Signage deficiencies in the Avon Crescent/Cumberland Road/Smeaton Road/Ashton Avenue/Brunel Lock Road area

1. Looking south down Avon Crescent. No Turn Right sign is old and dirty.

2. Junction with Avon Crescent and Cumberland Road. Give Way sign is not visible to approaching drivers. See also Picture 1.

3. On Cumberland Road approaching the junction with Avon Crescent. The No Turn Right sign is on the wrong side of the road to attract the driver's attention and is too small.

4. Cumberland Road at the junction with Avon Crescent. The No Turn Right signs are far too small.

5. Cumberland Road where it joins Smeaton Road. The left hand 20 mph sign is missing.

6. On Smeaton Road heading west. The directional signage is incomplete and does not provide the driver with useful information.

7. Looking eastwards down Smeaton Road towards the junction with Cumberland Road/Avon Crescent. The No Left Turn sign is posted on the wrong road, and so can be legitimately ignored by drivers.

8. On Smeaton Road Bridge looking northwards down Ashton Avenue. The No Entry signs are mis-matched in size and that the larger has faded badly.

9. On Smeaton Road Bridge looking westwards. One of the No Entry signs is badly faded.

10. On Ashton Avenue looking westwards. The sign is badly canted reducing its credibility.

11. On Smeaton Road approaching the Create Centre. There is no signage at this divide or at the entrance to the Create Centre car park to indicate where the Create Centre is.

12. On Ashton Avenue looking east towards the junction with Avon Crescent. The Cycle Route sign is at the wrong height and has caused pedestrian head injury. The One Way sign is not visible to drivers approaching up Avon Crescent as it has been twisted (see also photos 13 and 15).

13. At the north end of Avon Crescent looking south. The Cycle sign is at the wrong height and has caused pedestrian head injury. The No Entry sign is not visible to drivers approaching from Brunel Lock Road as it has been twisted (see also photos 12 and 15).

14. At the northern end of Avon Crescent looking south. The directional sign still indicates a route to Bath and Wells, despite the existence of the new Southern Relief Road. This should instead read 'Spike Island'.

15.  Near the northern end of Avon Crescent looking north. The Cycle Route sign is at the wrong height and has caused pedestrian head injury because of it. The One Way sign is not visible to drivers approaching up Avon Crescent as it has been twisted (see also photos 13 and 15).

16. At the northern end of Avon Crescent looking south. The Bend warning sign is not visible to drivers as it has been twisted. It is questionable whether it has any utility.

Malbogies repegging 14 and 16th March 2015

Access was from the top by abseil, but the photos are in ascent order.

The first group are pegs thought to be on Malbogies, the second are pegs thought to be on other routes.

1. The farthest left peg reached on the traverse of the first pitch. The old peg is bent over and a new one inserted.

2. Continuing the traverse. An old angle is replaced with a new one.

3. The traverse continued. The old peg is irremovable; the new one is a blade.

4. The climbing becomes vertical. This peg appeared to be recent and was left untouched.

5. To the right is a blade under an overhang. This replaced an older blade. This is probably the inverted peg of Malicious.

6. The Malbogies belay. It sports five pegs, 3 old serviceable (apparently), one new, one serviceable re-situated to a better location.

7. The peg underneath the roof - two views

8. The guide mentions two pegs above this. One was in this grassy/earthy break and was rotted through. Not replaced as there are several good friend placements.

9.The final peg replaced like for like

The non-Malbogies pegs, again starting from the ground.

1. Very low down on the right. It is not clear to me whether this is on Malicious or The Murky Way. Either way it is a very recent peg.

2. To the left of the Malbogies line and up and left from its belay there was an angle in a pocket. Irremovable. This has been doubled up, and may look a little ludicrous (2 pictures). I presume that this is the fourth peg of The Murky Way description.

3. A white groove goes up towards the overhangs. I presume this is Malicious (?). In each case the in-situ peg has now got a companion (2 pictures).

4. Above there is an overhang with a replacement peg. Again I assume it is Malicious.

 5. Near the top there are twin grooves. Confusingly there was a peg in each. Each has now got a companion (2 pictures, the blurred one is of the RH groove).

Yesterday I replaced some pegs on Malbogies. It is a very famous climb in the Avon Gorge.

This picture shows the bottom section, but the climber is not me.

Starting from the top, I abseiled down very slowly until I saw a peg, when I locked off to inspect it.

All the pegs were expected to be 'End of Life' so first I would try and get them out.

In many cases after a few taps the head of the peg fell off; that proved that it wasn't any good anyway as it might well have snapped when someone fell on it. Then I had to find a suitable place to put in a replacement peg.

However in one case there was some really good Friend placements next to it, so I did not put a new peg in there.

Sometimes the peg proved hard to remove and was clearly still in very good condition. Those I left where they were, but if there was any doubt I put another peg in nearby.

It was surprisingly hard work as quite often the pegs had to be banged in at an awkward angle.