Shepherds , Running and Google Earth

It been a while but I thought I'd check back in with the world of blogging .

This is kind of the first mention on here of my FD challenge... Well I say its an FD challenge I should say obsession. The next 2 years of my life are going to be pretty much dedicated to achieving this massive goal.

The first stage of my massive undertaking is getting fit, which includes the devils exercise itself. Running. Ergghhh , even the word makes me sigh with misery. But its a means to an ends. BodyPump on the other hand is where its at ! Epic cheesy club tunes. Burner of a work out. Rivers of sweat dripping off which ever scrabby t-shirt I've worn that session . Now that's what I call fun =]

Climbing is also going to be a big part of my trip, with some of the snowy faces reaching a daunting 70deg angle. Snow isn't unseen in many parts of the world at this time of year . However here in England we've hit a mini heat wave providing me the perfect excuse (not that you really ever need one) to go climbing .

Sheperds Crag was the venue and starting the day , I was not as psyked as Loz for the climbs to come, but I digress. Our first route of the day, Ardous (MVS, 4b), had it all. I led the first pitch .A chossy slab with ample gear and a fair amount to hold to. You reach a comfy belay nest through a somewhat bold step across. Pitch 2 changes things up , presenting climbers with a right wandering crack which is much steeper than it first looks. Hand holds are scarce and emphasis lies solely ( pun intended ) with your feet. Massive spike to start a  pitch with protection a plenty. The final stretch of this 3 star beaut is a bold traverse with great problem solving. The crux definitely gets the heart going with a ' will they/ won't they stick ' moments for your feet before gaining an average top out . Definitely deserves the 3 stars its given.

Now for the dark horse of the day. Fisherman's Folly (VS 4c) wasn't happening for us on this particular day. So we moved over to CDM . With cobwebs in most of the cracks and an encroaching tree to the right this climb needed some TLC. The neglect is understandable as its within sniffing distance of the 3 star fisherman's , however with some traffic CDM would be cleaned out and bumped up to a 3 star route. The gear is bomber, the route is steep and the moves just flow. Brilliant route . Go climb it.

Must get back to google earth . This expedition isn't going to plan itself...