sea to do some easy new stuff by way of warming up. Rain had fallen overnight and it was slippery. When I got close I realised that the sea was immensely rough, and although the tide had fallen, there were puddles of seawater 15m above the normal high tide mark. I turned back and looked through the boulders between Devil's Chapel and the Place of Nightmares. I found a new boulder and started to develop a new line. All this time the wind had been getting stronger and storm clouds had appeared to the west. I kept thinking about the forecast and eerily remembered the day you crushed your finger. This was playing on my mind as a reminder that the area is not as stable as it can seem - I guess I was a bit spooked when the first fog came in. After a bit of time I sent the new problem and within minutes the sky went dark. I decided it would be prudent to go home sooner rather than later.

I walked up the hill keeping Copelandia Express on the right, where there is a bit of shelter from the westerly wind. It was actually very pleasant and I even considered climbing some more. Thankfully common sense prevailed, I continued up the slope and the wind quickly got very strong, more so the higher I got. My bouldering mat was blowing all over the place and it was all I could do to not get blown over and down the slope. Boulder-hopping in those conditions is never going to end well. At several points I was clinging on to boulders with hands and feet so I didn't get blown away. I'd wait for a lull and move quickly before holding on again. At one point the wind caught me and all I could do was jump and go with it, which allowed me to turn around and rebalance. Exhaustion and a lack of options left me with little choice but to crawl like a snail slowly up the scree slope commando style, to the terrace where I crawled up the gully to the quarry. The stone steps were the last obstacle and once again I scaled them holding on with hands and feet. The walk to the car was exhausting but I was at least safe from being blown over the cliff.
The following is an email the author received from Marcus Dymond during the wild winter of 2013 - 2014:

Touching the Cloth
After the first set of storms around Christmas, I was off work and it was mid-week, so I went down to St. Aldhelm's to have a look about and have a crack at the projects. Weather forecast was 15mph westerly, clear day. Basically I had a blinder - I thought it would be a bit windy and cold, but far from it, the conditions were pristine.

I was now at home completely psyched to return and then bad weather rolled in for day after day. At some point there was a break in the weather and a 15mph westerly with clear sky was forecast for the morning, turning to an apocalypse around 5pm (it would be dark by then so I would be long gone). It wasn't windy when I got to the Undercliff so I wandered down to the sea to do some easy new stuff by way of warming up. Rain had fallen overnight and it was slippery. When I got close I realised that the sea was immensely rough, and although the tide had fallen, there were puddles of seawater 15m above the normal high tide mark. I turned back and looked through the boulders between Devil's Chapel and the Place of Nightmares. I found a new boulder and started to develop a new line. All this time the wind had been getting stronger and storm clouds had appeared to the west. I kept thinking about the forecast and eerily remembered the day you crushed your finger. This was playing on my mind as a reminder that the area is not as stable as it can seem - I guess I was a bit spooked when the first fog came in. After a bit of time I sent the new problem and within minutes the sky went dark. I decided it would be prudent to go home sooner rather than later.
slope and the wind quickly got very strong, more so the higher I got. My bouldering mat was blowing all over the place and it was all I could do to not get blown over and down the slope. Boulder-hopping in those conditions is never going to end well. At several points I was clinging on to boulders with hands and feet so I didn't get blown away. I'd wait for a lull and move quickly before holding on again. At one point the wind caught me and all I could do was jump and go with it, which allowed me to turn around and rebalance. Exhaustion and a lack of options left me with little choice but to crawl like a snail slowly up the scree slope commando style, to the terrace where I crawled up the gully to the quarry. The stone steps were the last obstacle and once again I scaled them holding on with hands and feet. The walk to the car was exhausting but I was at least safe from being blown over the cliff.

I am glad no one witnessed this and in all seriousness it was a very close call. In retrospect I should have left my mat somewhere and come back for it but I was already in too deep to turn back.