Autumn @ Albarracin

Hello everyone!
It's Lucy here!!
Had such a great time at albarracin thought I would do a blog to tell you all about it!!
When me and simon first arrived it was still pretty warm, so not the best bouldering conditions but were still able to get some great climbing in!!

Firstly the people.....It was pretty much just us when we first arrived then a friend of ours vaughan from NZ that we met in magic wood turned up, which was pretty random was good 2 c him! Then Rosie and Tom from Bristol turned up who had also come to Albarracin from Rodellar, even though they r from Bristol we had never really met them before Rodellar was really good to get to know them! these guys dont boulder as much as they route climb but they r still super strong and sent some good stuff whilst they were there, we had great fun climbing with those guys!

When Rosie and Tom left Michelle and Adam rocked up, they r from birmingham and we also met them in Rodellar! They are totally amazing we had alot of fun climbing and hanging out with those guys! There were also some really cool guys there that we met, chris from south Africa, Tor from Norway & Greg from Southampton, these guys introduced us to burger mondays, basically a barbeque every monday! Every1 got involved was fun :) There were a couple of americans thrown into the mix aswell, cassie and matt, they were on an epic trip, going bouldering all over the world, switzerland, spain, south africa, all across the US and many more! It was matts birthday while we were all in albarracin so i made a card that had the sillhouete of a boulderer cut out along the edge and got every1 to sign it! and made him a birthday peanut butter and jelly pancake!:) And Jason & Claire came over from bristol for the last 10 days that we were there which was so cool! had a wicked time climbing and chilling with them, they even let us use thier washing machine in the apartment they stayed in and have a bath!!! was such a treat thank u guys!

I did get up to other activities other than climbing aswell, Me and michelle did afew long bikes rides on our 'rest days'. We did a really nice circuit that I originally did with simon 1 day that takes you in a big loop along these long winding roads surrounded by huge outcrops of rocks and trees then back through gea de albarracin, through the village and back to the car park which was approx 20.5 miles. It was pretty much up and down hill all the way so u could cycle hard/rest, cycle hard/rest kind but with a 3k continuous hill at the very end, was a proper sting in the tail, hardwork! was awesome! It was so beautiful when going along the roads surrounded by the rocks and trees, michelle said it looked like jurrasic park so we were cycling along singing the jurrasic park theme tune!! (well lalalala-ing it!) was very funny! on 1 of the evenings following the jurrasic park bike ride we watched 1 of the jurrasic park movies! Having that tune in your head just gives you and urge to watch it!! haha :)

Also whilst in Albarracin I discovered I have a candida imbalance in my belly, which is pretty much a yeast intolerance. So without going into to much detail I totally changed my diet as I was eating all the wrong things! As a result I feel like a totally new person, it really is unbelievable the difference it has made so far, so I am loving it! It is hard as there are alot of things I cannot eat now but it is totally worth it! Im lighter and happier now and loving life even more!

One of the highlights of my week whilst in albarracin was the fruit and veg market on wednesday mornings, the guy that runs it is super friendly always giving us freebees, it was fun going there buying lots of yummy veggies and speaking bad spanish at them and learning more bad spanish in the process!
Climbing wise I was really loving the bouldering, I wanted to get a font 6C whilst there but to be honest there was just so many amazing problems around font 6B I was going for alot of them and just really enjoying it!! i did get sooooo close to a 6C on the last day, wasnt even going to climb that day as was so nackered but did the '1 last go' thing, which so nearly paid off! did all the hard moves then lost concentration as thought id done it and slapped to the left of the really good sloaper I had to go for and fell! ahhhhh! was frustrating but was actually really happy to get that close as I was destroyed after 6 weeks of bouldering!!! good times :)

Simon also did super well climbing wise, he was crushing font 7a's real quick and got 2 7b+'s, Amazing!
So after 6 weeks of pulling extremely hard in Albarracin we are now in Margaleff! Did my first 6B+ onsight yesterday shortly followed but my first 6C onsight which felt pretty reasonable so was happy with that! Have already seen many hard lines Im inspired by for potential redpoints but there are just so many good lines here I think Im just gonna do lots of onsighting for now! I really am spoilt for choice here its a fantastic place! Thats all for now but watch this space for news & pics from margaleff!
Much love!
Lucy

(please see below for some of my fave piccys from Albarracin!)

Saca la bestia

Saca la bestia


Morning boys and girls its been a while i know what can i say ive been lazy.

well we are now in margaleff having been in albarracin for the last 6 weeks, its been an amazing time there with loads of hard boulders being crushed, Lucy got some 6b+ and i got some 7b+ so each of us pushing hard. We are both totaly destroied aching everywhere and feel like it is a good time to leave before we start hurting ourselfs, we have had 2 rest days so far and this morning it has rained so looking like 3rd one which is badly needed.

It was pretty cool on the second last day there i saw a huge wild boar running through the fields as i walked tala in the morning. It was over my waist height and around 2 metres long and huge, was pretty awsome to see one and makes you think as didnt realise they were around the area or that they were quite that big. pretty awsome though.

We have met some cool friends and been reaquanted with some old ones from days gone by, been goot to see you again Burger mondays will be remembered, We met chris and greg there who are on a very similar trip to ourselfs doing a year bouldering around europe theyre are in Albarracin for 2 months then off to font, they have a good Blog here http://operationbeastmaker.blogspot.com. Also met up with 2 americans who are starting on a 2 year trip with 3 months in europe Cassie and Matt have a blog here http://matthewandcassie.blogspot.com if you want to get inspired to go on a trip yourself theres lots of good entries to get you Psyched

Big thanks goes out to Jason and Clare who came to visit for 10 days and let us use there bath in the appartment they were it, amazing to have the first bath in 11 months!!!. especialy when its so cold outside.

Arriving in margaleff was a nice experiance as we have left the land of freezing cold, thermal leggings,down jackets and sub zero temperatures to find margaleff very warm. its going to be interesting to get back on routes having not tied into a rope for around 3 months now. we both feel bouldering strong but lacking endurance so think here will be good as there are lots of super hard but short routes.

I have also learned a new phrase in spannish "Saca La Bestia" means "unleash the beast", i think its inspiring to shout at people when theyre trying hard but the spannish guys i have said it to has started laughing and fallen off the rock, But hey its better than A friend who was shouting "Casa la Bestia" or "house of the beast" :)

Been missing you all back in bristol and will try to put up more posts and musing i have a few creative ideas i want to write about and put up so stay posted. No photos this time as bad interenet here some comming soon.

Si

Bouldering in the sun

Hey all

Well were currently in sunny albarracin doing some bouldering, its super good here at the moment weather is about perfect being high teens low twenties durning the day so hot in sun but nice and cold in shade perfect for climbing hard. We had the first frost yesterday morning and its due to hit 0 over night tomorrow and the day after!!

We had a good first couple of days although a bit hot when we first got here, then were joined by Rosey and Tom for 4 days where we commenced crushing the boulders here, well tom did anyway what a machine he is.

Its been fun bouldering as a group its a lot more social and fun + allows you more time between each attempt so you rest more and as a result climb harder,

I had an interesting conversation with Tom about why we climb and what we get out of it and why we climb particular styles (Sport, Trad, Bouldering) this has made me think more about what i actualy enjoy and take from the climbing experiance as it was getting a bit stressfull and hard work over the last few weeks before we arrived here, My realiseation is that i Climb Primarily for Fun and to be outside. And that another thing that i really enjoy about the climbing is the problem solving element of it. Which in bouldering is working out a sequence for a short hard set of moves and in routes i really enjoy onsighting and having to make quick decissions when under pressure.

Lucy has been climbing super well and yesterday managed to fight her way up her First 6b in The psicokiller sector here then as if to back it up that she has now broken into that grade here she got a second one later in the day!!! what a star she is.

My finger has been coping ok with the harder climbing i just need to make sure that any problems with small left hand holds i avoid which i have been. although its a rest day tomorrow and my finger has swolen a bit today and feels fairly tender so its a well needed rest.

Plan for tomorrow is to head to the town where every wednesday there is a fresh fruit and veg market and stock up on some qualaty produce, i have also decided to put up a few blog posts with key details about some of the places we have visited with regards to parking/Sleeping, water, Food, Wifi etc maybe help some of you with arranging a trip in future, first one is going to be for here probably tomorrow when i get the camera out and take some photos.

Well a few shots of team bristol in action below hope you enjoy them, Spot the new prototype bouldering mat that rosey is using in one shot.



Tom crushing




Chilling



Crushing



Proto type bouldering mat



Lucy pulling hard



Jump