a sport climber and that doesn’t get your horn on then I don’t know what will.
Sunny walls… bolts, good weather and other sport climbers…what are you waiting for? Portland is a bit of a funny place however. If Portland was on mainland Europe I am sure it would be a nature reserve with lots of touristic fun and games to be had. This isn’t the case. There are however lots of council estates, rough looking buildings and a massive Ministry of Defence base on the island, why? Why do you do this to us in the UK? Why take what is a beautiful place and then let either the army, marines or MOD bomb the shit out of it or build all over it? You’ve done it at Pembroke, your planes fly over our national parks… just stop it now – you don’t walk down Chamonix high street and all of a sudden a jet fighter comes by to buzz the tower!! Leave us with some happy places.
What I am trying to say is that Portland is very pretty but only once you’re off the top of the island and working your way down to the cliffs. This could be very different. Thank God we are climbers.
Costa del Portland.
You can buy the Portland guide book here – Buy Guide Book Here
Another tip for Portland is take a clip stick, in fact just take a clip stick to every sport crag really. It will get you out of trouble, save you from broken ankles and get you past any crux anywhere…… Have you bought a clip stick yet?
If you’re starting out then Blacknor Beach area is very nice indeed.
If you live in London then Portland is the closest sport climbing area near you and it’s also the place that people travel to to go sport climbing. So for once when people ask “where are you from?” and you say “London”, they say “ah you’re local” and you don’t get that at any other crag…..
Bristol
Bristol – I live in Bristol. So of course Bristol is great for climbing and it’s a cool city too. Do I need to write more than this. Yes I do.
Well, I wrote an article on all the crags around the Bristol area that you can visit if you’re new to trad climbing and live in Bristol. The same will apply if you live in London.
The Bristol area is the closest area, sorry, the fastest area to get to from London if you want to lead climb. Bang it down the M4 and 90 minutes later you’re there. That time varies depending on how fast you drive – please drive responsibly… unless you want to climb more. In which case hammer it, get a speeding ticket and a fine, but you might get an extra route done….it’s up to you.
Here is a link to your crag options in the Bristol area at the bottom of the M4 – Map Here.
The Bristol area has lots to offer. It even has its own huge city crag – Avon Gorge – with a great selection of single and multi-pitch sport and trad routes. It’s even got ‘The equator‘ if you’re looking for something massive for alpine training.
There are tonnes of crags around the Bristol area to sink your teeth into – even sea cliffs. Read the article that I wrote about the local crags (link here) or get in touch with me if you need any help, guiding or advice.
Bristol – get down the M4 and see you at the crag.
You can buy the guide book here – Buy Guide Book Here
The Wye Valley
The Wye Valley – The Wye Valley is a beautiful set of cliffs following the river Wye northwards from Chepstow. Wintour’s Leap is close by and the classic Symond’s Yat is further up. Here is a link to the Wye Valley cliffs on offer – The Wye Valley
The Wye Valley has everything apart from different rock types. It’s limestone alright Jim. It’s big, badass and awesome. Some of the crags can be small and shit but we don’t go to those. Actually that’s a lie, all of the cliffs are superb apart from Tintern Quarry which is a hole in the ground.
The Wye Valley has sport routes – even some multi-pitch sport routes – hhhmmmm.. multi-pitch sport routes outside of Europe?? They are quite hard so it does depend on if you’re climbing F7a and above. Anyway, there is a great selection of trad routes, big and small, in an amazing setting overlooking the river Wye.
The only thing that makes it less appealing than the Bristol area is the cost of the Severn Bridge – £6.50 WTF!!!!
The Wye Valley has many amazing cliffs to its name and all of them live up to their reputation. Wintour’s Leap is a grand day out with huge multi-pitch routes and stunning views down the river and is considered the gem of the Wye Valley and it’s the closest cliff in the Wye Valley to London.
Shorn cliff has a superb selection of single pitch routes. You are usually dancing your way up pocketed limestone and it’s a great place to get some millage in as there are lots of tree anchors at the top making it very easy to set up belays and abseil back down.
Symond’s Yat is famous for the river rapids and a free standing pinnacle of which an ascent is a must. I love Symond’s Yat for an adventure day – abseiling in and running around bagging routes of all grades. It’s one of those places that the more you get to know it the better it becomes. Trust me, I’ve climbed a lot there. Like Shorn cliff there are lots of tree anchors at the top on which you can build belays easily. Symonds Yat has a bad reputation, this is rubbish. I could recommend twenty routes for the London climber to climb and you would be very happy indeed.
Wynd cliff finally has both sport climbing and traditional climbing making it a great place to dabble in a bit of both. It’s a real sun trap making it great for those days in January when everywhere else is too cold. The trad climbs are long and the sport climbs are short – you choose what you fancy.
The Wye Valley is a breath taking place to be. You are always by the river Wye with great limestone climbing, super pubs and beautiful wild life.
You can buy the Lower Wye Valley guide book here – Buy Guide Book Here
Summary
All the areas mentioned here are possible for keen London climbers to visit in a day and back. Some, i admit, with traffic these days and fuel costs might be best over a weekend but these are your options at hand.
If you need any help or advice, or are looking for a rock climbing guided day or a climbing course such as a multi-pitch introduction or a learn to lead course, then get in touch. I am also happy to give advice to London climbers travelling this way.