Les Calanques: Day 1

I'm back, but The Anarchy Breakfast is still on vacation. Look for Part II of "The Journey Home" next week. Instead, I thought I'd do some actual blogging between now and then, with a little trip report from climbing with Aaron in Les Calanques. It's mostly true.

Day 1 - Sunday Morning - Montpellier

We are looking for a grocery store.
"I forgot about Sunday mornings in France. There's actually a law against big stores being open on Sunday, except by government approval. Hey, look at that, Monoprix's open."
We go in. "What do you need?" I ask Aaron.
"I dunno. Some sandwich cookies. Whatever strikes my fancy."
We left with four packages of sandwich cookies, two baguettes, a box of wine, a bottle of Pastis, some cashews, dry sausage, and a hunk of Roquefort. "This stuff is like $50 a pound in the states!" Aaron exclaimed, holding up the 2 Euro package. We were ready for adventure.

The train ride to Marseille went quickly and shortly after noon we are navigating the Marseille public transit system. I'm squinting at a map at the bus stop, trying to discern whether or not we're on the right sight of the street.
"Where are you headed?" A gentle and very American voice asks me. I turn and it's a short blond girl who looks like she might blow away.
"I think we're going to Callelongue."
"Are you guys hikers?" She looks at my backpack.
"Climbers."
"Oh! The climbing there is really amazing!"
"Are you a climber?"
"No." She apologizes. "You should take the 21 to Luminy, though. I think Luminy goes the farthest south."

We plan to, in a couple of days.

"You must be American." I insist.
"No, Canadian."
"Where in Canada?"
"It's kind of a small town, you might not know it. It's called Nelson?"
"No way!" Aaron pipes up. "I lived there for a few months. Nelson's great."
"You must be a student, then." I say.
"No, a nanny."

I'm clearly not very good at this.

"Well, have a good climb!" She says, walking away. I turn to Aaron.
"That's the tightest pair of Carhartt's I've ever seen."
"Yeah. I didn't know they made 'em like that."


On bus #19, an old man sees me squinting at the list of stops.
"Vous déscendez où?"
"Au terminus, je pense."
"Madgregue de Montredon." He assures me.
"Oui. Et après on va prendre le 20 pour Callelongue."
"Vous allez dans les Goudes, c'est ça?"
"Oui, c'est ça."
"Le 20, il va très peu les Dimanches. À peu près toutes les heures."
"S'il y a pas de bus, on marche."
He rolls his eyes, wishes us, "Bon courage," and gets off at his stop.

We have no trouble getting on the 20 and started our hike from Callelongue into the rocky hillsides covered in cliffs. In one, a large cave is prominent.

"There's our hotel." I say. "I got the beta from one of my climbing friends. Fabrice told me, 'Là, tu peux dormir tranquil.'"

Our first climb is the four-pitch Arete Victor Martin above a couple enjoying a romantic lunch. "Man, that looks great." Aaron says. "They've got a bottle of wine, some nice food. They worked up a little sweat getting up here, now they're enjoying a great view. I hope they do it twice tonight."

The climb had been re-equipped in the early nineties and we find the bolts to be in good condition. The rock is far from perfect, but serves as a nice introduction to the climbing in Les Calanques and it's cool to be able to summit a formation on the first day. We do one more pitch of 6a and call it a good afternoon.

We set up camp in the cave. With a roof, lots of space, and a relatively flat and soft dirt floor, and an opening pointing away from town and well-hidden from any passers-by, this would prove to be our best camping spot of the trip.

Stay tuned for day 2 tomorrow.