Bwlch y Moch climbing

Crag: Craig Bwlch y Moch, Tremadog
Routes: Smarter than the Average Bear (VS 4c:sec), Yogi p.2 (VS 4b), Shere Khan (S:led), Mr Ranger (VS 4c:sec), Valerie's Rib Direct (HS 4a,4a:led p.1)
Broke the late afternoon journey to Tremadog with a truly delightful run from Aber, from the coast to the Falls, then along the foot of Moel Wnion to pick up the Foel Fras race descent. Blue sky above, deep blue sea below. Startled a party of German schoolchildren on this very obscure path! Later on, I met Vic at Eric's cafe for an evening of climbing, and we did a few short, easy routes on the right of the main crag: just concentrating on mileage, using hybrids of various different routes to good effect. I followed Vic up the variant left of the Yogi arete (which I last did 20 years ago) to begin. This gives some nice delicate moves and we continued up the variant finish to Yogi, up the rough, crystalline crack which splits the final slab. Abbed off, and I led the very easy Shere Khan: this supposedly had a nice finish up the headwall, but I could only find a vegetated groove. It looked awful, so I continued further right and belayed just below the Yogi arete so Vic could lead the pleasant finishing groove of Smarter at 4c. Mr Ranger is a cleaned and surprisingly good pitch which takes the obvious corner to a short slab, then a steep but juggy crack which joins Yogi higher up. We were moving quickly and efficiently, so we nipped round to the old classic Valerie's Rib for a finale. This is perhaps the closest climb to the cafe, and I opted for the direct start, which is a useful way of extending the route. A slabby corner, huge holds, leads to big blocks and easy climbing to the normal start. The moves across to the arete were as delightful as I remembered them from 20 years ago: perfectly placed holds allow for a delicate traverse across two grooves and give access to a ledge on the crest of the rib. I then followed the right wall of the groove taken by the Direct variant for a bit, but moved right quite quickly to take in the lovely climbing on the normal route. A good evening's work, so we retired to the Ship for pie and pint.