Cornwall’s Largest Climbing Centre: Tide Climbing

This year all I’ve longed for is to enjoy an activity outside of the norm. Over the last six months, I’ve found that my ‘interest’ threshold has decreased and all I’ve wanted is to try something new (and I don’t mean another book or a painful at-home activity that sends me into a spiral of boredom within minutes.) I was so excited when Hattie from The Tide Climbing Centre got in touch to invite me to go climbing. Climbing? Hell yes! Maybe this was THE activity that I’d been after all these months!?

The Tide Climbing Centre is Cornwall’s largest climbing centre and is located on the outskirts of Wadebridge in Cornwall. My friend Ellie and I took a few hours off of work mid-week to visit The Tide Climbing Centre and were beyond impressed with the centre’s set up. Choose from a range of climbing techniques and activities, such as bouldering, auto-belays, roped climbing, and fitness sessions.

To begin our session, Ellie and I were invited to try out the roped climbing frame. We started with a warmup and were then taught how to tie our straps and be-lays correctly. Considering there are several different levels to choose from, we decided to start low and work our way up - logical, ay! Both of us had very little climbing experience so we didn’t want to get too big for our boots too quickly!

I have to say, our climbing session was so much fun! Ellie and I became pretty competitive and worked our way up to grade 5 on the roped wall. There are 18 top rope lines and 2 Lead climbs to choose from. I also tried the auto belay which allows climbers to ascend to the top of the tallest walls without the need for a belayer - it’s literally a simple clip in and go!

The Tide Climbing Centre has over 600^2m of bouldering wall which makes it the largest bouldering facility in the county. Bouldering is rock climbing stripped down to its complete essentials. This means leaving behind your ropes and harnesses and just using climbing shoes and a bag of chalk over safety mats. Ellie and I both found it pretty daunting but I like to think that we picked it up pretty quickly. My confidence also built after learning how to “fall off” properly. There are some REALLY difficult routes so I’d like to think that one day we can tackle those!

After our climbing session, we sat down to refuel with a drink and panini. The climbing centre is fully equipped to keep you energised for the day, with pizza, cakes, panini’s and other lunch/dinner options available. There’s also a shop that sells essential climbing equipment.

Once refuelled, we wondered over to the centre’s fitness room. Here they host a number of classes including yoga. We enjoyed a 45 minute Vinyasa Flow session with a local yoga teacher, which was the perfect way to unwind and loosen up our muscles after a few hours climbing.

I cannot recommend The Tide Climbing Centre enough! If you’re into physical activity like myself, then I urge you to check the centre our for an afternoon. Ellie and I were both really impressed with the lovely team that supported us through the afternoon, the facilities and the precautions taken towards covid19.

Enjoy a day of climbing for just £10 or jump straight in with a monthly membership starting from £35PM (adult price.) Thank you Tide Climbing for a fab afternoon, we can’t wait to come back!

*gifted collab but all opinions are my own - we had a great day