Weardale Abseiling (no, really…)

Its quite a long time since I abseiled anywhere.

 However, the other afternoon, me and Lucky went off ooop Weardale, met Matt and wandered a couple of miles up by Ireshope Beck to Clints Crag. Clints Crag doesn’t show up much on OS maps, but it’s an interesting spot, full of nooks and crannies and little gorges and caves and all kinds of geological stuff.

The main crag’s abseiling potential is limited a bit by a general lack of nice, bomb-proof belays (essential if you’re out of practise) – but the main gorge – a dark and slippery place, gives a couple of slides of about 25 to 30 feet – the main waterfall being split by a large ledge which holds a  suspended pool with walls which give the same amount of grip as a lump of melting ice. I found this out on my little trip down the hole and ended up knee-deep in cold water.

We had one and a double half abseils (Matt had two, I had one) and left as the cloud began to envelop the local high tops and the Pennines began to look a bit more Pennine…..

Lucky didn’t think too much of being belayed to a rock and made to wait till we played and made lots of groaning and whining noises just to indicate boredom and disapproval.

We’re considering other spots for similar playtimes, though.

Quite good fun.

Note to self – next time take some butties….