ROCK CLIMBING IN MALAGA (Feb 2010)

Spent a week Rock Climbing in the area behind Villanueva del Rosario on El Corral, Los Pinos and Taco del Madera with a couple of climbs on Villanueva del Cauche.

Weather was great and quite warm, some Trad climbing, but also first introduction to Sport Climbing which I really enjoyed, it was good fun.

Excellent instruction and guidance by "The Rock Climbing Company", it offers adventurous mountain activities in Snowdonia and Spain. The company and courses are run by climbing instructor Silvia Fitzpatrick and they are supported by Simon Marsh.

Silvia Fitzpatrick is a Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor who has been climbing all over the world at a high level for more than 22 years. Simon is SPA qualified and head of climbing at DMM. He is also a director of the Ground Up which researches and publishes rock climbing guidebooks. For more infomation; Contact Silvia at http://www.rockclimbingcompany.co.uk/

Villanueva del Rosario is a small town off the motorway from Málaga to Granada and Seville.
The white washed pueblo sits at the base of the Cerro de la Cruz, with rolling countryside on the other three sides. Famous for the quality of its olive oil.

WINTER IN WALES (JAN 2010)

The Black Mountains (Welsh Y Mynyddoedd Duon) are a group of hills spread across parts of Powys and Monmouthshire in southeast Wales.

They are the easternmost of the four ranges of hills that comprise the Brecon Beacons National Park, and are frequently confused with the westernmost, which is known as the Black Mountain . To confuse matters there is a peak in the Black Mountains called Black Mountain.

The Black Mountains may be roughly defined as those hills contained within a triangle defined by the towns of Abergavenny in the southeast, Hay-on-Wye in the north and the village of Llangors in the west. Another 'gateway' town to the Black Mountains is Talgarth