Hi all =)

We are now in Rodellar, which is a few hundred clicks north-west of Barcelona. We arrived here on the 26th, so have been here over a week now... We had to catch a cab out here from the nearest town with a huge amount of groceries plus our gear! One of the downfalls of not having a car, but now we are here it's fine without one.

It's a small village of a couple of hundred people perched on the edge of an huge gorge, the community is almost completely based here for the amazing climbing downstairs in the gorge. The people are all mainly spanish hippies or climbing bums, so it would definitely go a long way to speak better Spanish but alas, my spanish is complete s***...

We have a small contingent of Australians here again though, which is pretty cool. There's a couple here who were in Ceuse with us for most of the month we were there- Nathan and Heather. Both of them are very strong climbers, Nathan is probably up there as one of Australia's strongest climbers ever, having done a lot of the hardest grade routes at home. Here he is attempting some really hard climbs as well. It's sweet to hang out and feed off his super-psyched nature. They are a nice chilled couple so very easy to hang with. We have also been rejoined by Hugh and Nicky, the couple we met in Tonsai and ran into again at Ceuse.

The climbing here is very, very different to anything I have experienced... very sharp angled walls sometimes 30-50 degrees overhanging with long routes which makes for insanely powerful and physical climbing. The walls are heavily featured with giant tufas (like a big pipeline or column attached to the walls) which boggle the mind when approaching them to climb! It is a style which requires hard work (and aching muscles) to get used to, as Ceuse was definitely not as power-based or foreign which means we are not in great shape for this sort of stuff. However the power is coming, and I can feel the comfort levels on the rock increasing as well, as it was relatively scary to approach at first.

The gorge has a river through it which is clean and clear, so we can swim after the day's climbing or on rest days. It's also packed with blackberry bushes down there, and we are stuffing ourselves most days with handfuls of those things... so good! There is a climber's bar which does really good, cheap food, last night we had huge pieces of fresh roast lamb... it's really hard to resist going there every night, as we climb till maybe 8:30 or 9 most days and cooking always seems like such hard work. Still much cheaper to cook unfortunately...! =(

My plans have changed slightly, and will probably change again soon but for now I think I'll stay here in Rodellar for the month or so, then fly down to Seville for a big Flamenco festival. Then check out southern Spain, Morocco, Italy for a bit and then to Canada around November. Reubs will probly stay around here up north, I just want to check out some more stuff before the cash dies.... I'm in the process of applying for a Canadian work visa so should be all sweet! This way I should arrive in Canada with some remaining funds (hopefully) instead of burning through it all climbing here till next year or something. If anyone has any recommendations for southern Spain+Morocco etc I would be keen to get the info! I still have enough cash for a good few months of traveling so I'll get moving soon!

Much love =)