The Shifting Sands

I like Chamonix.   Despite the ageing lift infrastructure, I like the mountains and I like the town but one thing I don’t like is the food.   Given the proximity to Lyon and the wonderful Savoie cuisine, there seems to be far too many places serving British pub food and ordinary ethnic restaurants (Indian, Thai etc). Chris at the excellent Christiana on the slopes at Courmayeur Work had taken me to Paris for two weeks so I took the train to Cham planning to catch up with a friend of a friend.   Chris Warner knows Damien, my school friend and climbing partner from Chomotang. Chris is a rope gun who was now living in Cham so we connect and organised to catch up for a ski. Goat stew and polenta. They even added in a couple of sausages I dropped my stuff at Gite Vagabond in the rain, not a good sign given it was mid-night. The next morning when I met Chris the weather was no better in Cham but there were reports that it was snowing in Courmay

Contignac's smaller town square with the limestone cliffs and the dwellings in the background I scouted some areas in the south of France for some climbing over Easter and Chateauverte seemed to have it all.  Easy access, check, range of grades, check, kid friendly check, pleasant surroundings, check, nice villages with local markets, check. The upper homes in Contignac built into the cliff We scoured Air BnB for some accommodation close to the crag but were left uninspired.  In the end we selected a nice traditional Band B in Contignac, a small village at the base of a limestone cliff full of tufas and medieval cliff dwellings and about 20 minutes drive from the main climbing along a stream between Chateauverte and Correns. Ada lowering off a 4b at Chateauverte After a few early ascents in the 1960's, much of the development at Chateauverte was undertaken in the late 1980s before a period of a climbing pr

I needed to be in Paris for work in the week before Easter and again at the Start of April.  It was school holidays in Dubai and Lucy had gone to Australia via Mumbai to visit Universities and Colleges. As my project was yet to start and my dance card was free,  Kate and I decided on a lazy trip around Provence in the south of France with some climbing at Chateauverte while staying at Contignac before traveling north into the shadow of Mt Ventoux and staying in the village of Caromb while climbing at Montmirail. Ada's favourite house Captain Ahab at the helm of the Whaler heading into Cannes Before leaving Dubai, we contacted our friends, Nicola and Ewan, to see if they were in the south of France and to try to meet for lunch. As it turned out they were hosting lunch on Easter Sunday, which was my birthday. So after just arriving in Contignac, we set off for a day and a night at Cap D'Antibe. The lunch was great fun and we got re-acquain