Southern sandstone is an esoteric collection of crags around the Kent and East Sussex area. The area has a rather mixed reputation among UK climbers which I think, despite some shortcomings, is rather unjustified. Having sampled its delights recently I can confirm that the handful of crags offer some excellent and unusual problems on often good quality rock and all among the pleasant surroundings you’d expect from the “garden of England”.

Southern Sandstone Bouldering is the first dedicated bouldering guide to the area, and it gives the full rundown on the bouldering at ten crags.  First impressions are excellent.  Like other bouldering guides the book uses a landscape format and some striking lettering on a white background that makes it stand out on the bookshelf.  The cover is glossy and the size is good – reassuringly thick but light enough to slip into a side pocket.  

Inside are some useful pointers in the first few pages and these give a good introduction to the area and the style of climbing (and also some dos and don’ts which are important to keep in mind).  The graphics are fairly basic but give all the information required in a friendly and easy to read format.  Similarly, the maps appear to be born from a ‘less is more’ philosophy but seem to give the important info.  There are also some idiosyncratic qualities which I found quite endearing – the “project” on page 151 for example!

The photos are generally decent, and give a good sense of the spread of grades.  There are a great number of easier problems which will attract the army of beginner and intermediate climbers who often get overlooked by guides wanting to showcase the hardest offerings.  Furthermore, the photos of the easier classics are inspiring and in my view this is one of the key challenges for any guidebook author.  Images in the book also capture the spirit of sandstone bouldering well, and convey the relaxed ‘picnic’ atmosphere that I felt during my visits.  This is a great achievement and the sign of a good guide.

It would have been nice to see more photos of different people on the harder problems, but being a lesser travelled area I know from experience that this is almost impossible to avoid.  Besides, the author who features in several photos of the harder problems did at least make the effort to wear wild country t-shirts in a selection of colours!

A minor criticism is that (as I’m told by a local) some problems that have names are shown without them (just a number).  Again, this is an issue in esoteric areas where guidebook authors are compiling a first edition.  Often, problem names are hard to track down and some problems might have several names.  Here it seems to be an issue mainly for routes that are now considered boulder problems.  Probably not an problem for most people but I always think it’s better to have names than numbers so felt it would’ve been nice to have a few more included. This is however a very minor niggle that I’m sure can be rectified in future editions.  

On the whole, I think this is an excellent documentation of an undersold climbing area and the authors should feel proud.  Documenting climbing areas and producing such a well presented book is no mean feat and few people really understand the effort that it takes.  James O’Neil and Ben Read have done the Southern climbing community an excellent service and I hope that this superb guide can serve as a platform for the area to gain credence in the UK bouldering scene.

Purchase Southern Sandstone Bouldering here.