Access and Approach
From the A697 7km north of Longframlington, take the B6341 (Alnwick Rothbury)
towards Alnwick. After 1 mile there is a layby on the right - Caller Boulders
can be seen on the hillside above the road. The scattered rocks of Edlingham
Crag can currently be seen in the remains of the wood left of the moor.
History
No routes are recorded, even though it has been mentioned in the "Other Crags"
section of the last two editions of the guide. It has been visited by such as
Nev Hannaby, John Earl and Bob Hutchinson, none of whom were known for turning
down new route opportunities, and still lies routeless. This says a lot about
first impressions of the place. The bouldering potential was realised by John
Dalrymple and Bob Smith who found and cleaned several fine problems, both before
and after the felling. During the hot summer of 2006, visits by Cris Graham and
friends have revealed the potential of this venue with some fine problems on
Bobs Cave.
Routes
The rocks consist of a collection of disconnected buttresses on the hillside
above the turning to Edlingham. The hillside has recently been clear felled and
is being left to naturally regenerate. The rocks are arranged roughly in two
tiers; the upper tier consists of some imposing looking buttresses, starting
about half way along, and continuing to the Caller boulders; the lower tier
consists of discontinuous buttresses which start above and to the left of the
gate and run for two thirds the length of the hillside. The lower tier is
described first, then the upper tier. Within each tier, the buttresses and
problems are described from left to right. Buttresses devoid of problems yet
with potential are described, but those which the author considers as utter
rubbish are omitted.
Lower Tier
Approach from the gate and follow old tractor tyre tracks to a path which lies
below the rocks and runs parallel to the road. Upward progress is always easiest
up the old tractor tracks, which were made by the gargantuan machine which ate
up the forest. It's a bit of an art form avoiding the piles of dead trees when
going between buttresses.
Two Arętes
Above and to the left of the gate is a small buttress with a rounded aręte on
the left, an aręte rising out of a cave and a crack and slab immediately right
of that.
White Wall
Immediately above the main roadside gate is a complex buttress with a white wall
capped with an overhang at the bottom right and stepping up leftwards in a
series of caves & overhangs.
Bobs Cave
To the right of white wall is a buttress with an obvious overhanging corner
crack and a large cave to the right. Thanks to Chris Graham of
northumberlandbouldering.co.uk for the descriptions and the cleaning!
1 Left Aręte V2 5b
Feel free to use the slab on the left for your feet. The SS is V5 6a.
2 Central Wall V3 5c
Start in the heart-shaped dish for your right and one of a series of layaways
with your left. Swing for a slopey jug and then the break.
2a. Braveheart V8+ 6c
The difficult sit start in the centre of the wall. Stack your fingers into the
pocket and spend an hour or two trying to get past the dish to finish up problem
2.
3 Deforestation V8 6b *
From a sit start on the large side pulls make a big lock for an edge up and
right. Fight your way to the break and traverse left or jump down.
4 Coronary Bypass V9 6c
Right to left traverse. Start at the crack in the corner and traverse left past
that bloody dish again. Frustrating.
5 Assegai 8m HVS 5a
The off width corner crack is probably a route. Bonus points for:
• Using an arm-bar.
• Laybacking it and not feeling at all guilty at the top.
• Getting 10 cams in it.
• Pulling on mud at the top.
6 East Side Story. V6 6c ***
The exquisite centre of the East face is reminiscent of a poorer problem down
South somewhere. Thin crimping leads to a good break 2 feet below the top. Take
on the mud or finish as for Assegai.
7 Ostalgia V5 6b
The wall left of the aręte. Start in a mono and deep 2-fingered pocket. Make a
strenuous move to get established on the wall and continue carefully up the left
side of the aręte.
Around to the right is a roof, some one and a half body-lengths long followed by
a headwall which reaches 6m in height.
8 Bobs Cave V6 6c ***
SS at the left hand side of the cave, come out and round the lip to finish on a
handhold on the aręte. Classic
9 Springer’s Extension V7 6c ***
Climb Bob’s Cave but continue past the jug, mantelling to gain a standing
position on it. Shake out and finish up the highball aręte in style.
Cave Aręte V4 5c
The aręte from standing.
10 Independence Day V8 6c
The roof and headwall to the right. Start sitting at a jug on the back wall and
make a big move to gain good holds in the roof. Gain a sharp hold on the lip and
mantle over. Finish up the wall above with more ease.
Cave Headwall Centre 5c
The mantle and headwall.
11 Cave Headwall Right V5 5c
The mantle and headwall right again isn’t quite as high. You can now try the
roof from the back (if you are very very light).
12 Independent Link V8 6b
Start in the dark back right hand corner of the cave and follow a line of flakes
across the roof to join Independence Day just after its crux. Finish as for
Independence Day.
Lower Wall
The last buttress in this tier consists of a dirty, featureless vegetated wall
ending in an overhanging aręte at it's right hand end. Past this aręte is a
cracked wall and the buttress ends with a large pile of boulders.
1 Four V0+ 5b ***
A fine problem up the left side of the aręte. From a sitting start under the
aręte, at four strange gouge marks, gain the wall and finish straight up.
The next two buttresses actually lie below the lower tier.
Fox Hole
An overhanging buttress in a hollow 200 metres up and right of the fence
1 Bobs Problem *
Directly up the straight crack from a sitting start.
2 Vixen VB 4c ***
The curved crack. Follow the crackline from a sitting start.
The Obvious Slab
Above and just right of Fox Holes is an obvious 5 metre slab.
Veinous Wall
A 5 metre high wall identified by some vein like protruding seams.
Low Neb
Just right of Veinous Wall, a small neb has a possible problem on it.
Cracked Cave
A large cave with a fierce crack coming out of it. Filled with logs at the
moment.
Two Boulders
A pair of boulders next to each other.
1 V0 5a
The crimpy wall on the left of the left hand boulder.
2 V0 5a *
The slim groove just right of the previous problem.
3 Overhanging Aręte
The overhanging aręte.
4 bobs *
The undercut slab on the left of the right hand boulder.
5 V0- 4b
The right hand side of the right hand boulder via a large hold.
The Alcove
The last buttress in this tier is a slabby affair, split by a crack and with a
square cut alcove at it's lower left hand side.
1 The Alcove V0+ 5a *
SS on the block at the left hand end of the alcove, feet on the slab on the
right. Traverse across to the wall and exit via the crack and slab to its left.
UPPER TIER
Nothing is recorded on the largest buttresses on the left of this tier. The
first problems are on the Golden Oldies buttress, best approached via Caller
Boulders.
Golden Oldies
A longish, clean cut buttress with an overhang at half height and capped by a
boulder in the middle.
1
SS at the leftmost end of the overhang. Straight up.
2 The Other Bob V0 5c *
SS beneath the thin crack in the overhang, finish just left.
3 Older Boulder V0- 5a
SS beneath the left side of the bolder, straight up.
4 Bing Sings V0- 5a *
SS just right of the boulder
5 Walt Disney V0 5a *
SS just left of the tree stump at the right hand end of the overhang. Up and
right to mantlehself the neb.
6 Traverse V0+ 5b
Traverse right to left, feet below the overhang.
Caller Boulders
There are two buttresses beside the fence which are really a part of the group
of boulders called "Caller Boulders" in the main printed Bouldering Guide. The
right hand one is described there. Since they are clearly in the wood they are
also described here!
1 Soil Avalanche V0+ 5b *
The leftmost buttress of this group is split by a deep crack. This problem takes
the thin crack right of this to a tenuous finish. Make sure the top has been
cleaned first!
2 bobs
The rounded aręte right of the crack.
3 V4 6b
Traverse the right hand boulder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axFMafYPP6g
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Northumberland Climbing Guide The definitive guide to climbing routes in Northumberland. Updates available from the NMC here.
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The Northumberland Bouldering Guide The Second Edition of the guide was written and produced by the people who developed the area. Updates available from the NMC here.
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