Castle Inn climbing

Crag: Castle Inn Quarry
Routes: Nain (f4:led), Cariad (f5:led), Hidden Gem (f4a:led), Wilderness Wall (f5a:led), Butterfly Blue (f4:led)
Although this very short session was squeezed into the last 90 minutes of daylight, surprisingly warm sunshine lit the crag and it was very nice to reacquaint myself with real rock after the usual months of winter inactivity. John was making a short trip to the UK, and as I had introduced him to climbing a few years ago, I thought it would be nice to take him again. After a refresher tutorial, we did a couple of easy routes, finding the mantelshelf on Cariad surprisingly tricky, although a pleasant sun-drenched arete lies above. John enjoyed the longer easy 'ridge' taken by Hidden Gem, and the slightly more technical routes on the slab to the right: delightfully lit by the setting sun. The plan had then been to run to the Cwm Dulyn bothy, but we'd run out of time so opted instead for a five mile blast along the estuary, using the Parkrun route to Deganwy with an extension around the bird reserve.