A week in Provence...

Day one

After a boring motorway drive through Catalunya and across the border we finally arrived into Provence, and the final part of the journey was in the late afternoon sunshine through pretty French villages and vineyards as far as you could see - exactly how you imagine Provence to be! We headed straight to the crag at Malaucène due to a recommendation of a good free camping spot - cheers Rich! It was so nice in the evening sun and we were both pretty psyched to get a bit of climbing done after being cooped up in a car for the last seven hours. I warmed up on the classic 6b 'Papillon' and then did two 7a's. It had been a while since I'd climbed in France so I was a little worried that I'd been getting too used to the 'soft' Spanish grades, but all these routes felt really steady - a good sign!

Tash climbing in the evening sunshine on 'Papillon' (6b)

Day two



Next morning we woke up to another beautiful sunny day at our awesome doss spot.



The crag is shaded only until mid afternoon so we had an early start to get loads of routes ticked before the sun hit the crag and it became too hot to climb. I did a 6b and then a sandbag 7a+ to warm up, before getting on one of the mega classic routes at the crag - 'Un nouveau monde right' (7b+), which I was really pleased to onsight.

'Un nouveau monde right' (7b+). Awesome pocket pulling to a crux on monos. [photo stolen from UKC]

After this we went down to the lower crag, where the rock was much better quality than on the upper one (no need to reinforce footholds down here!). I did an awesome 7b here (probably the best route I did at Malaucène) as well as two other 7a's which got 1* in the guide but were both better than the '3*' routes on the upper crag (this became a fairly common occurence with the stars in the Rockfax guide - they were all over the place). Having done what we thought were all the best-looking routes at the crag, we decided to spend the rest of the day in the beautiful sunshine and had a visit to Vaison-la-Romaine for a spot of sightseeing, before moving on to St Léger.

Roman bridge at Vaison-la-Romaine

Tash copying the pose of some pretentious 'models' that were here when we arrived!

Day three

Our perfect little free camping spot at the 'gypsy camp' layby!

Walking in to the crags on our first day in St Léger.

The bridge near La Bergerie at St Léger.

As it was so hot we knew that all the south facing crags would be too hot to climb at so we headed into the shade at the north face. This crag, on the north bank of the river, is a pretty dark and uninviting place, especially when it's beautiful sunshine everywhere else! But the quality of the routes more than makes up for the lack of sun.

Some of the awesome looking south facing crags that were off limits due to the heat.

The awesome north face at St Léger just briefly in the sun first thing in the morning.

I started on an amazing tufa 7a and then another with a brilliant 7a+ extension. The route I most wanted to do was one that was supposedly 'THE route of the crag' - Les Clowns (7c). So after the warm-ups and some knowledge from Andy Cave about where the route started (not obvious from the guide), I set off. Passing a hard couple of moves low down, the route then goes into some much easier climbing on amazing tufa drainpipes before it steepens up again with pure endurance climbing split by a short hard section moving left. I didn't feel pumped at all throughout the route until I tried to get a kneebar in the hole just below the top for a rest. I just couldn't get it to work, but stupidly tried and tried for ages in a really awkward position getting more and more pumped, before reversing back to try and recover shaking out on some lower holds. I finally commited to the top move, and almost fell when a big blocky hold broke off in my hand, but thankfully spotted the hidden slot just in time and slapped over the top to the disappointingly flat ledge and scrabbled my way to the top, completely destroyed! I was pretty chuffed to onsight this, particularly as the crag has only recently dried up for the first time this year so the rock was really dirty in places, with almost no chalk.

Andy Cave redpointing the amazing 'Les Clowns' (7c) later in the week.

Recovering from the pump in the sunshine!

After a bit of lunch in the sun we went up to the Piedre Salvage area for some afternoon shade and for Tash to have a crack at what was promised to be "probably the best 6b+ you'll ever do in your life"!! While this might be a slight exaggeration, it was an amazing route - just short of 40m long and pure quality all the way, with a bit of every style of climbing. I was still tired from the morning's effort so settled for a couple of 6b's to save some energy for tomorrow.

Walking out over the bridge with Mont Ventoux in the background.

Day four

Next morning we opted for an earlier start to try and get some climbing in at the west facing walls of Fi, Fo, Floty.

One of the route name tags - this time the route of the sector.

More of the cool artistic name plates in St Léger.

Unfortunately our start wasn't quite early enough, and the sun hit the walls earlier than we expected so shady climbing time was limited. I still managed to get a few routes done before it got too hot, including some incredible 7a/+'s and Tash did a few 6b's. After this we had a bit of a break in the sun before heading round to the Piedre Salvage area again for more afternoon shade.

The left hand side of the Piedre Salvage area - not bad eh!

I did an amazing short but steep 7b on some of the best quality tufas you're ever likely to find ('Magne ma voie, Touche ton cul') , and then had a go up an 8a which happened to have the draws in - 'Lachez le Troupeau'. This turned out to be pretty cool, with an amazing steep tufa start to a shakeout, before pulling through a crimpy bulge to a good hands off rest followed by easier climbing to another two easier cruxes split by a good rest. It seemed quite steady for 8a, but by this point I was feeling too tired for a redpoint and found the 6c+ 'Tchatchounette' hard enough - time to call it a day and head back for some dinner!

Everyone's favourite - pasta & tuna slop!

Day five

For a change of scene we went to Baume Rousse today and, with a new venue and so many cool looking routes, despite starting to feel tired from so many days climbing in a row I found a new level of psyche. I did a bunch of routes between 7a-7b, the best of which was 'Les Raviolis de l'Enfer' (7b) - amazing tufas low down to more vertical and technical wall climbing. Definitely one of the best routes of the trip so far.



The brilliant 'Les Raviolis de l'Enfer' (7b) at Baume Rousse. [crap quality photo but I had to include one of this route!]



Checking out THE routes of the crag  - two incredible tufa 8a's next to each other. Best looking routes I've seen for a while.

The routes in question - psyched to come back next year with a bit more fitness for a crack at the onsight (p.s. although they look like a slab in this photo they're definitely NOT!)

Day six

Another attempt at an early start to get some routes in before the sun hit the west-facing walls. Today was more succesful (7am start!), and after warming up on a tricky 7a+ called 'Mano negra' I did the route that I'd wanted to do since seeing an awesome photo in the guide. 'Arquée Pieds Tendu' takes an incredible orange and grey streaked wall starting off vertical then going to a steep bulge and back to vertical for the upper wall. The rock is perfect and the climbing on it absolutely amazing, with a variety of small tufas on the bulge, pockets and technical crimpiness. The sun was just creeping onto the wall when I got onto the upper section and I was totally blinded at one point - having to literally feel around for holds rather than look for them, but thankfully it felt very steady. Much easier than I'd expected.

After Tash did a few more routes in the sun we had a bit of a siesta while we waited for the Piedra Salvage area to come into the shade.

Chilling out in the sun & waiting for the shade to arrive - strange climbing logic, yes!

Walking past all the lovely sunny sectors. Climbing in the sun?! - no thanks!

More sitting and waiting for the shade to come.

Eventually the shade arrived, and I had a go at redpointing 'Lachez le Troupeau' (8a) that I'd been on the other day. Unfortunately I'd been waiting so long for the shade to arrive that I got a total flash pump on the first attempt and, not helped by the fact that I forgot what to do at the crux, I fell off. After belaying Tash and resting for a while I had another go and this time felt a million times better - felt very steady even at the crux. Amazing what a warm up can do for you! (you'd think after so many years climbing I'd have realised that warming up is quite an important factor to success?!).

Italian dude just below the crux on 'Lachez le Troupeau' (8a)

Back to camp for curry...

...and beer.

Day seven

With a poor forecast for the next few days, both of us knackered from almost a week climbing solidly, and the crags getting busier with Easter traffic, we decided to have one final day at the north face before heading home. Tash was keen to get back on a 7a here that she'd tried on Monday ('Le Chevaucée Fantastique') so I put the clips in for her and then did the final 3* 7a on the wall - 'Les Rifougners'. This definitely seemed to be the hardest of the lot and with only 5 bolts in 20m of climbing!

Tash then surprised herself and managed to redpoint her route. Her seventh 7a so far after 7 days climbing - not bad going! After this I did an amazing 7a+ called 'Tenue Correcte Exigée' and then on Andy's recommendation and with his mate Shaun's clips in I did the underrated (in the Rockfax guide at least!) 7b+ 'Roland Culet'. Way better than it looks and with jugs all the way it's a 3* route in anyone's books. As Andy said - "If it was in the UK it'd be the best 7b+ in the country"!

The final route didn't go as planned, but the less said about that the better!! ;-)

So after a little while sunbathing and eating lunch by the river we headed back to cook for the final time.

Dip in the river at St Léger.

Tash having a final wash in the 'shower' at the gypsy camp!

Day eight

The 'gypsy camp' the morning we left - filling up for the Easter weekend.

So with a quick stop to pick up some pastries for the road we were off - destination Espanyoley and a much needed hot shower!

Coffee and croissant pit stop at the windiest aire in France.

All in all, a superb week. Lucky with the weather, a beautiful place, and another lifetime of amazing climbing. We're already planning a return next Easter. Hopefully with some cooler weather so we can climb at some of the fantastic looking south facing crags...

Last climb in Spain...

We nipped up to Siurana today for a quick climb before work this morning. I was keen to get back on the 8a+ at L'Aparador that I tried last week and Tash wanted to have another go at 'Rauxa'. After putting the draws in 'Rauxa' for Tash, I went up 'De aqui a la luna'. Thankfully it felt much more do-able than last week, and the first half felt positively easy (although the dodgy rock at the bottom was still worrying!!). I also realised that you can get an almost hands off rest before the crux if you lean into the wall enough. Sadly, the crux bulge felt as hard as I remembered, but I managed to work out a slightly easier sequence and almost linked it in one. Unfortunately, as quickly as I was working sequences out I was also losing skin on the teeny crimps so had to sack it off. After belaying Tash on her route I decided to try and link the bottom half, up to the rest, before moving out right to the mid-height belay on the 7c next door, thereby missing out the hard bit on the 8a+. This I managed to do, so all that's left is some refining of the end of crux sequence and then it'll be redpoint time.

This'll be the last blog for a while, as we're off to France on Saturday. Happy days....

Montbrio tourist board...

Had a proper tourist day around our local area today, with visits to castles, a BBQ, and a trip to the beach.

Getting blown around at the viewpoint at Castell d'Escornalbou.

Man make BBQ

First dip in the sea this year - water is still a bit cold!

Sightseeing in Siurana

Today we had the obligatory visit to Siurana. No matter how many times we have visitors and show them around the village and crags I never tire of the views and tranquility you find there (mid-week at least!). We started with a few token routes at Siuranella central and then a wander round the village and picnic at Melafots. And I got sunburnt!

Return to Margalef...

Tash's friend, who's staying with us for a few days, arrived here last night so today we headed back over to Margalef with her. It was a little bit cooler thanks to a nice gentle breeze and the conditions were much better than yesterday. We started at the Chorreras sector for Helen to do a few of the nice tufa 5s and 6s, before moving round to Culample 4 again when it came into the shade. I warmed up putting the draws in 'Fanatic' (7a+) for Tash to have a go at - she worked out all the moves but got pretty pumped where it gets steeper at the top so left it for another day. I then did two amazing routes - some of the best I've done in Margalef - on perfect gently overhanging pocketed limestone (almost Ceuse quality!). The first was a pretty soft 7b+ called 'P.G.B' and the second 'Whiskey Compadre' (7c) - both AMAZING routes. After these I wanted to get on the 8a that I'd tried last week but there was a guy going bolt to bolt on it very slowly, so we went round the corner into the sunshine for Tash and Helen to do a few more routes, before going down to the lake for a BBQ :-)

It's so HOT right now...

Well the heatwave continues, as it seems to be doing in the rest of Europe. Today it was in the mid 20s driving to the crag and reached 34° on the way back this evening! Needless to say, we headed for the shade in Margalef, but even then it was super sweaty. It seems such a shame to be cowering in the shade so early in the year, but I'm guessing the temps won't stay this high for too long. We went to sector Ca La Marta and had the place to ourselves for most of the morning, which was nice. I stupidly 'warmed up' on some tiny and very bouldery 7a's on the right hand side - the first of which involved pulling on tiny pockets up to a crux pulling on a mono - not great to start the day off, but start as you mean to go on, I guess?! So to continue the theme I jumped straight on a 7c and messed up trying to do the crux too quickly when I slapped for a pocket and missed it. Doh! It felt really easy on the redpoint so I was a little vexed to waste the onsight, to say the least, but it was an amazing route - perfect rock and great moves at the crux over the bulge.

After warming up, Tash managed to onsight another 6c+! Next up I got on an 8a that I've wanted to try for ages - 'Twist as Lola'. First go up this it felt HARD, particularly at the bottom thanks to a few tufa holds being wet, and I was close to sacking it off. But when a load of other people arrived and jumped on the other routes I wanted to try, I decided to give it another go. This time it felt much better and I managed to work out all the moves and link some sections but a) I was too tired and b) it felt really sweaty, so I didn't have enough left for a redpoint. Sunbathing and skimming stones down by the river for the rest of the afternoon was a much better idea!

Beach weather at the boulder...

Last time we went to the Totxo de morera boulder up at Montsant I stupidly suggested it might be a good place to go when it warms up, because the south face is so steep that it's shaded all day. Bad idea. After a quick warm-up on the shady west wall this morning, I put the draws in the good steep 7a on the south face for Tash, but it was already getting sweaty and even this felt harder than it should. Afterwards I had a go up the 7c+ to the left of the 8a I did last time we were here, but just below half height there's an obvious hold that's broken and it's now significantly harder - I couldn't do the move and had to dog past it. But the main problem was that it was just so hot and sweaty. This heat wave is getting ridiculous now - the car said 28° when we were driving back today! Far too hot to be climbing anywhere but the shadiest crags, and it's only the start of April!

After stripping the draws from the 7c+ I did a few other 6c's round on the shady west wall and then stripped the draws from the 7a, as Tash was struggling on it in the heat. Sunbathing seemed to be a much better alternative today...

Mini cloud inversion looking out from the Totxo de la Morera boulder this morning - hot hot hot!

'From here to the moon and back'...

Having gone with the easy option yesterday, there was nothing left for me to do at L'Aparador today apart from get on 'De aqui a la luna y volver'. With some very suspect rock towards the bottom and no chalk anywhere I was a bit nervous about getting on it. The route goes straight up the steep and very blank looking wall, in between two very obvious and well-chalked crack lines. On these two routes there are plenty of chalked holds visible in the cracks all the way up, and they go at 7b+ and 7c, so I was a bit concerned at how hard this one was going to be, given that there aren't really any holds to be seen at all!

After a quick warm-up on Rauxa (7a+) to get the draws in for Tash to try, I set off. As expected, the bottom section was a little nerve wracking due to the rock quality, meaning that I probably got more pumped than normal overgripping all the holds! Thankfully this band is short-lived and after three or four clips you get to much more typical solid Siurana limestone. The rest of the route is stunning, with superb technical climbing and is steeper than you normally expect in Siurana, meaning it's going to be pumpy to link together. It's given 8a+ in the guide but, although it's difficult to know until I've done some overlapping sections and found the resting places, I suspect it may be hard for that - even pushing 8b. There were two sections of climbing that took me a long time to work out, and even then the sequences were desperate and runout. But it's an incredible route and in the shade all day so it'll be a good project to have for the next few months or so with the temperatures on the increase. So we'll see how it goes...

Another shady day in Siurana...

After a few days resting tired skin, fingers and forearms we went up to Siurana this morning. The temps are still pretty high, so we were in the shade again at L'Aparador - one of the better hot weather crags, with amazing crack climbs up to 40m. However, as I've done most of these and wasn't feeling ready to commence battle with the one remaining 8 at the crag (due to the lack of chalk or even any sign of it having been climbed before), I settled for a much more convenient alternative - the 7c+ that shares a lower-off with one of the 6c's on the left. Warm-up on the 6c going up; put the clips in the 7c+ coming down - easy!

I also had a quick play on the route on the way down, and worked out one or two moves - it felt steep! After a rest belaying Tash I had a 'no expectations' redpoint, but wasn't really warmed up properly and hadn't worked out the moves as well as I thought so spent a lot of time dithering and completely powered out well before the crux. I came down and had another rest and then did it next go. A strange route - 6 bolts long and with only about 6-7m of actual hard climbing, but the moves were excellent and just what I needed (i.e. bouldering on a rope to get me a bit stronger!).

On the way back we checked out the La Capella crag - home to Ondra's latest addition and another permanently shady crag, useful for the next few months. The 9a 'Jungle Speed' looks like the most do-able route of its grade I've ever seen. If I hadn't just seen a video of someone on it the other day then I'd have guessed around the 8a-8b mark! It is steep, but the holds all look big enough that I reckon even I could pull on them - the footholds/body positions must be atrocious to bump the grade up that much! Ondra's new possible 9b didn't look so easy unfortunately. Thankfully there were also plenty of nice looking 8a's to try when we eventually get round to visiting.

I might pull my finger out tomorrow and see what the final 8 on the L'Aparador wall is like - hopefully as good as the rest of the routes...

An almost perfect day out in Margalef...

With the balmy weather and much longer days now we decided to pack a picnic so we could make the most of the evening sunshine and have a cold beer after climbing (yes, it was in a cool box and yes I am getting very old!). We went over to Margalef to try out some new shady sectors. First up was the amazing chorreras sector; home to two walls covered entirely of dripping candle wax like tufa:

The rock at chorreras sector - not unusual you say?!...

...it is when the routes are no harder than 6c!
Here one of the awesome 6b's in the chorreras sector, Margalef © Fredrik Nyberg

I did all of the best routes on the wall to warm up, including three 6b's and two 6c's - all on this amazing rock. When we first arrived, we were the only ones at the crag and it was so nice to just tick away with no sound but the birds in the trees. Unfortunately it didn't last long. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, the Spanish climbers are starting to really grate on me. We normally don't have a problem as we're climbing mid-week and the occasional climbers that we do see are German, French, Brits or Eastern Europeans out on holiday who speak at normal volume and act respectfully. But for some reason the Spanish are something else. I hate to stereoptype and generalise but this is one case where it seems to be possible. It doesn't help that they tend to climb in big groups, but it's still no excuse. I've had plenty of days out bouldering in big groups in Font or the Peak District but we never take over the crag and spoil the atmosphere like the Spanish seem to. Today, the first others to arrive were a group of five - relatively small for a Spanish group - but it felt like a whole army. They immediately started singing at full volume and shouting to each other despite being stood a matter of metres apart and right next to us. Would you really do that if you arrived at a crag with only one other couple there climbing in peace? They continued like that the whole time we were there and it got worse when another group of six arrived not long after. They then excelled themselves by deciding to stand all over my bag and then sit down on it while they were watching someone climb and shout encouragement at him continuously for about 15mins, so we couldn't hear a word each other was saying and had to communicate by pointing while we were climbing! It was just ridiculous. I've had busy and noisy days with the Spanish at the crag (like last weekend at Raco de Missa when a huge group of Spaniards dumped their stuff directly on top of ours and completely surrounded us while we were sat down having a break), but today was another level. We finished the routes as quickly as possible and then beat a hasty retreat round to another sector in the hope of finding some peace and quiet away from them. The only positive was the comedy value that one of them provided with his haircut and fetching purple leggings:

The next sector - Culample 4 - was just round the corner. This was another excellent area, with much longer routes up to ~30m, and thankfully a lot quieter! Here I did a 7a then an amazing 7a+ called 'Fanatic' - one of the nicest of the grade I've done in Margalef - starting on a slab and finishing up the overhanging headwall, as well as a great 7b ('La funcionaria asesina'). Tash also managed to onsight a 6c+ here, in addition to the three 6b's she did at chorreras - so a good day for her.

I finished off with a go up an 8a called 'La Guardia'. The top section of this felt desperate on first acquaintance, and I spent a lot of energy working out a good sequence, as well as losing a lot of skin. But with a rest day planned for tomorrow I decided to try redpointing it, despite feeling absolutely destroyed. After a bit of a rest I managed to get through the lower crux but ran out of steam just below the top. A great route and I'm keen to come back to this sector to finish it off, as well as do some more onsighting. So only one thing remained...beer & picnic down by the lake!

Beer and sunshine...happy days!