Gozo or Ghawdex, climbing or living. By Stevie Haston.

Everlasting flowers.© Laurence Gouault.Haston

Things have different names, so do people, when there are different words or we use different names sometimes we get confused and don’t recognize what we are looking at, even if we are staring in the mirror. Plus we can be different for different people, we see their need or different understanding and feed them and wonder where the feast came from when we thought there was nothing in the cupboard.

Has climbing got anything to do with living? Not a funny question for me as that’s all I have ever done it seems. On this Island that has two names where I have been climbing nearly all my living time, the sea and the wind wash away many of questions that don’t really need answers.

‘Did I tell you of my visit to Ghawdex, vulgarly called Gozo. It was a most pleasant one., I drew every bit of it…it's coastal scenery may truly be called Pomskizillous and Grophibberous being as no other words can describe its magnificence’ A guy called Edwin Lear wrote these words a long time ago when Ghawdex not Gozo was even more magnificent  and Majestic than it is today. And by the way Edwin was born on the 12 of May and of course so was I, how renobulous!

These is a particular plant that grows on the island called Maltese Everlasting that may be my favourite flowering shrub, it is endemic to only a few cliffs in the world, and  it has as it's epicenter of total manifest munificence the top of my favourite climbs, how obvious and right is that. So far correct, yeah. Well no, cos it ain't Maltese Everlasting, neither is it Gozo Everlasting, it's gotta be Ghawdex  Everlasting, or more possible Underworld Everlasting.

Salt pan, © Inigo Taylor

As Andrew Marvel said ‘Our vegetable love would grow, vaster than empires and more slow.

The rock on Gozo, Ghawdex or what ever this little rock adrift in the sea of modern Europe is called, is very beau, it's varied and jeweled  with crystals, veined , marbled, has patches of intergalactic Teflon, interspursed with the roughest rock that resembles shark skin, it's damned lovely and really tactile, it feels you. And there we have it, let's Rock. Let's Dance, let's Live.

The incredible lightness of hope, by Stevie pessimistic Haston

Thanks to Inigo for those images, © Inigo Taylor

The island of Gozo where I am is beautiful, it's steadily getting over populated and at the end of May becomes so massively laden with dumb tourists that it is in danger of sinking, my only real hope is that aliens’ will abduct Gozo . Gozo is such a paradox for me,  it’s where I half grew up, where I wanted to get away from real quick and it's probably one of the three countries that I could now live in. For the record I could live in Northern Italy, southern France, and Gozo. Gozo isn’t even really a country unless it’s a country in your heart it's supposed to be part of Malta but the people are fiercely independent  and idiosyncratic. 

The rock on Gozo is fiercely beau, the sea is twenty shades of blue and another 50 of green, the light rebounds from clouds and sky to sea and back again creating lovely hues of perpetual hope and happiness. The sunsets are a pleasure that you want to stretch, so like Ulysses you don’t leave. Today I was on a stellar project called Phantom Lover it's so wonderful that I wish it was a  weird exercise machine, a perpetual route ,a fit climbers hamster cage wheel, the eternal pumpathon.

Anyway I have decided to hope that things turn out well for this planet, simply because it's good to be positive, and some people around me have given me pleasure. My daughter Kate came to climb with me, she escaped her responsibilities as a mum for a week and cheered me up with her enjoyment of the routes here.  I hope to climb with her more.

A while ago I decided to loose weight and it's slowly happening, this has given me hope that I might climb well again. For those of you who are trying to loose weight, it's worth it. You will feel light and start to fly, you won't be anchored to the ground. Keep at it. It's good to climb again. As part of the plan I have been doing Martial arts again and at one of the classes was surrounded by police officers, not generally my favourite people, I was pleasantly surprised how lovely and gentle they were, this gave me hope and reminded me not to judge people by their uniform or job or other detail. Anyway the Moon was big and bright the sun has been shining, the plants are green and bursting, the flowers are smiling and things are all roses (actually hibiscus) in my garden.

Hope you all have a great spring do good routes meet lovely warm people and have more fun and sucesss. The photo of the Turkish flag by Inigo is to remimd me that a smile is a crescent moon. The moon was upside down the other week smiling like mad, it was a good week.

Gozo Chalice, by Stevie supplicant Haston

Climbing on Gozo keeps giving me solace. A week ago I was depressed, today ecstatic !! The ordinary day becomes something more, by chance, the chance is Gozo, and it's called choice. You choose, or you loose.

Yesterday Katie visited the Underworld, and did 3 great routes, The gift of small things, The Kinky Dwarf  and Styx and Stoners, all 3  stars routes, all unique.

Today we went to Sopu Tower and Inigo wanted to take photos. With truth I didn’t, but you know you got to compromise and in the compromising we got a first ascent of  a route called The Inflatable Madonna 6c, poor rock leading to perfect bridging over a huge  chasm. 

Inigo tried to do it but  was defeated by careless and cavalier cleaning. We also did an ascent of Chalice of Malice 7a which despite its low grade. Continues to shock.

Thank you,

Have a nice day.