Shenanigans is a good word. Well maybe not a good word to read but it sounds good and has a good meaning. It was one of my brother's favourites when we were younger. Possibly 'cos he kept getting bollocked for his shenanigans.
So, Bank Holiday. I'm not a particular fan of the "necessity" to get away and do something spectacular on BH weekends (apart from destinations that need 3 days to justify the journey, of course). Traffic jams, hordes of bumblies, lack of accomodation, etc etc. And the usual British guarantee of the weather being unguaranteeable. Better to save the special trips away for quieter weekends and let the weather dictate the timing rather than fighting against it. All about successful trips rather than fitting in with the status quo.
Anyway I have no idea what the weather was like in the UK this weekend because I wasn't here. I had a cunning plan and nipped over to Valencia to visit Fiend 2 before it got too hot. A long overdue and fun visit and naturally I managed to sneak in a couple of climbing days at Costa Blanca crags that were just over an hour from the city.
The hot sunny weather dictated shade, my elbow dictated some moderation in what routes I climbed, so I chose Bellus and Pena Roja. Both had good shady sectors and plenty of nice F6s. Last time I was sport climbing in El Chorro I was on top form and managed to push myself to flashing a few F7as (SMALL NUMBERS! :)). This time I had a vague notion of flashing a couple more but common sense got in the way and I stuck to 6s. Led 9 routes including several nice 6b/6cs in a couple of afternoons....there would have been a time in the past, pre-Chorro, when I'd have been happy with that. And indeed I was this time too. Good climbing.
(I was thinking of ranting about how - having been on several Euro sport climbing trips - the feel of climbing over there is getting pretty samey. Because, to be honest, it is. I felt that quite strongly on the first day - all pretty familiar. But on the second day, again the same stuff, I didn't notice it. It might be homogenous, but it's still FUN in it's own way.)
Mmmmm elbows...
Incidentally, just like going to Font, it might have seemed stupid to go sport climbing when my elbow is tweaked. It probably is somewhat stupid, but careful icing, massaging, warming up, not pushing too hard, and listening to any warning pains alleviate the stupidity a bit. Plus, it was only a couple of days, and I really want to take advantage of climbing in different places.
More pertinently, now it's getting too warm to boulder effectively and to sport climb abroad much (restricting the options anyway). So this will be my last strenuous climbing for a while - back to trad and choss over the summer, and hopefully the reduced physical intensity should help my recovery.
Another highlight of the trip was a fantastic meal at the Submarina restaurant in Valencia. This restaurant is part of L'Oceanogràfic Aquarium complex, itself part of the surreal collection of organic sci-fi buildings of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, all situated in the giant ex-river-bed-now-public-park that snakes through Valencia and is probably the city's best feature.
The restaurant....well the food was very good (my scallops were large enough to have their own gravity and came with a lobster and sea-urchin reduction, my lamb shoulder was succulent enough to make chewing obsolete and was garnished with an intense thyme froth), the wine was very good, the service and decor was very good... But I've had a few meals to compare on those grounds. The restaurant itself however, is spectacular. It's situatated underground in a circular pit beneath a huge shell-like canopy dedicated to the restaurant alone, and the dining floor is surrounded by a giant fish tank with thousands of fish circulating the whole thing. Mostly anti-clockwise but a few deviant fish and anarchic manta rays insisted on going clockwise. Truly a James Bond setting and quite amazing sitting beside this constant stream of fish - memorable!
Some fucker eyeing up my main course:
One slight sour note to finish off an otherwise great fun trip was quite probably earning myself a speeding ticket coming back from Stanstead. In the interests of common sense I was sticking to a steady 80, but unfortunately kept at a steady 80 passing a speed camera in a 50 limit through roadworks. You know the score - it's dark, the camera isn't visible, the roadworks don't actually start for another mile, there's no other sodding traffic in the same county, the lanes are exactly the same as usual, and the 50 is entirely unjustified, blah blah.
Okay, so, my fault, I sped, I probably got caught. Hands up and I'll pay it if it comes through. What I don't like and what leaves a sour taste in my mouth, is this being an example of the constant battle drivers have in this country against the country's infrastructure - road regulations in particular. Yes there are many cases where regulations are good, useful, justifiable, and it feels exactly right to stick to them for everybody's sake. But with the increase in regulations, limits, restrictions, and generally fucking around with the roads to make them harder and harder to drive on (as if traffic, bumblies, and petrol prices don't do that enough already), it just feels like a war of opposition. Very much "them" and "us". Instead of working together, it's like they just want to make it a pain in the arse to drive around, and naturally we don't want that, and resentment abounds.
Still I'll just have to be more dilligent about cameras in the future.
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