South West
7 crags listed.
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Portland - Blacknor
The longest and most popular stretch of sport climbing on the Isle of Portland, a west-facing wall of pocketed limestone above the boulder beach. Sustained vertical wall climbing on sharp, friendly rock with quick drying sea breezes and winter sun. The one-stop venue that made Portland the South's year-round sport destination.
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Cheddar Gorge
Britain's biggest inland limestone gorge, its 100m walls looming over the tourist road through the Mendips. Long, imposing trad routes - headlined by Bonington's Coronation Street - share the gorge with modern sport climbing on the upper tiers. The shady north-facing side is slow to dry but magnificent in summer.
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Avon Gorge
Bristol's urban crag, a great quarried limestone gorge beneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Famous for delicate, polished wall climbing where footwork and nerve count for more than strength, on ledgy walls up to 90m high. A historic trad venue with a unique city-centre atmosphere and quick evening access.
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Haytor
Dartmoor's most famous tor, twin domes of coarse golden granite crowning the open moor above Bovey Tracey. Rounded cracks, slabs and steep walls give the best routes on the moor, with Low Man's hidden north face surprisingly imposing. Superb friction, big views and rapid drying in the moorland wind.
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Bosigran
The greatest of the West Penwith granite sea cliffs, a clean golden face rising 70m from a wild Atlantic zawn. Perfect rough granite gives sustained crack and wall climbing, from the alpine-style scramble of Commando Ridge to the celebrated wall pitches of Suicide Wall. A Cornish climbing pilgrimage in a magnificent setting.
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Sennen
A friendly wall of golden granite above the boulders just north of Sennen Cove, near Land's End. Short, perfectly protected single-pitch routes on rock like a giant's climbing wall, ideal for a first taste of Cornish granite. Sunset sessions above a turquoise sea are the stuff of West Country climbing memories.
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Chudleigh Rocks
Devon's traditional limestone teaching crag, a wooded ridge of walls and buttresses above the Kate Brook valley. Solid, water-worn limestone with generations of polish on the classics, giving technical face and groove climbing at all grades. A sheltered inland alternative when the coast is out of condition.