Brean Down Reel
A perfunctory potter along the Brean Down coast while observing random oddities dating from the 60s to the 2000s
Simon Fletcher on The Keel (V0), Half-Battleship Block
A gun emplacement at the Napoleonic fort on the tip of Brean Down. During the late 1950s and early 1960s many small cliffs were explored in the immediate vicinity of the fort by this man…
John Hone was a Cotham Grammar School teacher, climbing instructor, and scoutmaster who was drawn to explore beyond Avon and Cheddar. Amongst his finds the short sound sea-washed cliffs at the western end of the Down proved a perfect environment for passing on his love of climbing to younger generations.
Copies of the first topos to cliffs at the western end of the Down, hand-drawn in ‘96. They were stuck at the back of a Jenkin-Captained supplement, behind the sport climbs. It’s curious that others had not furthered the development of these cliffs before the mid-90s. Apart from their ‘privacy’ (much lauded by Hone), one added bonus here is the deep water soloing – so long as you keep your butt out of the rip currents.
The Ballet Russes Wall, one of the many obscure faces far beyond the heaving sport routes of the Boulder Cove. All these routes were originally on-sight soloed, but there's gear available throughout, and the grades are mild.
Winter sunshine, space, and serenity: Simon Fletcher enjoying the mix on gorgeously textured rock.
This is the mini-classic Ghost Road (V0+) near Black Point, climbed in the 90s (or possibly before). The neighbouring cliffs were ‘worked out’ by the early noughties. Some might call much of it 'dross' but equally there's lots of harmless fun on fossil tubes and rough jugs.
The RapStack, one of the more substantial cliffs hereabouts which sports a bunch of tightly packed very-highballs, best headpointed. The usual descent is via a hand-traverse to a groove on the right (which is ominously overhung by this rock-bridge - which you dare not cross!).
Simon Fletcher about to Bend for the Money (HVS, or E1 to solo) just to the east of The RapStack.
A personal favourite: this is the Groove Boat Cave, with some engaging solos and bouldering, developed in 2001. The routes get a mention in the CC guidebook, but not the boulder problems, such as........
Love Jugs, a V4+ traverse, which reserves much of the passion for the finish where there is less to hang onto.
and Fooled by Foot and Mouth (E1 5b/V0+), also in the Groove Boat Cave area.
One of the weirdest - like climbing up fossiliferous frosted pink icing - this is the Deal or No Deal Buttress. The eponymous crack, and the slab of Rise of the Mutant Rat just to its left, might get a few ascents if it were not for the hawthorn and veg cornice.
The Nose (HS), not far from the sport routes; an aerobic solo or lead at HS 4a on fab rock.
Nearby is the Half-Battleship Boulder with its Keel (V0) (Simon Fletcher in action). An escalating V5 traverse (Hemline Traverse) and a V4 (Mutsu) are amongst the problems to starboard.
It’s rare to see anyone exploring on this stretch. But there are all sorts of strange goings on hereabouts: Pool Wall, Loan Shark, the Crock Monsieur et Madame Buttress, and so on and so forth. It’s a great place to unwind on its esoteric bouldering and mostly unpublished solos and trad routes – which contrasts with what lies just around the corner……….
This is Boulder Cove (and, yes, more red t-shirts), a popular spot suited to a sunny winter’s day. Matt Ward (1st) and I started the sport climbing here in the late-80s. We weren’t convinced we were doing the right thing, though our initiative came years before bolt policies. Therefore we used every effort to utilise available natural protection, but there wasn't a lot of that on the bulging compact walls of Boulder Cove. Hence some routes started out with only spaced bolts, like.....
Chepito (F6c+), which is now fully bolted. Adjacent is Coral Sea, Brean’s first proper sport route which Matt described in his original description as: ‘One of Brean’s better protected routes, hence likely to become popular’.
There’s also some bouldering on both the main cliff and its trad right wing. This is the V1 start of Enter Uranus (E4 5c), which enjoys a 'Moons of Pluto finish' on projecting pebbles.
Traverse of the Waves (V0-); Jonathan Crocker climbing – fearing wet feet.
Heading eastwards again the mood changes as you cower under the towering cliffs of Great Corner Cove – a big chunk of Brean’s trad heritage boasting three monster lines.
The hardest of which is Cove Arête (E6), which I climbed in 1994. It shoots straight up the hanging edge above the black crusty groove of The Fog (1985) and must be. Brean's most exposed route. I never did apologise for nicking the concept from Ian Parnell. Pic: Carl Ryan
The massive corner is indeed a Great Corner (E1 5a); a typically fuzzy scan from an 80s slide. It was pretty popular in the 70s and 80s, but ascents are less frequent now. Pity to miss out; the protection is all there, just about, and you'll already understand the rock's foibles from the sport routes.
By contrast ascents of Bones Chimney (E4 5c) have always been rare, but rarely forgotten. Once you've mastered the shattered cave and kicked steps up a landslide, all is well and solid in an invigorating chimney. Thank Pat Littlejohn for this one.
At the base of the wall is one of Brean’s oldest and best bouldering zones. Pre-eminent is a testing traverse, which I did in 2001 during the foot and mouth crisis when the countryside was closed down by knee-jerk bureaucracy. Brean was one of the few crags ‘legally’ accessible. The name……
Cycle of Despair (V7) hints at the psychosis caused, mitigated only by a ‘moves manual’ in case memory faded between visits. The 8a+ grade was an attempt at a French sport grade (I didn’t understand font grades). Anyway, that's enough waffle when - like many other things at Brean - people consider the probability that it was ‘climbed years ago’.
This is Zany (V3), powerful off a good pocket; with a few moves shared by Cycle’. The curious zone of pebbles and pockets just to the right is The Zone (V4).
And this is Judas Kiss a brilliant and extending V5 (or maybe harder), that humours rotator cuff injuries. The obvious V-groove to the right is Scope It! (V3). Both reverse perilously to the pebbles via the shaky corner on the left.
In front is an isolated block containing a technical traverse, where silky footwork by Beverley Crocker and others get the job done.
Further to the east is the trad Ocean Wall, described by the Climbers' Club guide of 2004 as ‘probably the showpiece of the Down’. It’s a fine sheet of rock – of great quality once the initial black crud is overcome. Again, ascents are head-scratchingly few, but climbing orbits in 25-year cycles and maybe things will change soon!? Lots of high calibre routes here, one of the finest being...
Pandora’s Box. This section of Brean Down is best known for its easier classics which still take traffic. Pandora’s Box forges up the unmistakeable corner, with plentiful gear almost all the way. Here, Terry Cheek is opening the box; pic by Carl Ryan.
But most of the routes on Ocean Wall are much harder, like L’attraction Fatale (E6, F7c). First ascent pic by Matt Ward.
and The Beast Unleashed (E5); first ascent in 1985. Pic Crocker coll (Gordon Jenkin)
At the western end of Ocean Wall is the deep rift of Reindeer Rift, often pigeon-filled, which climbers know as Cyclops Cave. There’s some nice bouldering on the rift walls and a bunch of highballs around to the left on a wall dedicated to Jane Fonda. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and Back (V0+) has to be repeatedly reversed to escape from the problems, the best of which is The Launch (V3), the bold arête direct. Pic: Matt Ward.
And this is a sexagenarian not to be missed. It's the elegant if nervy Cyclops Slab (HVS) which, in 1964, John Hone rated as ‘One of the hardest routes in the Mendips.’
Matt Ward's first words in his article for Mountain magazine in 1987 were: 'The sun always shines on Brean.' He lied. There's no sun on Axe Quarry, a north-facing bite out of Brean's backside which supplies six nutty sport routes facing T4 on the Beach. Here the dip of the beds will see you hanging desperately onto slopers, pumping inexorably towards meltdown or success. (The above pic needs lines. But the topo I drafted after two new tinkers in 2010 went AWOL.)