Ciro's Blog: Taking a holiday from the holiday.

It's been a funny few weeks - the climbing has been ticking along nicely, but after a fairly long period where I felt happy and settled, my moods started swinging wildly again. I suppose it was always to be expected, but it's pretty frustrating.

Highlights have been a quick send (4th go) of Festa Fortre (7c) at Margalef, onsighting the magnificent Fiesta De Los Biceps (6c+/7a) at Riglos, and an epic ascent of the easy (6b) route up El Puro - where the three of us made enough mistakes for a week's climbing, but managed to emerge laughing in the end.

After Riglos I headed to Rodellar, but was starting to feel a bit battered, both mentally and physically. I had a good time getting on some old projects - Gracias Fina, Kings of Metal and Made in Mascun all feel doable now - but I was finding it really difficult to relax away from the crag.

Last weekend someone damaged a water pipe in the car park at Rodellar, and the police came round taking pictures of all the vans, so fearing a fine for illegal camping we thought it might be a good idea to go somewhere else for a couple of days.

It was a good thing for me to get away anyway, and after two days climbing with Stephane and Frank in Alquezar I decided to hang around and take a break. Aside from the climbing (which I definitely want to return to some time), the village is really stunning, and there's currently no problem with parking up. I suspect it would be a rather different story in high season, but with most of the climbing south facing, it really seems like an ideal winter destination. I think you want to be climbing pretty hard to get the most out of it though - there's some stunning roof climbing here.

It was a great place to sit and contemplate things. I did seriously consider jacking the trip in and heading back to the UK, but after a week of nothing but yoga and guitar, I'm feeling a bit refreshed in body and mind, so decided to turn back for Rodellar... having come this far it would be a shame to give up before I got properly fit ;)

Just to make sure I couldn't change my mind, I popped into Huesco today for some climbing related retail therapy....