Back on the rock

A forecast as good as today meant that despite waking to a cold grey sky with low scooting clouds, the only option was to head outside and try and bag our first real rock routes of 2014.
Nothing improved on the drive to Wallowbarrow, but I like this mini mountain crag - it has a history of being kind to me when all others fail, so we parked up, persevered, and were soon at the base of the climbs. Putting the harness on over three layers and a jacket made me feel like those Christmas lb's hadn't really been lost in the mountains, and once I was loaded up with a full rack of gear and tied in to two ropes the familiar sensation of heaviness returned.
Our first 2* climb was four pitches and as they rose so did the wind, by the fourth belay I was positively shiverring, a windy 5degrees centigrade in the UK always feels colder than a sunny minus10 in the Alps.
We got back to the bottom and put on our final jackets, but as we ate lunch there was the faintest sense that the sun was trying to break through. Without a spoken word we picked up the ropes and headed over to our next climb, by the time I set off I could feel the difference not just with the sun on my back, but the touch of the rock itself was warmer.
Today's Blip was taken from the belay at the end of that 120ft pitch. Sat with the sun on my face, the rocks drying and warming all around, and a view like this, it was a pretty good place to be.