News and Announcements

Hi Everyone,

What a shame the rain put a damper on our plan to meet up with the guys from Barrow MC at The Roaches on Saturday. Although I was glad to hear that a group of Bowliners did make it up there on Sunday and had a great days climbing. Hopefully those heading to Cornwall this coming weekend will be luckier with the weather!

Thanks to Andy Railton we have another great meet for you to enjoy this September. Cycling the Peddars Way in Norfolk by Mountain Bike or Hybrid Bike, over the weekend of the 17th/18th September. The plan is to cycle the route on Saturday, stay at the Youth Hostel in Wells-next-the-Sea on Saturday night, then a leisurely cycle back on Sunday to the start. If you're interested contact Andy Railton ASAP so we can book hostel places - 07894 533629 or andyrailton@gmail.com.

Also on the same weekend (17th/18th September) we will be hosting a Family meet at our club hut in North Wales. The meet is aimed at (but not limited to) groups with children. We're not sure what exactly will go on at this meet, because the kids rule. Possibly we will got climbing the slate quarries or out into the mountains during the day, and have a communal meal and a few board games on the Saturday night. An invite with more details will follow soon.

We have a double whammy of things to do this Thursday evening. There will be climbing outdoors at Birchen Edge from 6pm. And there is also the LOROS bouldering competition at The Tower. Of course there is our ever popular Tuesday night bouldering at The Climbing Station.

Have a great week and weekend!

Hi Bowliners and friends,

Lots more fun in the sun since my last email. Well perhaps not so much sun on last Tuesday evening, but it was great to be able to make Tuesday bouldering for a change and see so many of you there. The sun did shine for our Thursday climbing trip to Beacon Hill and with plenty of bouldering pads we had a great time pushing ourselves on some challenging routes and again it was super to have a good turn out!

The sun was also shining in North Wales this weekend where I was fortunate enough to enjoy a great weekend at our lovely club hut with an awesome group of friends. There was sporting climbing, trad climbing and bouldering aplenty. Hopefully you all found time to get out and enjoy the good weather too!

Weather permitting we will try to strike out a little further this week for our Thursday climbing session, hopefully heading to one of the closer Peak District crags. Watchout for an email from me with the details on Wednesday. 

And speaking of things to do on a Thursday evening don't forget that the The Tower is hosting the LOROS bouldering competition on Thursday 26th May. 

Hopefully you've all seen the invite to the summer meal. Great to see people booking places already, it would be awesome to have a completely full house and see as many of you there as possible!

Hi All,

We have a joint meet with the guys from Barrow MC this coming Saturday at The Roaches. Plan is to meet at the Don Whillans hut at 10am sharp and then head up to the crag for climbing. At the end of the day the Barrow guys are either going to head to the local pub for food, or have drinks and cook a meal at the hut. Those who want to stay for food/drinks are welcome to join in.

Although there is no space left at the Don Whillans hut, if you wanted to stay over then you may be able to book in at the Roaches Bunkhouse or there is camping nearby too.

Fingers crossed for good weather!

Andy
 

Hi Everyone,

Well that was a much better weekends weather. I fact it was a good weeks weather and we certainly made the most of it, kicking off with a good turnout for Thursday climbing at Charnwood Quarry. Followed by a great gathering at Stanage on Saturday for what was a lovely day of climbing. A couple of us even snuck in a visit to The Brand on Friday evening. Check out this weeks 'Photo of the week' on our website, Angeline and Andy on Hangover VS 5a. And remember suggestions for the photo of the week are always welcome!

If you are coming to the Joint meet up with Barrow MC at The Roaches on Saturday 21st May I hope to see you there. There is a meal planned in the pub on Saturday evening, if you want to book a place please let me know. 

This Thursday we'll be climbing at Beacon Hill and hopefully in the comings weeks we might stretch our Thursday climbing further afield to some of the closer peak crags. Bouldering as always on Tuesday at The Climbing Station.

Have a great week!

Hi Everyone,

Having abandoned our Yorkshire aspirations we hoped the Peak District would be able to fill the gap in our weekends climbing plans. And brave souls did attempt to climb on both Saturday and Sunday, in both cases the conditions put pay to climbing after the first routes had been scaled. However we did make the most of it with some walking and squeezing instead.

This coming weekend we hope to return to the Peak district for climbing again, watch out for an invite later in the week. Looking slightly further ahead we have a Joint meet up with Barrow MC at The Roaches on Saturday 21st May. And it's good to see lots of people booking their accommodation for our Cornish Climbing trip at the end of May (Whitsun bank holiday). 

We'll make another attempt to visit Charnwood Quarry for Thursday climbing this week. And of course there will be bouldering at the The Climbing Station on Tuesday.

Hi Bowliners,

Despite the sunshine streaming through the window right now, the pesky rain is coming later today so tonights Thursday climbing will be at The Tower climbing wall.

Also the current forecast for Yorkshire across the weekend is not very inspiring which is a real shame as I was very much looking forward to a trip to Yorkshire and particularly Brimham Rocks. The forecast has been a bit changeable, but at the moment the better weather for dry rock in the day time seems to be around the south and south west coastal areas (Dorset, Devon, Cornwall). I'm open to suggestions on an alternative location to camp and climb, let me know your thoughts and I will send an email round tonight with a final suggestion.

Kind regards,

Andy

 

Hey Bowliners,

Hope you managed to find some dry sheltered rock this weekend for a spot of climbing! A small group of us were in the Peak district doing our SPA training and we managed to dodge most of the weather and learnt some new skills, now lots of practice required.

Now down to business with some important meet news, hot off the press:

• We are watching the forecast closely for this comming weekends Yorkshire climbing meet. If the weather looks generally unappealing for climbing/camping we may switch destinations to somewhere with more favourable weather. I'll send an update out to everyone on Thursday morning with our plan.
• Hopefully you all received the invitation to our Cornish Climbing trip at the end of May (Whitsun bank holiday). If you are interested do get your accommodation at the Youth Hostel (camping or rooms) booked ASAP as we expect they will be sold out soon.
• We have all the plans in place for this years summer meal in The Forest of Dean on the weekend of 16th/17th July. Watch out for an invitation via email later this week.
• Don't forget to get in touch with Andy Railton if you are interested in joining in with the Alpine trip to the Massif de Ecrins which is taking place in August.
• Local charity LOROS are running a bouldering competition at The Tower on Thursday 26th May to raise funds for their work caring for local prople.

Unfortunately the forecast for this week is not great so for Th meet at Charnwood Quarry for 6pm if possible, otherwise we'll be at The Tower. For bouldering come to The Climbing Station on Tuesday from 6pm onwards.

Hi Bowliners,

As a little side project to our recent 'Love the hut' weekend a new crag next to the hut has appeared on UKC. After a bit of a cleanup some suggested bouldering problems have been created and tested by a small group of Bowliners. Whilst these rocks have no doubt been climbed many times over the year by club members and locals alike, we thought that having some recommend problems would be a good way to inspire future visitors.

Take a look on UKC for the details of the problems, including some Topo's, and maybe give them a try next time you're at the hut!

Have a great weekend!

Andy

Hey Bowliners,

An excellent weekend of love for the hut. A new drainage installed around the hut and in the parking area. A lick of paint to smarten the exterior and some gardening to keep things from getting overgrown. A good clean inside and various maintenance jobs to keep our lovely hut in good order for you all to enjoy. A big thanks to Paul, Kath, Pete, Zoe, Pixie, Lisa, Shoe, Thomas, Adam, Dave and Hadyn.

We have a a couple of changes to the meet schedule for this year. On the whitsun bank holiday weekend (28th-30th May) we are now heading to Cornwall (instead of the Lake District), look out for an invite to this meet later this week. But fear not the Lake District will not be missing out on a visit from the Bowliners. We have got the Barrow MC hut booked for the weekend of 24th/25th Sept, so get that in your diaries (more details will follow nearer the time). Remember the full meets list is on the website.

Our outdoor Thursday Climbing sessions are now in full swing. This week we are off to Craig Buddon. And if you can't wait till then why not join us at The Climbing Station on Tuesday for your weekly bouldering fix.

Have a great week!

Andy