Contignac and Chateauvert Rock Climbing

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 prohibition in the for half of the 1990s. Then the regional government purchased the land as a reserve and legalised climbing on the right bank and banned it on the left bank for environmental reasons.















The Grande Face with someone who climbs much
harder than me!





The government even sponsored the replacement of all the old angle hangers with glue ins which are more suitable for the sandy limestone in the area. The routes range in length and there are nice faces and pumpy pocketed routes.










Ada enjoying some local yogurt with our picnic lunch



The guide book we used was Grimper en Provence Vert and is available from the Tourist Office in Correns, Frances first bio-village and also the French home for Brangalina and their kids. The crag is well equipped with composting toilets and a "beach" by the river which is lovely for a picnic lunch and a swim in the warmer weather.












Note, don't drink the water in the pleasant stream as we has a mouthful each at the end of the day after running out of water and we were all quite ill later in our trip.




Lazing in the sun after lunch at the Chateauverte beach



The villages were pretty sleepy, in fact Correns barely seemed to be functioning at all, but we were there before the start of the official tourist season.  The crag was pleasantly busy with lots of families with small children and a mixture of French, Germans and Poles.



Renovated medieval cast in the pretty village of StMartin




When leaving Contignac we took the slow route on the GPS which was much more interesting than the motorway with many small villages and spectacular views of the countryside of Provence. We even passed by Apt and the adjacent crag of Boux but that is for the next trip.

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