Tim Rankin has shown a fresh burst of energy and strength early in the season to claim the North East's first major boulder problem of the year - Optimus Prime - with an ascent of the dramatic and highball prow at Cammachmore south of Portlethen. This oft-spied line was thought to have an impassable blank section, but Tim managed to find a solving sequence on brushed edges, arete clamps and poor slopers... he says it goes at about V9 but Tim is unsure of the grade as the climbing is so unusual and specific, just expect it to be well hard! Tom Kirkpatrick filmed the first ascent. Named after his son's skills with the daddy Transformer, which leave most adult visitors gobsmacked, same as the problems!
BROAD LAW The rolling hills east of the modern motorway of the M74 hold much more character and history than they appear from the west, where they are now flanked by forestries of spruce and wind-farms. In medieval times this was a Scottish royal hunting ground – the ‘Ettrick Forest’. Further east towards the Tweed valley, there are echoes of a deeper Scottish history in the border towns of Hawick, Selkirk, Galashiels, Peebles and Kelso, all on the banks of the historic River Tweed and famous for their medieval forts and abbeys. Looking west from Broad Law to the monoculture forestry and wind-farms of 21st C Scotland This range of hills, along with the northern flanks of the Cheviot hills, marks the geographical transition to the once-contested border with Northumberland, with its high pass over Carter Bar on the A68. The more useful sense of boundaries are suggested not by the roads but by the watersheds: to the north the waters drain into the River Cly...