Dreaming above the sea at Gogarth

I was counting down the days left at work, stoked to see the high pressure hanging around for my days off at the weekend. Back down to Wales again, it was becoming like a second home exploring places I'd never been over the previous couple months. This time though, we bypassed the mountains and headed straight to Holyhead and the sea cliffs at Gogarth. One route on my mind; A Dream of White Horses. I have wanted to do this route for so long, since first picking up a friends North Wales Rock, years before I'd even put a rock shoe on in Wales, let alone climbed at Gogarth.

Me seconding up the first pitch of 'Dream'

Everything had come together, the late evening light meant a quick scope of the crag. I was in total awe of the zawn, looking across to the cliff from the promontory, it looked really steep with few features, an almost blank piece of rock. Walking back to the van for an early night, I had butterfly's in my stomach, I'm pretty sure it was excitement rather than nervousness. Tomorrow I was going to climb Dream!

Piers leading off on the first pitch

We had a reasonably early start hoping to beat the weekend rush in top notch weather, and were the first team to abseil down to the base of the route. Abseiling down the cliff, the sheet of rock was revealing its secrets; it's slabby angle, flakes, cracks and holds covered the wall. We stopped at the right end of a ledge, the incoming tide covering the first few metres of the climb. Piers began on the first pitch, his first time on the sea cliffs, following a crackline of good gear and holds before moving across to the relative comfort of a stance. I followed, getting into the flow of the climbing having only done a few routes on the cliffs myself.

Me leading off on the second pitch

The second pitch followed no distinct features as I traversed directly across the slab, delicately moving between opposing side pulls and thin gear until I reached the main crack line of Wen running the height of the cliff. Without realising I had gained some height and had set up a belay slightly higher up. This wasn't a problem until Piers was about to set off onto the third pitch.

Piers happy to be across the bold start of Pitch 3

Piers cruising the rest of the third pitch

The third pitch followed a diagonal flake up the wall, but from our position the flake was about 4 metres away, meaning Piers had to make a higher traverse line to get back on route. It was a bold few moves, following small holds and poor feet, a sterling effort by Piers, who then cruised the rest of the pitch.
 
One more pitch to go. The long traverse around the curving wall above the arch in the zawn. The holds were positive and gear good as I made progress across the wall. I was concentrating really hard at getting the rope work spot on making sure Piers was protected when he followed the pitch. The climbing was never desperate and the exposure was ace, I managed a few glances down when moving my feet only to be distracted by sea kayakers paddling through the arch directly beneath me. I reached the end of the traverse followed by a short groove to complete the pitch and the Dream.

Me heading off on the traverse of the last pitch

Piers in a sea of rock on the fourth pitch

I was so pleased to have climbed the route after trying to fit it in last year with no luck. This time everything had come together. The climbing is really good, but it is the positions and situation that make it what it is.
After a quick break and a top up of sun cream we retrieved our abseil rope and relocated to the promontory on the front of the zawn, abseiling in Britomartis, another three star HVS, but a route of completely different character.

Piers seconding the first pitch of Britomartis with kayakers looking on

The tide was low as I climbed down from the belay ledge and traversed around the corner to gain access to the steep front face. An initial crack led to a groove surrounded by good holds up the face. The bottom felt desperate and the route felt a very different proposition to 'Dream' as the rock felt very soapy, I was forever chalking up my hands. The higher I got the less desperate the climbing which was good news for my arms as I reached a small stance above. Piers had an audience of sea kayakers who watched, took photos and were probably wondering what we were up to. I was glad to hear Piers was pumped as well once we squeezed onto our hanging belay. Another traverse and a small groove lead to the top and the end of another top route.

Squashed on the belay ledge of Britomartis

What a day, the heat was definitely getting to me now as we headed back to the van. Ice creams in Holyhead and back to the mountains.

Stunning day at the sea cliffs