Columba McLaughlin What a night it was on Sunday 27th August 2000. Margaret and Alan played host and hostess to a crowd of drunken ejits. Whilst Anthony listened intently, Marty gave a few tunes on the guitar and accompanied others on the spoons, Alan played the banjo and Frankie demonstrated his talent on the tin whistle and Irish pipes. I sang out of tune, Mary did her party piece and Pete and Sally had a Welsh duet. The booze poured until about 4.30am and the cráic was great.

Well oiled we went for deep sleep. Next morning the wains were up early and rattling on the window. Marty and Mary had done a bunk, Frankie had a good scratch, I was sleep walking and Pete had a severe hangover. Margaret made breakfast and El Presidente was planning the day's climbing on Crag X [pic] at Galavoir Point. By 12 noon we had kind of sobered up (except Pete), Frankie had gone to see about a boat and talk about lobsters and funny coats. So Alan, Andrew, Sally Cook and myself went of the Galavoir Point in Glengad.

The sun was shining. Alan first took us to view crag X and he immediately marked out his potential climbs. Then to warm up, Alan took us to the Glengad wall and he led 'Salty Dog' (severe) I followed him, Sally came next and Andrew followed suit. It is a 3 star route for a severe grade.

Next it was over to the lower rocks and Andrew led the excellent 'Clawhammer' (VS 4b) and we all followed. Next it was the over stretched but excellent 'Raw Hand' (VS 4c) and the troop followed. That was the warm up. We then repaired to Crag X for some pre-planned business. We immediately set to work cleaning some routes and digging the turf out of others. Whilst Sally and I cleaned and climbed a new route called 'Ledge' (V.Diff), Alan and Andrew had cleaned and climbed another (as yet unnamed) route which is either HS or VS standard. Description to follow.

Frankie joined the company at this point but decided to sun bathe [Pic] (well he needs a break every now and then). When Sally and I had come down from our climb, I spied Andrew about half way up another new (as yet unnamed) route at V.Diff grade. So I hitched a run up it as well. At the top Alan asked me to do an inspection abseil on another route he had cleaned. It looked enticing and he asked me to second him. It is a good climb (not yet named) and warrants at least a Severe grade. I'm sure that Alan will give full descriptions of these climbs in due course. By this stage we were sobered up and duty done, Alan and Andrew went for a swim and a sun bathe. Meanwhile Sally and I cleaned and climbed 'Cracker' (Severe), a neat little mover up the middle of an aréte to a pinnacle and a sideways step onto and up a short twin crack system.

After that we went back to Alan's house to thank Margaret for their hospitality. A great day in brilliant sunshine and 5 new climbs. Descriptions of the routes Sally and I did are below.

Crag X at Galavoir Point (Glengad, Inishowen)
Cracker (Severe) 15 metres: Columba McLaughlin and Sally Cook 28/8/00 On the right hand side of the crag is an obvious arete. Climb this directly to the top of the pinnacle. Step to your right onto a small foothold and reach deeply into the left-hand side of the obvious twin cracks for a good hold. Climb the cracks, treating the three jammed blocks on the left hand side with suspicion.
Ledge (V.Diff) 15 metres: Columba McLaughlin and Sally Cook 28/8/00 1 metre left of Cracker is an obvious corner. Climb this on small ledges to a large ledge on your left. Finish up the obvious crack in the wall above.

Slán go foill, Columba