Saint Jean de Bueges
This charming little village is about 15 minutes from Thaurac, and the fact that it features a fairly major lump of rock is clearly advertised as you enter the valley. […]
Tag Archives: climbing
Thaurac – Mur des Lamentations and Balcons
We visited Thaurac about 4 years ago and ended up leaving prematurely and marking it down as 12CB4. Thaurac There’s a huge amount of rock to go at… … so […]
Saint Bauzille de Montmel
… or Saint Bo’ for short, is another significant crag in L’Herault that we’d never heard of before, let alone visited (thanks Keith and Fiona for the tip off). It’s […]
Roche Autour du Gard
All good things come to an end, and after 3 weeks of unbroken sunshine in the Durance, the weather finally went pear-shaped. Two days of forecasted rain followed by a […]
Freissinières – Dalles Magiques (not) and La Grande Falaise
With another fine day in prospect, Helen and I decided to have a multi-pitch adventure. The two 100m routes on Dalles Magiques get a big write up in the guide […]
Gero and other Roche Around de Rame
We arrived in France three weeks ago, ready to set the sat nav for wherever was sunny, and immediately made a beeline for the Durance Valley to take advantage of […]
French Poudinage
Moving on from the quartzite theme of the last post, it’s time to celebrate another of the diverse rock types on offer in the Durance: Conglomerate (or Poudinage as the […]
Quartzite Climbing… But not as you know it!
Quartzite is synonymous (at least for this Gogarth devotee) with the climbing on Holy Island. Others will think of Arapiles or (more unlikely!) of Kamouraska https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2019/10/11/kamouraska-carling-dont-make-crags-but/ It’s a great rock […]
Paroi des Lys – Fiesta del Cinq Soup / Siza, TD-
Paroi des Lys is like a big brother to La Ponteil, looming above it and about twice the height. It’s remarkable that such a sizeable crag (routes up to 8 […]
Aiguillette de Laus de Cervieres and Terre Rouge
After our Queyras jaunt we tootled down the far side of the Col de L’Izoard through the Cerveyrette valley, using the time to suss out some of the crags. Rounding […]
Valle de Claree
There’s a tonne of climbing to the north of Briancon which we hadn’t previously explored as it’s a 45mins drive from Roche de Rame and generally a bit higher altitude, […]
Casse de Prelles – Les Aiguilles
We’d visited the lower walls of these unusual quartzite crags last year, so this was a chance to check out the extraordinary-looking Sector Aiguilles. It’s a bit of a yomp […]
Les Traverses & St Crepin – French Polish Before and After
We’ve been visiting France to climb for over 35 years (a terrifying thought in itself!) and can still conjure up a vague recollection of effortless smearing up seemingly blank slabs […]
Drive-by cragging en route to the Durance
After a year when RockAroundTheWorld morphed into RockAroundTheUK (much of it very enjoyable, it has to be said!) we’re finally back on the road! A quick Eurotunnel dash (very quiet […]
Old Man of Stoer
One of “The Big Three Scottish Sea Stacks” and “arguably the finest” according to Gary Latter, The Old Man of Stoer has been a long-term goal of mine – I’d […]
Sron na Ciche, Skye
It’s over 30 years since we last stayed at the Glenbrittle Campsite, and the most obvious change is that it’s now 90% vans and motorhomes (so much for distant memories […]
Cloggy Revisited
Having polished off the Lakes section of Hard Rock over the Bank Holiday weekend, the ticking focus moved on to the remaining Welsh routes – Vember and Slanting Slab; both […]
Engineer’s Slabs, Gable and a long overdue encounter
I first leafed through Hard Rock almost 40 years ago – a hallowed tome on Pete’s (my father-in-law to be) bookshelf. At that time, and for quite a few years […]
A Day Out on’t Moors – Peak Scar and Whitestone Cliffe
I’ve already confessed to being a “ticker” (insert puerile if you want to judge me!) and I’m getting towards the end of Chris Craggs’ 100 Best Routes on Limestone. Most […]
Costa del Silverdale and Runestones – seaside and slate sport
Heading up to the Lakes for Dave’s 60th, with an iffy forecast for the big hills, it seemed like a good opportunity to sample the newly-developed sports climbing on Morecambe […]
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