The limestone of Torbay is an acquired taste. It is embedded in a soft red desert sandstone and often has quartz veins and crystalline structures running through it. It is a designated UNESCO Global Geopark protecting this unusual rock. Where the sandstone is encountered the rock need be treated with real caution. Generally though, sound interesting rock and superb situations in gorgeous surroundings give a really interesting varied climbing experience.
Being my birth town Torbay is often a destination I head to for climbing, and on an August bank holiday Pilar and I went to Daddyhole Cove to tick-off some of the local classics we'd yet to do.
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 | | Looking into the restored Ravine |
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 | | Pilar 2nding |
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We started in The Ravine. This large cavity between a detached pinnacle and the Upper Cliff was once a dumping ground for fly tippers. A huge amount of work has gone into clearing and restoring this decent little crag and we grabbed a few good pitches in the HVS and E1 range before heading down to the Main Cliff.
Here we abseiled in (a great 40m free-hanging rappel) and, having climbed all the other classics at the crag already, jumped on Gargantua (E1, 45m). This turned out to be a real ordeal as the heavens opened midway through pitch one. Fortunately I could get to the abseil rope and descend safely from the first stance. 30 minutes later, and in glorious sunshine we started again and this time made the summit in three short pitches. A great route with some real exposure and some real unusual limestone.
 | | Steep First Pitch pre rain |
|  | | Great atmosphere |
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 | | Top Out |
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 | | Belaying on the Ab rope |
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The following day we headed to Anstey's Cove. Famous for hard, steep, short and powerful sport climbs Anstey's has a idyllic backdrop (like climbing on the Med). We went however, to sample some of the trad routes. Pilar led Archeron (HVS, 30m) and I jumped on Groove and Slab (E1, 30m). These routes really impressed me. The former having tough 3D problem solving all the way up, and the E1 being just brilliant with a steep corner followed by a really committing slanting crack. Out of belayer sight and laybacking steeply my hand slipped high up. Amazingly I stayed on! A well hard route! E2 in my opinion.
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 | Pilar on Archeron |
|  | | Great Belay |
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 | Me on Slab & Crack |
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 | Approaching the Hard Crux |
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A weekend in Torbay wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Old Redoubt. Berry Head is home to the country's best DWS and has a clutch of adventure routes well worth seeking out. Having done the classic Moonraker already (via the traverse approach) we opted for Seventh Dread (E1 5b, 90m) and chose to rappel into the stance.
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 | Improvised Belay |
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 | | Lots of Faff |
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I made a complete hash of the route finding and erroneously led the second pitch of Moonraker (I should have started traversing right). This forced Pilar to set up a free hanging belay near the wild traverse and caused a lot of faff. Still it came good in the end. The route is technically very easy. It starts on Moonraker and links via an exposed traverse with Dreadnought, a super classic E3 adventure route. The positions are completely wild, the rock shaky at times, and the guano quite disgusting. All in all highly memorable!
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 | | The airy Traverse |
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 | | Brilliant Situations |
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 | | Heaps of Fun |
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 | Team behind on the Dreadnought Pitch |
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| The Top out! |
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We started in The Ravine. This large cavity between a detached pinnacle and the Upper Cliff was once a dumping ground for fly tippers. A huge amount of work has gone into clearing and restoring this decent little crag and we grabbed a few good pitches in the HVS and E1 range before heading down to the Main Cliff. 
