I'm a woman

I'm a woman
Photos copyright Laurence Gouault
No reproduction on other media without the photographer's permission.

Monday 30 April 2018

Teaching climbing, by Stevie the Coach Haston.

Teaching climbing isn't easy, teaching full stop I suppose is hard, but teaching climbing is a bit complicated at times to say the least. What I love and don't complain about are people who have an innate love for it and just want this nurtured in reasonable way.


 The easy way in to Titan, 5a, 4c, 5b, 6a.  I need to sort out Titan, to make it safer, more enjoyable. Its a route for tasting and savouring as it will be in the shade in the early morning when your feet will feel they are in a soupy mess if your in the sun! Plus pain will be found in the sun, it bites here on this island from now on.


 Enjoying it more because your relaxed is key, Christina.

 Getting easier eh Mandy?

 Big abseil for Christina, confidence makes it cool!The venue today was hard to decide on , a big swell was coming in and its hot, but really it had to be back here, just so we could reinforce some lessons.

 This was the sombre side, sloping pockets and a sandy texture make things a bit more adverse. But this side you see no one, like the Dark side of the Moon.

Happy girls. 
On the first route the waves were jumping higher than our heads periodically. It was so good to be there, thanks to the cliff the sea and Christina and Mandy for being such good students.

Saturday 28 April 2018

The Long good bye, by Stevie Hello Haston.

So its getting hot, too hot to trot on the rocks in the sun. Time to take to the shade. Looking at photos I took swimming the other day and looking after Barbara on her hour long swims, I saw something staring at me!

 Discover the outside by staying in ! Freedom to do nuffing is given to you all the time. Drug your self up with other peoples high adventure when its there around the corner. Anyway, you know what I'am saying, do something! I say it myself and its easy to do nuffing.

 Any one want to adopt, my country which is a little bit back to front on some things, doesn't want you to abort, but it doesn't actually give you a living wage to pay the rent, or look after a child.

 So I saw it, it has been there all the time, maybe many millions of years! The Long Good bye, thee long traverse, over 2 kilometres long. I have done bits! But putting it together will take a bit of working out!



 A section of rock on the Long Traverse.

 Hiding from the sun in an alcove 60 meters down the cliff, and 15 meters above the water, this is accessed by some climbing, the dog failed to get here, we left him on the Traverse of the Dogs, grade Dog 3.

 This section accesses Titan wall which then accesses Fossil ledges, which then is the access for the Underworld.

As Grace Jones might have said "Pull up to the Oyster Baby".

Anyway I need bolts and I need glue and I am fed up of cleaning my cliffs up, and the ocean for some of you people! If you have any spare money, please donate. If you want to contribute, hire me as a guide, I put some of my earnings into keeping it all real.

Thursday 26 April 2018

Titan and soft terror, by Stevie Haston.

So it was to Sector Titan, I went with Irish Alex. Sector Titan only has one amenable route, the rest are hard core, but even Titan packs it in! With routes up to 8a and big exposure Titan is a bit of a bargain at 5a and 6a for its respective pitches.

 the approach to Sector titan involves an odd crawl along a letterbox way above the sea, and then a 55 meter abseil!

 the Abseil or rappel is a bit overhanging and committing!

 Irish Alex is there at 11 o'clock from my pointy Scarpa shoe, sadly they discontinued this shoe, Iave done a crazy amount of climbing in these shoes!

 Alex taking his own sweet time on a very easy traverse section of Titan.

Second big Abseil of the day we did three, this one 60 meters!

Alex had unfinished business with a route called Everlasting -a 43 meter pitch which seems crazy when you look at it. He did great on it! Next was the infamous Styx and Stoners, a route that has humiliated many. It did not let us down. We ambled off through the flowery ledge and up a fisherman's route to finish. A good solid day out.

Monday 23 April 2018

Paradise regained, by Stevie content Haston.

Gozo is feeling good, Gozo is looking good, Gozo felt, how you say in your language, "garumpha mogglespiffing!" Its at its best, hunting season is over (thank all the gods), it's still green with flowers, and I saw a huge heron, flapping over me, and two big adult serious Baracudas in the water!

 Christina and Mandy today enjoying their first sea cliff climbing!

A slightly full day! Early stuff, then beat the tourists to the cliff to get the silent mood thing going. Perfect routes!


 Mandy going wow!

The Baracudas cruised by, the ladies missed the first one and I was loath to talk about it in case they thought it was a fisherman's tale, but then the second one of the pair, came along to give me some credibility! Thank you Mr Baracuda! He even took a small fish! 

 Cristina going "wow, can we swim here?"

The North coast was really fine, but I had to rush over to the south coast for a swim with Barbara. A bit different from Irish cold water, eh?
  

Barbara cruising.
So a nice day, tomorrow Sector Titan early before it turns into an inferno.

Sunday 22 April 2018

Cliffs below, cliffs above. By Stevie Haston.

Today was a busman's holiday for me, I went Kayaking, with the family. 

I been climbing a lot but my shoulder cuts like a knife into a nerve at the moment, so I thought I'd try for a different angle on the pain today!  


 Your supposed to listen to your instructor, so I duly didn't, and capsized! The Instructor  complimented me on my escape from a capsized Kayak, and then used me as an instructional example.
.

We had two instructors in a small group, very good, we were all treated superbly, but hey I know these guys, and they would do the same for anybody. Nice instructors Will and Michael.


 A crazy rock Arch, lots of caves, and some mirror like surfaces with a strange wide apart swell from time to time on the east side.

 Me and Will picked up a bit of rubbish, but there is so much because this tourist site is such a glorious honey pot. It really needs a floating dustman on a jet ski rather than part time volunteers.

 It was a fairly big day for me, run with the dogs in the early morning, then the Comino classic Kayak journey, then an hours swimming, and free diving.

 Florence from Belgium.

I swum around the east facing Santa Maria Caves, and the swell made it pretty hairy. Lots of bubbles and fizz in the water. I took some air cave canals slots at a rush before declining head room due to the swell made the odd dive compulsory! A bit too exiting. I did the subterranean arch, and Zorro cave. Zorro cave I was too scared to do from one side because I couldn't really see the entrance due to bubbles, and fizz. So I looked at it from the other side, and miscalculated the current, and incoming swell. Result was a dramatic stop half way through, where I was diving against a glass wall! Funny, obviously in retrospect. 

Lovely day as usual thanks to Gozo Adventures and Cornil.

Wednesday 18 April 2018

The War must go on forever, By Stevie Pacifist Haston.

The War is not made to be won, it's meant to go on for ever! If you haven't read 1984 you need to, if you have read it and don't understand it, get one of your children to. If one of your children can't, you shouldn't have had them. I make no apologies for being upset about the failure of our governments to act in the correct way. I make no apologies for being angry and actively getting pissed off at the stupidity of todays majority, or their total abdication of morality in favour of football, food and digital fucking.


 I love the disappearing beauty of this planet and the disappearing people who want to enjoy it.

 Exploding  a wet suit!
 A bit of bare foot climbing, makes you appreciate climbing dancing shoes, but is nice from time to time!

I have been climbing almost constantly, not diving much. But yesterday I had to fit in some climbs, and a clean up. One was for the War against passing out, t'other was against plastic and rubbish in the sea!


 You need to read not bleed.

I went climbing with a guy called Patrick, who has a slight problem with being awake! The poor climber passes out when climbing occasionally! Gripes. Anyway he wanted to do a sea cliff classic, and I said yes. We did some climbs then an abseil, then a classic climb above the sea, very exposed etc. His smile was so big it illuminated the sea arch on this otherwise dull day. Brill. Motto of the story, full concousness isn't all its cracked up to be, just ask big politicians.


 25 Divers and a few on the beech with Xlendi divers on Gozo. Another clean up was done on the North Coast with a big beech clean up and more divers!

 So a quick change in a telephone box and into diving gear for the clean up. I forgot my gloves, and it got cold on an hour long dive collecting rubbish.

We saw some barracudas, one pipe fish and a fish I didn't recognise, it looked like another red sea fish!


The war on rubbish will never be won, it's not meant to. People earn money out of  lots of bad things, Plastic is made from oil,  oil is the prime mover of armies! Plastic is oil, oil is money. Get on the right side please.