Climbing at Sella

Here we are staying in a casa called Casaroc at the top of an ancient village in the middle of the Mediterranean coast of Spain. It is very close to Benidorm (the gold coast of Europe). So we can go to the supermarket, but do not have to stay with the crowds.

We are here for the rock climbing of course. It is limestone and there is lots of it. A 10 minute drive from the carpark, which is only a 10 minute walk from the car! The village is not really suitable for cars, you can drive half way to the house by going up tiny lanes, but then you have to reverse down a hill around corners between houses. So it is best to leave the car in the carpark at the bottom of the hill and walk.
This village has been here for a long time. The Moors lived here for 25 generations before being sent back to Morocco where they came from. They had created terraces around the hills to grow olives and almonds and cherries. But when they left no one lived here at all for 250 years. Since then many more terraces have been made up the mountains and it is quite extraordinary. The village is pretty, the house is very nice and the climbing is terrific.

The boys are now very good at climbing and very confident. Today, Matilda led her first climb, she was absolutely stoked. It was a lovely climb up immaculate rock with loads of bolts. She could not stop smiling until Toby told her that it was not proper leading as he had already put the extenders onto the bolts. Had to tell him that it is not proper leading with bolts to shut him up! But it seems to me that the big thing about leading is climbing above the gear so she has done that. So we are all proud of her.

There are a lot of climbers there: most seem to have very young children, so there is a lot of crying and screaming as background noises, hopefully masking the bickering of our family. Many of these others are very good climbers so it is good to watch them. It is quite an international gathering with people from all over Europe, here for a bit of sun. It is not as warm as we hoped though, but above freezing at least.

Tomorrow we are going to see the Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the kids have never been so interesting for them. Last New Year we were at New Brighton so this will probably be a bit different.