Pericondrio Tragal

The route ...details here.

Ah, Pericondrio Tragal! 

This is apparently the mega-classic of Montanejos; a route that must be done if you're in the area.

Mark preparing for the traverse ...

Sadly, many people have passed through Montanejos and have also felt it essential to climb ... and the passage of so many palms and soles has polished up the rock on the first pitch, making it a little more intimidating than the grade would suggest. Nevertheless, Mark lead this and then Jen did the second pitch, and we were at the trees.

... and Jen seconding, with the river below.

 
The guidebook tells us not to be tempted to leave the route there - and it's good advice. The best pitch is certainly the third as the route traverses far out onto the face of the enormous upside-down triangle - with views down into the blue water of narrow gorge. This was delicate climbing, requiring good balance to move feets and hands from one weakness in the cliff's face to the next - although when most needed, a jug to grab or a decent ledge to stand on (thankfully!) appeared. And although these jugs and ledges ensured it was not particularly tough climbing, the placing of bolts was far from generous - ensuring excitement for the leader (Mark - who of course stayed cool) and the second (Jen - who found it terrifying and spent most of it believing she was about to drop and swing).

And then it was a matter of a quickly heading up the fourth and final pitch (great moves on solid rock - Jen's lead), before the abseil descent.

A route that was definitely worth persevering through the start! But the "mega-classic of Montanejos"? Well, we thought that a route in another area of the region deserved that title ... but that's a post for another day.

A New Friend

We called him "Fleabag".

His turf is the parking under Montanejos' new bridge, which is the designated free-camping space for campervans. It's a jealously guarded space, and more than once we heard him doing battle with others who would try to steal the affections of the tourists.

Having this monopoly, and as he's very affectionate, he seems to do quite well for food without the need to bother any pigeons. Fleabag even got some chorizo out of us!
 

Sadly, he chose to stay in Montanejos rather than come travelling. Probably for the best, really, as we'd usually prefer to eat the chorizo ourselves.

Montanejos ... hot springs and limestone crags!

With a series of springs pouring out 25degree water right near town, and with more than 1400 routes, Montanejos seemed pretty perfect!





 

We also thought that it would be a great place to have a break from free camping, as there is meant to be a climbers' refuge there ... however, the place has been renovated and the price had dramatically increased. And so the climbers have disappeared, too.

So after one night there, we moved to the free camping spot across the road and under the bridge. Hey, with hot springs in town, who needs hot showers anyway?!


On that note, though - the air temperature wasn't really conducive to spending too long in a 25degree river. Once in the water, it was hard to get out - and we were wandering around more often than not in our down jackets, and climbing in thermal tops at least.

  
We spent a couple of days cragging, before hitting up some longer routes - but we'll post more about them later! We were pretty impressed by the diversity and sheer number of the routes - grades for all abilities, and single pitch crags to adventurous multipitches, and even a little bit of trad (although we stuck to the bolted ones this time!).

Well, we are on the coast.

So it was time for a Sunday lunch of seafood.

We ate the second course (calamari!) too fast for photography, but you get the general idea.

... but just around the corner!

Siurana is not alone as a climbing destination in the Costa Daurada!

Seeking some easier routes, we also checked out La Mussara right around the corner ... it didn't have the atmosphere of Siurana's campsite, not having a campsite or anything at all as the village has been abandoned for 50 years now, but it made us realise there are plenty of climbing options out there in Spain.

 We're going to need a lot longer in this country!

Siurana ...

We arrived here on the Saturday night of a long weekend ... and quickly realised that free camping in your campervan in the carpark, up near the castle, was de rigueur. The place was packed with local and international climbers, most of whom seemed to be sleeping in their vans - just like us!

Perched on the top of the cliff, Siurana is a very pretty and very tiny town and one of the last places to be "reconquered" from the Moors - the remains of the castle are still there. It's got a climber-friendly campsite, a shop selling local wines and olive oils, a fancy restaurant and B&B, and that's about it.

It has also got a lot of pretty spectacular vertical climbing, on limestone that almost looks like Blue Mountains sandstone ...

... well, if you look at it in the right light and squint a bit.

We had great weather and soon settled into a pattern of waking up late, having a lazy breakfast, before wandering to the crag and climbing until the sun set - then dinner and beers. It was a pattern that was hard to break!

We did one quite average multi-pitch - the first pitch was great, but after that the rock quality deteriorated - so concentrated mainly on pushing our limits on single pitch, sports routes and enjoying the views to the valley below.

The only downside with Siurana? Most of the climbs here are hard. Jen felt very chuffed by onsighting a bunch of 6a's (and leading one overhanging 6a+ with "only a few" rests ...) and while Mark was a bit more in his element, he still got spat off a few routes. Although we're both improving by all this climbing we're doing, if we could climb a few grades harder, we'd probably still be there months and months later ...

Sunsets in Siurana

Some say this is the best place for climbing in Spain. For every day we were there, it certainly had some memorable sunsets.