El Chorro in November

Dave and Chris steal a few days climbing in Spain despite a bad forecast.

We got an El Cheapo (Ryanair) flight to Malaga, hired a car and drove up to the Olive Branch Guest House - Campsite.


This place is highly recommended, especially for climbers, as there are a lot who go there, and one guy in particular, Martin, who is based there on a semi-permament basis in a tent, is a mine of information. Gary the owner told us about him and Martin lent us his copy of the latest Rockfax guide, complete with his own amendments - mainly grades and star ratings - which we ended up agreeing with.









There are a lot of errors in the latest guide -bound to happen I know, but some were pretty unforgiveable - such as pitch lengths being quoted as WAY too short - very dodgy when it's somewhere you lower off, and shows how you've got to be on the ball even when bolt-clipping to avoid silly accidents! Anyone using the shiny new Rockfax guide -YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!



Anyway, me and Chris spent most time in our 4 day trip up on the crags above the village, with 2 visits to the Arab Steps, and routes thereabouts. Excellent climbing and some amazing rock - lovely friction and not much polish either. We both got up some 6b's, which was quite a surprise (to me!) so the grades aren't too pushy - though there is the occasional 5+ that can still repulse, so not entirely consistent.

We only made it down the Camino del Rey on the last morning, when it rained, so it was a quick dash to the end and back to see the sights (fancy the look of Zeppelin - if you can aid the hard bit!) and rush off to the airport.

We'd definitely go again, there's tons of stuff to do. And we'd stay at the Olive Branch again, as it was only about a tenner a night indoors, with good cooking facilities. (8 quid in a tent/bedding that they provide). Gary and Mel are really friendly too, but this ain't the place to go for drinking late into the night - they value some peace, and the campers in the garden tend to be keen climbers who need some sleep! According to Gary, the party place is the Finca La Campana, but he might be saying that for his own reasons!

Post added by Dave.