A Dawes Darkly, by Stevie Haston.

Just read a brill little interview of Jonny Dawes in UKclimbing! It was very sweet, it celebrated his success on an 8b+ slab, now then for me even at his age of 54, I don't find this a great surprise Jonny is a whizz on slabs! The big surprise was he has found some health, as he has got a name to his problem and found some solutions. Anyway its a good little read about the big small man!

Mr Dawes lost some flab and clearly climbed well, but there was an underlying tale of joy, joy is important in climbing, joy gives us wings! Well done Dawes, fly up some more routes.

Tin Tin climbs Tin Tin swims, by Stevie Haston.

Being tired, it was hard to get up for the delivery of a lost air line bag, but it had two sets of regulators and some climbing gear in it, so we got up. The previous day we had traveled 900km on a bus, zipped around Cairo in its polluted fog and managed to nearly miss our flight. Next we changed flights at Istanbul Airport, where with out some rugby like tactics from me against some very patient travellers in a mind boggling collection of waiting people we would have missed our connecting flight! I elbowed people aside very gently while apologising in various languages, some people even had the temerity to argue with me, these were ignored and we got through the line and ran to our plane-we got it! Politeness is a virtue, but some times elbows work very well, that line was over an hour long we did it in two mins. 

Today I went climbing with these two and had a great time, they hadn't forgotten anything and their  "months rest" from climbing had somehow put a bit of accuracy into their foot work.  A lovely mornings climbing. We missed the rain which just started after I walked up the hill to our flat-brill climbing -loved it. Mind you it didn't hurt that I'd lost a few kgs of lard with all the swimming.

Two hobbits at the bottom of Everlasting - a big pitch of 45 meters!

This photo is for Said, ZiZoo, Achmed, and Abdulla, it's of friendly Maltese Jellyfish. 

  
This is my new friend Said, we are a bit off the coast, looking for a spot I'd found with some sharks, he thinks I am joking, but I don't joke sometimes.

Do you like Dolphins? I like Dolphins and they like me! I saw three in Cornwall last winter but they didn't hang around much. I swam once in India with an uncountable number of them, the sea was alive and the air was too, they where everywhere, that was unforgettable, but old men can forget, and I am old, so it was good to do it again. These are on this last trip, they were all around me, you are not supposed to touch them so I didn't.

you need to do certain things-you need to go where the eagle soars, you need to go where the Dolphin jumps and plays, and you need to climb. I saw some lovely mountains in Egypt, I would like to scramble up some ridges there and stare across the desert.
I need to do some pull ups. Instead of swimming a Kilometre I want to climb a kilometre. Time to do some finger work. If any body is interested I did four sets of pull ups after climbing; 25, 20, 15, 10. I need to do that with a 20 kg weight belt. But hey my friends I need to go back to the sea and talk to the fishes. 
So if any of you guys out there need to learn something about climbing, or do some adventure swimming, or snorkelling please contact me. I need money to be with the Eagles and the Fishes.

Injury free in the Red Sea. by Stevie Haston.

So I have had a bit of a shoulder problem for a few years which has got worse. My advice was to have it operated on, this I was very reluctant to do. It has caused me so much pain that it was hard to enjoy climbing, but how can you not breath, how can you not be?

 The last time I climbed well, Bernd 8b+.

There is hardly any pain now! I don't want to Jinx it but I have done the odd set of pull ups and can swim for hours on end. Fingers and shoulders crossed. Anyway I was in the Red sea for a month, talking to the fishes, swimming at least 2 and a half hours daily. Back in Gozo now and raring to climb! 

 One of my grandchildren, notice she is wearing a helmet!

 In a roadside cafe near the Sudanese border! Wondering what rocks are around!

 We went Scuba and free dive, both good.

 A giant Moray, bigger than a good meaty thigh! 

poor eye sight, no shoulder problems.

"I have seen things" says the sad creature that is the replicant in Blade Runner. But I have, and I am grateful. From Kestrels to the biggest vultures, from snow leopards to Bin cats in Malta. But if you haven't climbed a good ice fall, or seen Red sea Coral, what use is it "standing on the shoulder of Orion". Red Sea Coral is a drug, a very powerful drug. I swam with sharks, and dolphins and, and, and.