BMC National Council – Torquay – Sterling Adventures

This past weekend was my first experience of a BMC National Council meeting – I’ve got five years of them to look forward to! 😉 However, aside from the BMC business (a very productive four hour meeting on Saturday) these meetings are held in diverse locations all across the UK, trying to co-locate the business with a climbing venue despite the season. What more motivation could one need to volunteer one’s time to BMC matters than a trip to Torquay? As it turned out, very little, the weather was sunny, warm (for a freezing February), calm, and idyllic! 😛

Before the meeting Ted, Will, Laetitia, and I managed to squeeze in a few routes at Telegraph Hole (just 10 minutes walk from our B&B) including Midas Touch and the three star E1, Crinoid. Not bad, I had low expectations of what we would manage, so three class routes was simply awesome!

Pete enjoying the sunshine on Midas Touch — Pete enjoying the sunshine on *Midas Touch*

Ted and Will on Crinoid — Ted and Will on *Crinoid*

During the meeting Laetitia and Kasia went for what looked like a fun walk through Torquay, even managing a little fun normally reserved for the summer – exploring the life in the rock pools on the beach! 😀

Laetitia and Kasia at the seafront in Torquay

On Sunday – after an awesome full English breakfast – we thought it might be wise to put in a few miles back north on the long journey back to the Lakes before climbing. This would also allow the rock to warm up in the sunshine – a bonus we thought… So with the M5 passing so close to the wonderful limestone climbing of the Wye Valley we opted to divert to an old favourite, Shorn Cliff. However, we were extremely worried as we travelled north, leaving the wall-to-wall sunshine of the south coast behind, and entering the impenetrable fog across the Severn. Would climbing be impossible in the freezing 1°C shade and fog of the Wye Valley? :freeze: However, luck was with us again and as we drove towards the amazing ruins of Tintern Abbey we rose out of the fog in to another wall-to-wall sunny scene. The Wye Valley is beautiful!

With only a couple of hours of playtime we headed straight for the Central Cave Area and ticked off the classic No Musketeers complete with it’s direct E1 5c finish, and the tough to start Bitter Battle Tears.