Despite the iffy weather, 2026 starts with a bang! Gwilym Tossell has completed a fiercely difficult line at Porth Trecastell on Ynys Môn. It Never Fuckin’ Ends! (8B) can be found on the north side of the beach. To find it, walk over tidal rocks to reach an open corridor and a steep wall is tucked in on its right side.

Last year in May Gwil climbed it from a stand. He rated this powerful layback problem 7C and named it Robins is Never Gonna Stop. He then put in sporadic attempts on the obvious lefthand sitting start line. He worked out the individual moves, but linking it proved to be anything but straightforward, as he explains:

“The stand went in a few goes, but I'm not sure how many sessions I put into the sit. I've been trying it on and off since I did the stand in May. I don't think I'm very good at the redpointing process.”

“I'd sort of given up before Christmas because I thought I wasn't strong enough to put the moves together, but I wanted to go climbing on the coast on boxing day because the weather and the tides were good. I ended up at Porth Swtan but it was wet, so I thought I'd go to Porth Trecastell and have a go.”

“First go from the ground I got to the move to the slot (the last left hand before the top) which is way further than I'd got before. I wasn't really expecting to be there, so I got nowhere close to sticking the move. I had another go and got closer on the move, but ripped a hole in one of my tips.”

“So between skin, tides, weather, energy and me being busy I couldn't really try it again until Wednesday the 28th [of January] when it was too wet to climb. I came back the next day and it was still pretty wet, but in a dryable state.”

“When I got through to the slot move from the ground the slot was a bit damp and I was pretty sure I was going to drop the move to the lip, which I'd never dropped before, hence the absolute desperation at the end.”

“The climb itself starts matched on the obvious undercut, and it has a lot of very precise directional holds. A lot of narrow compression, but it does climb pretty well, although there's a lot of micro beta to figure out.”

“After a long discussion with Osian [Parry], who's also tried it, we're thinking lower end 8B. I've tried it quite a lot since May, but it feels so different now from when I first tried it, so I sort of have no idea how hard it is, but I feel like 8B is probably fair.”

NB. The tidal access level (as shown on the BBC tides page) is 2.7m, so the access window is typically around 5 hours, although this will obviously vary with spring and neap tides.

If you are wondering about the names, then do check out the trailer for Chris Doyle’s forthcoming film: North Wales Bouldering.Volume 2: Coastal Crags

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