THE BEST THERE IS


(or an Irishman's poor lament!)

Dave Hollinger

(Dave makes everyone suffer his Cambridge exile. Irish describes him in full. Ireland, potato or Eurovision Song Contest do equally well. Dave is in love with Fairhead, a crag that only he seems to have heard of, and he is determined to spread the word. Many evenings have been spent learning about the strong natural lines waiting to be cleaned... no I mean climbed. Dave looks set to make a superb President next year.)

The weekends come and I go away
Its time to climb, its time to play!
The Roaches, Stanage, Wales and Devon
Some would say a climber's heaven

At first I really hated Grit
I couldn't get the knack for it
I learned to jam and trusted smears
That seemed to calm my dreadful fears

Limestone took some time as well
Cheedale; Chudleigh, both were hell
But Pembroke seemed to sort me out
And now I couldn't go without

I must confess, it's all great fun
(It's here I ticked my first E1)
"It's the best there is" - that's what they said...
...but none have tried the Mournes or Fairhead.