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...