The Old Man Of Hoy.Old Man Of Stoer.A climbing trip borne out of a marriage of evolving plans for a family get-together and some long-standing climbing goals. Over a year ago, we had planned a reunion involving my Mom and our family living in the UK. Due to our nephew’s school recess, the timing was fixed but the destination turned out to be a moving target. Once we had finally settled on the UK, the rest of the pieces quickly fell into place: we’d spend the first week of our vacation climbing by ourselves in Scotland and then join the rest of our clan down in Wales for a weeklong bonanza of family time, sightseeing, and perhaps a spot of (additional) climbing.
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Old Man Of Stoer.Am Buachaille.We’ve been wanting to climb some of the Scottish sea stacks ever since I had first seen a photo of The Old Man Of Hoy some 15 years ago. Though our Scotland climbing wishlist had only three entries, the odds of success were long given the typically unstable weather, our short vacation time, and the geographic dispersion of the goals.
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A Dream Of White Horses.Lighthouse Arete Direct.In Wales, we wanted to sample some of the classic British sea cliff climbing at Gogarth on the Island of Holyhead. We actually had a quick trip to this area planned and booked for Memorial Day back in 2020 but, for some reason, Delta had cancelled on us.
British Road Trip: In via Inverness, followed by the Orkney Islands and then the north coast of Scotland. Then down to Isle of Anglesey in Wales and out via Heathrow (May 2024).
