Free Downloads
For each guidebook you download or use, please make a suitable donation to the search and rescue team where you climb. (Bear in mind different rescue teams might operate in different areas.)
Copyright. A significant voluntary effort has gone into preparing these guidebooks and topos and making them freely available for personal climbing use. The publication of any of their contents either as hard copy or via the internet without the author’s consent is prohibited. However, I appreciate that much information is shared on the internet these days, and I have no objection to basic details being referenced in any not-for-personal-profit (non-commercial) website. If you have any questions about this or are considering using any of the information other than for personal climbing use, please ask me.
Climbing in the Brecon Beacons National Park (BBNP) Series
There are seven topos in the BBNP series. Please note that they had been completed by 2016/2017. The Llangattock Update was released in 2014 via the Climbers’ Club website. The BBNP topos are designed to be printed at A5 size on A4 paper (i.e. 4 pages per A4 sheet). Or, simply use your mobile phone.
Topo by Harry Adshead
The following small section contains miscellaneous South Wales topos to some esoteric sites off-the-beaten track. Most had been completed by 2016/2017. Note they haven’t been prepared in the same format i.e. there’s a mix of A5 and A4-size documents here.
The first ascent of Fifty-five Club (E5 6a), Llangattock, in 2011. Pic: Jonathan Crocker
West Country topos: North Somerset Coast series
I’m attempting to create guidebook topos for the entire North Somerset coast. For the time being I’ve dropped anchor off Birnbeck Island. I can’t say if I’ll ever tack onwards to Brean Down (if only to record the unpublished 80s to noughties boulder-problems and giggle of frolics west of the main cliffs). We’ll see.
The topos are designed to be printed at A5 size on A4 paper (i.e. 4 pages per A4 sheet). Do your own thing if that doesn’t work out (or, simply use your mobile phone)!
Update: Donating to Avon & Somerset Search And Rescue. The links in the topos are no longer functional. Please use the following link to make your donation: https://donate.stripe.com/8wM4gJ9pfcpUadi000
Zany (V3+), Great Corner Cove, Brean Down. Pic: Beverley Crocker
West Country topos: The Climbs of Goblin Combe
Having spent so much time in Goblin Combe over the decades I thought I’d convert that association into a (free) guidebook. It was written in 2018 (yes, hands up, I’m slow to release stuff). My special thanks go to Keith Williams whom, together with other ‘EGONS’, introduced me to the Combe way back in ‘72. We met up again in Goblin Combe in 2012 and shared a splendid picnic under Toot Rock, talking about guidebooks and his early explorations in North Somerset. Later, when we passed under a small unclimbed crag, Keith chuckled: ‘There are some routes to be done up there.’ It was still in his blood.
Pic: Saruman (HVS), Orthanc. Colin Knowles climbing.
Cheddar Gorge Sample Topos
These topos, taken from Cheddar Gorge Climbs, are being made freely available at the request of the BMC (please refer to the Cheddar Gorge page on www.martincrockerclimbing.com for the background). They are being published on the understanding that (a) the Cheddar Gorge Climbing Access Agreement is read and used in conjunction with the topos, and you take any action to ensure you comply with the access conditions (e.g. obtaining civil liability insurance) before you climb; and (b) you kindly make a donation to the area search and rescue team (ASSAR).
They have been designed to be printed on A4 sheets.
The topos are published on the clearcut basis that users climb at their own risk in line with the following BMC Participation Statement. Please remind yourselves what the statement means before downloading/using the topos:
Climbing, hillwalking, and mountaineering are activities with a danger of personal injury or death. Participants in these activities should be aware of and accept those risks and be responsible for their own actions and involvement.
Partners in Crime (F6c+). Alex Jacubowski climbing.
Like Father Like Son (F5). Mariusz Wajda climbing.
No Time to Lose (F6b). Steve Wright climbing.
Crag Xs
A repository for misfits and mavericks, much of which I’d written so I wouldn’t forget what I’d done, but then forgot about.
Given the small scale and spontaneous nature of these notes, the introductions are much more economic on text than the substantive topos above. However the provisos regarding users climbing at their own risk in line with the following BMC Participation Statement are the same. Please remind yourselves what the statement means before downloading/using any of the notes below:
Climbing, hillwalking, and mountaineering are activities with a danger of personal injury or death. Participants in these activities should be aware of and accept those risks and be responsible for their own actions and involvement.
I originally built this topo for the ClimbBristol website, so punters didn’t have to wait for the Avon Gorge guidebook in 2017. The majority of routes are described, though there has been some limited further bolting since.
Coming soon………… Avon & Cheddar Guidebook (2004) Scripts
Rather than write off now the biblical effort that went into the Avon & Cheddar Climbers’ Club 2004 guidebook, I thought I’d recycle some of my original scripts as free downloads below. They may prove useful, still, to someone; and they are being made available as a matter of goodwill. However, if you choose to use them, it is important that you check the BMC’s Regional Access Database for any access updates and revisions before climbing on any of the crags below. Do also note that there may well have been climbing developments at these crags since publication of the 2004 guidebook, the details of which are unlikely to be represented in the scripts. (Only limited editing has taken place, but some ‘new’ routes information will be included e.g. the bunch of unreported routes climbed on the left-hand wall of Uphill Quarry in 2008. And it may well be that I will add more topo-pics here and there to complement the texts.) I’m confident that you will be able to find information on new developments not in these scripts on other platforms.
Ashwick Grove
Mells
Croscombe Valley Cliffs
North Quarry
Horrington Hill Quarry
Split Rock
Uphill Quarry