Lateral Thinking....a climbers journey

After having a rest week, this weekend I was raring to go and super psyched, the venue was to be Dorset's winspit again and with heavy rain dying out just after midnight Saturday and fairly high winds, I was hopeful of getting on my target route.. "peppercorn rate" which goes at F7a and is a really awesome line.
This week my bud Ben Jones who i spent most of last year climbing with was back out again and also raring to go, we arranged for him to pick me up at 6:30 ish and in perfect Ben style turned up at quarter past 7 thats a bit of a running joke..haha.. so we greeted each other and set off, quick coffee in Rownhams services and we were off.
We were also meeting my mate Tommy Harris , who Ive been climbing with of late at the winspit car park.. on arrival Tommy was there and waiting Ben and Tommy got acquainted and we were off.
The weather was as forecast dry sunny with some scattered cloud, it was breezy but I didn't find it cold.

We chatted all sorts of climbing as we walked in and as we reached the crag I couldn't help but run on to see if "peppercorn" was dry and yes it sure was, well the driest I've seen it in weeks with just two seepy patches, obviously we didn't know if the crack was to be dry at the top but it looked it..

me enjoying a warm up

We headed to south face to see if any warm ups were dry and settled for "mackerel" a grade 5 I've never climbed so I took the lead it was a nice route and definitely deserves a star although the top was soaked and using a soaking wet sloper to clip the chains was a bit spicy but it all held fine.. Tommy and Ben both followed the Route and we were off we re climbed the 6a on the corner of "pump me tenderly" and Ben and Tommy also climbed the 5+ but having warmed up I opted out to get ready to put the draws in "peppercorn rate"with some chalk, the main crack was dry... the route was in pretty good shape certainly good enough for a send.. I worked the moves on the crux and was very pumped but had the sequence. .
we walked down and got set I climbed the 1st section to the crux which felt harder today but got through OK I climbed to the bottom of the crack then we used the beta stick to put the rest in I dried a few spots with a towel and dried some holds
Tommy then had a go top rope and beasted his was through the crux, only to run out of steam at the cracks top where a mantle was needed he had a breather then finished the moves..
Ben also had a great attempt but also run out of steam at the top crack he also come off the low crux once, he looked strong and a bit more stamina and it would be in the bag.

We had a bit of a breather and some lunch and we bantered each other into who was gonna lead it, i actually felt tired and wasnt going to get on it but when tommy and ben both said they were keen to lead i felt it would be rude not too..

Tommy was first up and looked strong he breezed to crux and moved up and into the restricted rest he had a quick shake out and moved into the crux dropped into the layback position, it looked good but as he moved into the rock up moved something come un-done and he was off.. awesome effort.

Bens attemp on the lead was similar breezed the crux but hesitated on the the sequence of the crack he moved up into it but come off after moveing up into the crack also a great effort and a marked improvement in stamina since our last climb together..

Next was my lead I felt tired from the other attempts as my fitness isn't what it was back in the summer but I was psyched to have a go on lead, I set off relaxed until I jammed my finger on the first hard move which must have trapped a nerve sending a lighting like sensation through my finger,a bit beweildered I shook it off and moved into the crux which went better this time than any other I was psyched... I could hear Tommy and Ben willing me on to do the rest of the route, I moved up into a restricted rest and shook out relaxed myself and prepared for the dreaded pumpy top section I then moved into the crack found my feet and fell into the layback the pump was creeping in but I stayed calm got to the top of the crack to the rock over move stabbed two fingers from my left hand into the small triangle shaped crack, I felt like I was gonna fall but I held it rocked up and the hardest moves were all done , I was pumped silly but stayed calm hands up to the flat ledge.. feet sorted the lower off is in reach now just one more hand movement so I can clip and f**********ck I'm off.... so destroyed

battled so hard and whooosh I'm off didn't even see it coming....