The Adventure at Brazil Rock

What a wonderful day Wednesday 21 August was. It was warm and sunny and dry. Perfect conditions!

Donna Ryan and myself (Billie Wilkinson) headed off for an afternoon of solid unadulterated climbing. We found a place to park the car and headed off towards the crag. I remembered vaguely that the last time I had walked to Brazil Rock the way had been smooth and easy. This walk with Donna though was not! It was hairy!! Donna swore that it was the most direct route – a short cut!! What a lie!!! After struggling over rusty barbed wire fences, following treacherous overgrown paths which were located on the very edge of the cliffs and scrambling over loose stone walls, we came across the “real” path!! Thank god for that too … attempting to climb over walls with a heavy pack on your back is incredibly unbalancing!

So we arrived at the crag exhausted!! After a short rest in the sun with the waves gently lapping the rocks we decided to attempt a couple of climbs. Now, just to set the scene … Brazil Rock is a veritable jungle of horrid prickly brambles that disguise rocks and nasty, sneaky potholes that are just waiting to grab at you and pull you down into their grim dark depths! You can imagine how we felt!!

The first climb we decided on was called Broadbinns Emporium. Although nice and clean higher up, was completely overtaken by the vicious brambles at the bottom. So we moved onto another one which was called Albambra. I attempted to lead this one, but gave up. This had a nasty, brambly bottom to it as well. So after that one we quickly moved around the corner to a climb called Cap Gun Corner. The brambles were much kinder to this climb and had basically left it alone. Donna led this one easily and fluidly and I must say I really enjoyed climbing it too. The only disturbing thing was the ant’s nest at the belay point. Angry ants move quickly and in great numbers!! After this success (not with the ants!!), we moved right along to The Hustler. No brambles here either ... very nice indeed. Donna led this one too and was climbing confidently and solidly. The climb is rather woolly, that is covered in a sort of green furry algae, and unfortunately her foot slipped on this stuff. She cut her finger in the process and the amount of blood it produced was stunning. It dripped profusely for some time. Donna casually flicked it onto the rocks, so next time you are down there look out for it!

It was a brilliant day in great company! Though, I think a whipper snipper would be an absolute necessity … just to get rid of the vegetation!!