Friday evening, the race was on for the 11:30 deadline at the gate of the campsite... A few managed to get through legally, and spent their spare minutes of pitching time measuring distances between their tents and their neighbours tents, making sure they were not invading anybody's entitlement to 5 feet of privacy, while at the same time they had to ignore their co-MMCers in order not to transgress the Riot Act. When campsite ruling goes too far...

Matt, Simon and Miles got to the campsite dead on 11:30 to find a bunch of others Sarah Glover, Simon Atkins, Hilary, Rick & Niky all contemplating the closed gate. They nevertheless drove through the gently rolling hills of the campsite. Not finding any flat ground, they abandoned the place and headed for comfier beds at the second choice campsite, but missing the sea view the following morning. Somewhere in between these 2 campsites and the divided group of pro flat-ground-campers and pro sea-viewers, we found neutral ground in a late license pub, right in the middle of Mortehoe.

On Saturday, after the now ritual morning faff, everybody started to head off towards Baggy Point. At which point, Rick and Niki had probably already done a morning worth of climbing at Dyer's Lookout. Rick led Blisterin' Barnacle, E2 5b. He specifically asked Niki not to mention that it's a hot contender for the world's softest E2 (whoops, yes Niki you did mention that...). Niky then led Caravanserai (HVScary) at Compass Point, which had a desperately loose top out and no belay within sight, which resulted in much shouting and faffing with Rick having to untie, run to the top of the crag, and find a belay for her, then run down, tie back in and second the route. All this was followed by a meal at a fantastic fish restaurant in Bude, which Rick prompted thew up Sunday morning.

Simon MC, Hilary and Neville climbed Ben (S) and In Her Eyes (direct start) (VS). Hilary then climbed Shangri-La with Simon and the boys then proved tall enough not to fall down the gap on Kinky Boots (VS).

Simon A climbed with Matt on "The Long Rock" completing: 1: Shangri-La - Severe (Simon's lead) and later again with Hilary - 2: Twinkle Toes VS 4c (Matt's lead) 3: Lost Horizons VS 5a (Simon's lead) before Matt had "to wimp out in pain" (though climbing with an injured ankle was unlikely to be doctor's order !)

Rick led Ivone on Kinky Boots* VS,Right Hand Eliminate* HVS 5a and Midnight Cowboy** HVS 5a.

Paul and Louise started on a traverse, but not really enjoying themselves, packed up and went surfing instead. They met Lucy and Jim who were paddling in shallow waters.

Sarah, Tara, Claire and Delphine went for a long walk (well, could also be described as a walk round the campsite, since it was more or less always in views !), but was more specifically a long, long way on the coastal path and back across fields, where they had to climb over stiles which were unnecessary high and awkward, so much so they decided they should be submitted to grading. And those were definitely of the HVS calibre ! They also met a very pretty, bubbly, cheeky Labrador called.. Tara ! Any walk, worthy of the name, not being complete without a cream tea, a stop over at the local coffee shop was compulsory and appreciated.

For Chuck the highlight of the weekend was Pickpocket HVS 5b seconded by a passing stranger ( by the name of Ian ).

On Sunday, Niky led Sacre Coeur E2 5b/c, which was her first ever E2 lead (and no mention of anything soft about this route Rick !) Completely wasted by this effort, a recuperative cream tea at Clovelly was needed - a perfect way to a great weekend's climbing.

Neville climbed a route which matched the description of Sting (VS) until it got to the "reach over the overlap to big holds", which were definitely missing. Turned out he was 10 ft to the left of the route, so decided to beat a hasty retreat and downclimbed from about 1/3 of the way up. Ivonne and he then climbed the highly popular Shangri-la (S).

Matt and Simon managed just the one route on "The Promontory" - Midnight Cowboy - an excellent three pitch HVS 5a climb. They spent an epic 4 hours but enjoyed every minute of it ! Lots of stars - lots of excellent rock.

Rick climbed with David Dees and did Twinkletoes* VS (Led by Rick), Lost Horizon*** VS 5a (Led by Rick), Urizen* VS 4c (Led by David) and Shangri La*** S (Led by David)

Paul and Delphine abseiled down to the bottom of the crag and joined the queue on a very popular v. diff, they then decided to move further right on an inviting route, Paul started to lead until he decided to back off and resume climbing sometimes next season ! Hilary and Louise decided to have a go, Hilary led it but felt unconfident especially when bits of the rock kept coming away in her hands. Everybody else seconded it, taking more rocks and grass off the slab. Turned out the route was not in the book so Hilary decided to call it "Saturday Night Fever", not least in memory of the disco leg shake which afflicted her half way up and had her quivering in a style not dissimilar to John Travolta.

Sarah joined up with Claire and the baby group- Tom Eileen+2, Mark, len+1, Alix +1 and enjoyed a day at Woolacoombe sands.

Before heading back, the climbers all met at the cafe on the way back from Baggy Point for a last snack and refreshment, enjoying a bit more of the Devon sunshine and the views across the Bay.

DL