UKC

Apart from Bristol, are there any decent walls in Somerset? And which is the best Bristol wall?

Thanks

Nope, nothing worthwhile I'm afraid. There's walls in bridport, South Moulton, exeter and Bristol, but nothing in Somerset unfortunately. I think there was talk of a wall being made in Wellington, but I think it was going to be aimed at kids activity centre type thing.

In terms of bristol walls, my favourite for bouldering is flashpoint, and repoint for routes, but I think they're all worthwhile. 

Which part of Somerset? For North/East:

https://www.fromeboulderrooms.co.uk/ is pretty great, they've been open about a year. 

Whilst technically Wiltshire, TCA have opened "The Arc" - I've not been so can't comment:

https://www.theclimbingacademy.com/locations/the-arc/

Also in North Somerset is a lottery funded/sports centre wall with the largest collection of auto belays I've ever seen (17!) - they have shortish (8m?), professionally set routes, changed every ~6 months, graded up to 7a and are pretty good:

https://www.dragonflyleisure.co.uk/activities/climbing-wall/

It's north Somerset, I'll check out Frome and the dragonfly leisure place, didn't know about them, as well as the Bristol ones. Thanks

Was hoping there might be something around Yeovil / Bridgewater / Weston super mare but unfortunately not

"And which is the best Bristol wall" - Depends what you're after.

For bouldering you can't go wrong with either FlashPoint or TCA Mothership. Not got experience elsewhere mind.

For roped climbing, we tend to do a mix of RedPoint and TCA Church (formerly UCR) depending whose up for it. Both excellent.

Frome is great. Good vibe, it's not massive but the setting is great and it's reset frequently. Best wall I've been to just on the basis of the people. In Bristol IMO repoint is the best. Flashpoint is dirty as he'll, TCA is a bit meh and too busy, UCR used to be great but I've not been for a long time. It was kind of going down hill a bit but it's worth a visit every once in a while. Bloc is good too. There's a wall open in Chippenham too now.

Haven't been to Frome yet but know the owners and they're the loveliest people you could ever meet. They really care about what they do. And they're bloody competent. They ran the Orange House in Spain superbly, far better than I'd seen it run in some 15 years. 

Maybe I'm biased but, in any business, to me the people are just so important. Great people will get things right. And, these days particularly, it's so rare to come across people who really care about what they do. Superb when it happens though! 

Mick 

Too bloody right. For me it's been amazing ti have a facility this good open 10 minutes from my door. You'll have to come up for that trip to Fairy Cave and we can go and have cake afterwards...

Edit... by the way its not just the owners who of course are responsible for engendering the vibe in the first place, but also all the lovely people who go. It's just super friendly because frome is smallish and so you see the same very psyched people over and over. Infact it's a bit f a problem because I go there to train and end up chatting! And what's REALLY lovely is that lots of people are just starting out which means as long as that new climber vibe translates to people going outdoors, there's going to be an incredible Frome and East Somerset scene going on within a year or two...

Was there not a small wall in Yeovil/Sherborne - The Oxley Sport Centre? run by members of the Yeovil MC small bouldering wall and lead wall, not sure if it's still open though.

https://www.oxleysc.com/climbing-wall

+1 Frome Bouldering 👍