Colmcille Climbers

My family and I recently visited Donegal and intended to try and get some climbing done. We were very lucky with the weather, sunshine all week.

On Monday we set off intending to go to the Poison Glen, but when we stopped at the Errigal car park it was windy. None of had climbed Errigal, so we set off up that instead.

The wind conditions were very unusual. About two thirds of the way up the wind was so strong that you could quite literally lean into it. However, once we got near the summit ridge it dropped almost to nothing. On the descent the wind was equally as strong when we dropped below the summit ridge. Possibly something to do with the steep sides of the mountain directing the wind upwards?

We spent a day in Dunglow and visited Cruit Island on the way back. I had managed to forget the print-out of the crag, but was pleased to find a solid 3G connection on my phone, which saved the day. I hate to think what the roaming charges will be! We did a few routes there. I think that Tom's Dinner deserves VDiff as it's harder than the VDiff chimney next to it. Also think it's worth 2 stars.

Managed to struggle up Albatross, chosen because it involved jamming and I lived in grit-stone country for 20 years, so I thought I would manage to get up it OK! Excellent route, but I need to do lots more climbing before I can do things like that again!

We also spent a great day on Gola. We weren't able to do much climbing. Despite excellent weather and almost no wind, there was quite a swell. I had hoped to do some stuff on Gripple wall, but it kept disappearing under the water!

Eventually, we did something on what I think was Twin Cave Buttress. I thought it might have been Kept Woman (it was about Diff). However, it slanted right, not left, and doesn't look like the photo!

It would be great if this site could have some more general crag shots of Gola. I think we spent about an hour wandering round and we still weren't sure where many bits of the crag where. I have taken some general photos of the bits we visited, which Pete has said he'll post here shortly so they can be incorporated into the online guide.