UKH

Hi,

I'm new here and just wanted to give people a heads up regarding access to Darlton.  Access is now much harder in Area 1.  Big steel fence and gate and razor wire.  They made it really hard to get in, but not impossible.  You can still get in if you really wanted to, but it no longer has that welcoming feel to it.  While I was there someone drove up from the main road and opened the gate up the hill from the main road, but I never saw anyone when I left.  I didn't see anyone in Area 2 either.  But a vehicle has been in Area 1 recently judging by the tracks in the mud.

In reply to Amused_Arb:

What do you mean by Area 1 and 2? I was at the Balcony a couple of weeks ago, where you follow the public footpath up. Have they put a fence up from there so you can't just walk west into the main quarry?

In reply to TobyA:

Ahh sorry, Sport Climbs just refers to the two areas as Darlton and Darlton 2.  I don't climb here, I just use it for walking and other hobbies.

Easier with a picture.  Red line marks the fence and if you go there, you will see the razor wire.  But as I said, not impossible to get in, just not as easy.

In reply to Amused_Arb:

Cheers. IIRC on Sportclimbs.co.uk I think Gary refers to Hidden Quarry as Darlton 2.

I'll go and have a look myself soon, but from your photo map, with my extensive IT and design skills I've marked up the OS mapping. Red is where you're saying the new fencing is, blue is the Balcony which Rockfax puts in as a sector of Darlton Quarry, although it's quite a different spot from the main quarry. And orange is the PROW that goes up to the Balcony but at least when I was last there a couple you could nip off into the main quarry to the west.

In reply to TobyA:

If you walk up the path opposite the Eyam junction, you can't miss it.  You can still get into the area with the bowl and Darlton 2/Hidden Quarry if you hop the fences/gates for each area, up the bridleway.  But it's easier to get to Hidden Quarry from the road going up to the British Fluorospar site.

In reply to Amused_Arb:

We went this evening and it was easy to just walk round the new metal fence on the right.   as it ends and there is just a standard wood fence to climb.    Didn't even need to put the clip stick down. 😃

In reply to TobyA:

I went up to the Balcony yesterday using the public footpath as indicated on the OS mapping in the post I'm replying to, and can confirm the quarry owners have put up fencing and razor wire to stop people going into the main bit of Darlton Quarry from the eastern end as well. It did look pretty straight forward to get through the trees where the fence ends though.

In reply to Amused_Arb:

For anyone who wanted to go to Darlton Sunny Wall to climb 5s and low 6s but feels unwelcomed with the new fencing and razor wire, the Balcony ( https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/darlton_quarry-21989/#the_balcony ) is an obvious alternative. I did some general crag maintenance there yesterday - see https://www.facebook.com/groups/RockClimbingUK/posts/7798468130205714 if anyone one doesn't use FB (probably very sensible!) the text of my post is as follows:

"I couldn't find anyone to climb with this afternoon so have been doing crag maintenance at The Balcony.  It's in Rockfax as part of Darlton Quarry but actually separate from the rest of that quarry. As can be seen in the third and fourth pics, Tarmac (presumably) have put new and quite aggressive fences in that make getting into Darlton main quarry trickier. But the Balcony is right above a public footpath that goes steeply up to the top of Goddard's Quarry, so access cannot be blocked. The Balcony has 17 routes between 4c and 6c, the majority being in the 5s and low 6s, so if folk are more reticent to go into Darlton to climb the easier routes on Sunny Wall, The Balcony might start seeing more visitors. I've hacked away huge amounts of bramble at the top of most of the routes (one sector still to do), replaced old alloy snap-gate krabs at anchors in not great condition with either maillon and rings or steel screw-gates. The anchor at the top of one the 5as on the right, Gave (5a), had its lower off as rope around a tree. I've cut the old rope away and put a new double loop and screwgate there instead. The decent 6a on the left Bremen Nacht (6a) has always had a rope loop on its third bolt as the rock wasn't good enough to have a bolt where needed between the 2nd and 3rd, so I've put a maillon on the bolt (so the rope isn't against the sharp bit of the hanger) and a new rope loop in place. I did the 5a on the extreme left, Mere Pseud Mag. Ed (5a), back in May coming in from the right using the bolts on the other routes to protect the traverse over, but Nick Taylor who did the FA told me he and John went direct up the lower wall with a sling on the tree on the ledge to protect. I've found that old rope sling and added a newer one which you can clip from slightly lower to protect the start.

The footpath up to the crag is amusingly steep and slippy when damp. Someone has placed old gym ropes up the lower bits but I've added an old climbing rope to the upper bit so you don't end up sliding down on your bum as I did earlier!" 

In reply to TobyA this track seems to go right through where the new fence has been placed. I'm not sure on the map legend of OS maps, is this an official footpath?

It appears to be:-

In reply to Amused_Arb:

Just as an unrelated comment not aimed at this quarry, funny I even mention here... but you know palisade fencing? the ones made of vertical metal with spiky tops are surprisingly straightforward to climb in my experience if someone *carefully* climbs next to a post and has 2 climbing slings. The drill is to drape one sling over a spike next to a support post on the inside of the fence and another on the same spike on the outside of the fence and step up in the sling, swing your leg over and step carefully/securely in the sling the other side then go down the far side, lift off the slings and put in a pocket for the way out later. If anyone put up such a fence and climbers who own 2 slings were in the area, they'd not be particularly inconvenienced by a fence like that. (Nylon slings better than super thin dynema). Mentioning for no reason... only done for training and with owners permission 

In reply to Dominic Green:

OS maps showing it don't guarantee it to be a PRoW (public right of way), the local authority website is where you need to check here and zoom in, select public  rights of way in the key, not shown by default  https://maps.derbyshire.gov.uk/connect/analyst/mobile/#/main?mapcfg=Ordnanc...

Purple is right of way footpath and green is right of way bridle path 

In reply to TobyA:

Right, thanks for clarifying.

In reply to no one in particular:

I went back up last night having persuaded (ok, so "told" really) my two older kids they were coming climbing. We did Mere Pseud Mag. Ed (5a) by the original way up the lower wall (I didn't notice the rope sling around the tree when I did it last time, so had traversed in from the base of Corsican Bolt Route). I put a new rope sling around the tree Sunday, and have a loop hanging off it so you can clip quite quickly if you don't have a clip stick. You do one of two moves on the lower wall then grab the tree to climb onto the grassy ledge. A bit silly, but when is climbing ever not if you think about it enough?

I then onsighted Corsican Bolt Route (6a) which is fun, and we did Of (5c) as well. Like all the routes on the "Rainbow Wall" (names: Richard, Of, York, Gave, Battle, In, Vain), it's like you're average short-arse-hardman: because it's bothered by its diminutive size, it has to hard and a bit punchy for its grade!

I've always had it in my head that because it is north facing the Balcony gets no sun at all, but midsummer late afternoons and early evenings at least it does catch some. So it's relatively clean, dry and mostly bramble free currently! It will only get cleaner with more visitors.