Kim, a good friend from Bristol is visiting and her friend Kevin also just for the day. Kevin was keen to progress to lead climbing, having seconded loads of routes and a holder of the CWA award.

So after a chat about crag and route options, Kevin chose a single pitch crag, Long Scar. An ideal place to start with a wide variety of climbs on excellent rock.

Kim is an experienced climber and instructor so she talked Kevin through placements whilst I set up a static line. Once in place it was time for Kevin to rack up and take to the rock.

He cruised up a diff and 2 vdiff''s whilst I provided input on movement strategy and protection options. At the top of each route we discussed anchors for making a belay and safety at the top of the crag.

The day was finished with a fine lead of a Hard Severe by Kim.

Me, Deb, and Erja had made plans to go to Eskdale for some climbing. I had a few crags to check out for the guidebook, Deb was keen to climb more over in the beautiful Eskdale, and Erja I think was just happy to not be at work!

The day was hot, well actually it was extremely hot. After some bracken bashing to find the crags we decided it was too hot to climb (a rare thing indeed for the Lake District).

So instead we decided to cool off in the mighty Esk Gorge. Well it would be rude not to right.

This is a trip we now offer for customers who have some previous experience in gorges and so I was especially keen to become ever more familiar with it as a complete trip, including timings and all those logistical things. Time well spent and all that.