Boris and Doreen have been holidaying in probably the best week of sunny weather Scotland has ever seen. On the way home they called in to the Lakes to say hi… After a slightly boozy Saturday evening meal we headed out to a road-side (our legs were knackered from our hike up to Scafell the day before) crag on Sunday morning. Boris hasn’t climbed for over a year but he was keen to reacquaint himself, so we started him off on the classic Route 2 but rapidly moved on to the steeper routes of Tritus and Swing to the Right.

Boris on the starting pitch of Route 2

Laetitia and Boris (in Laetitia's old helmet - way too small for him) happy at Raven Crag Walthwaite

The second pitch of Route 2

I’ve done Swing to the Right before and found it every bit as tough today. However, Laetitia managed to swing right a bit lower, below the roof, and go straight up reaching the big holds that signal the end of the tricky bit directly rather than swinging in from the left for them. She reckoned it was way easier this way – perhaps something to try next time?

Swing to the Right