Last Saturday my brother and me headed over to Lawrencefield, we read about this great location in Chris Craggs’ awesome book “Eastern Grit”. Located ten minutes from Fox House (Peak District) it is actually closer than Stanage however I have never visited before. In terms of access there is a large car park located 1km past Fox House, you then simply need to cross the road over to the public footpath, then follow this for a 10m walk until you reach the quarried gritstone face.

We were fortunate enough to have really great conditions, sunny but cold with the grip feeling really great plus being an autumn afternoon allowed for some stunning photos. We only had a couple of hours but managed to fit in three good routes, Marmalade (HVS), Vanilla Slice (E1 5c) and Great Harry (VS):

Vanilla Slice E1 5c -
First route of the day and the grip felt great, good job as the first 2/3 felt like a boulder problem with crimps and smears with little protection asides from a couple of nuts in the crack to the right. The key is to commit to a good ledge with a lunge once you run out of crimps for hands 2/3’s up.

 Marmalade HVS -
Simply follow the crack system up the face, the route is both good for hands and feet however protection felt minimal with only a couple of small nuts and perhaps a small cam in the top right ‘shot hole’.

Great Harry VS –
Sadly our last route due to a lack of time, this route was the only one free in the pool area. It is well protected using larger cams, nuts and torque nuts. This tall classic layback and hand jamming crack climb felt like good practice that is difficult to recreate on indoor walls.

Speaking with other climbers and consulting our trusty guide we also noted three other great routes (Great Peter E1, Billy Whizz E2 and Suspense E2) that we are looking forward to climbing next Saturday, should we be as lucky with the forecast. I would without a doubt recommend this grit-stone gem to any climber, with a great mix of climbs several of which are plotted over a pond stew of murky leaves and dead sheep, yum! Have you climbed here before or want more info? Please leave a comment.