In the land of dreams, in the Calanques Marseille After leaving Paris, Gare de Lyon by TGV at 6:30 am. Here we arrived in Marseille, Saint Charles, shortly before 10 o'clock. A brief visit to the hotel to establish our base camp and we're off. Goal: do not lose a second, preparing our bags-to-back and you could attack the cliffs.
Located along the Mediterranean between Marseille and Cassis, the creeks have kept a wild side, despite the presence of Marseilles and its nearly one million inhabitants. It is a pleasure to hike there and even the chance to climb. The sight of the cliffs plunging into the Mediterranean Sea Luminy, Sormiou, or the Gouda offers an exceptional show of creeks that leaves no Indifferent. Each creek has its own character, difficult to select one over another.
Access to creeks is mainly by road. In our case, to roundabout from the Prado, we rallied the entrance to each of the creeks directly by bus from 20 to 30 minutes. Then ... Walk a few dozen minutes ... See a little more ... In case of small detours ... Yes ... Well ... Well ... It is not necessarily the cliff the first time ;-) It is better (good) consult the topo regarding access to the cliffs. Especially in summer, or access is highly regulated in a cove to another.
The limestone massif of the creeks is a very light gray, almost white. Cut in the manner of drops of water, the rock is also very aggressive finger but also very adherent. Reading some ways be a real headache on some wall and find the right taken soon become a game quite amusing. Countless cliffs are there, referenced in the local topo:
Climbing - Calanques . The site of the creeks of Marseille is a huge reservoir of cliffs with all the difficulty levels from 3 (for beginners) to 9 (for dreaming :-), and a variety of climbs ranging from well-equipped sport routes to inland terrain of adventure equipment more random. It is preferable to properly select its site of climbing equipment can sometimes be old and not at all reassuring. For this, the topographical surveys all the information in nearly 500 pages, giving not only the state of the equipment, but also: orientation, access, exposure to wind, even a little history. ..
It is at the end of March and the weather is almost ideal, close to 20 ° C during the day with a magnificent sun. The rock cliffs clear lamp sunlight heats us a little more as we climb. Disruptive anyway ... the wind ... that damn Mistral does tend to lower the temperature.
hardware side, we get hot rather quickly ... very hot with the sun reverberates from the rock and the sea, provide water in quantity. Natural site requires the helmet is recommended, although the cliffs are generally clean, some relays are on terraces of scree.
Overall, four days on a budget:
- By train: TGV Paris - Marseille, 70 € for a roundtrip journey of 3 hours
- Accommodation: 4 people Appart'Hotel Pierre & Vacances, 75 € for 3 nights per person
- Bus Marseille: one way € 1.70, or 3-day pass for 10 €
- Topo: 30 €
During these 4 days in Marseille, we had the opportunity to climb the sites Morgiou, Sormiou, and Gouda. A
Morgiou, through Luminy, via the Col de Sugiton, we joined the cliff of "Kingdom of
Degun ", sheltered from the wind. So well protected they wandered around a bit before finding the path elsewhere :-) This is a small piece of a cliff 20 meters high. All skins are well equipped and go from 5a to 6c. Maid nice selection of channels:
- The Kingdom of
Degun (6c): Memorable for my fall at the last quickdraw who ripped me off a piece of meat passing a finger ;-) Slab easy start and last movements of water drops slightly overhanging.
- La Fiesta
Dessoude (6b): Climb not too long with a rather technical start on a row of drops of water well in line forcing rather precarious balance.
- The Kiss
congressional (6b +): Way cool though, susceptible to alternative ... Ben what ... Yes I went a little right ... and then :-)
With another day of Mistral, the cliff of "Mon
Hill" to Sormiou seems ideal. Fairly well sheltered from the wind cliff has nearly 70 routes from 4a to 7c +. The opportunity to polish up on our shoes:
- Killer's Kiss
(6a): Check not very reassuring for a fairly quiet road in fact.
-
Quickdraw-Anxiety Dream of Thee Well Seated (5c): Corridor original fireplace with a lot of fun climbing.
For two days, enjoying the beautiful sun, direction Goudes, with direct views of the Mediterranean Sea to the delight of the eyes. Callelongue reached, we take the path along the La Cave toward the "Child's Garden
" or the rinds are around 20 meters for quotes from 4b to 7a. The opportunity to cross that day Bernard Privat, we get into some very nice tracks:
-
Camille and Clementine (6a +): Way fun with a passage a little nasty at the third point.
- Attack
Bag (7): Lane breaks finger on the start with a good step to block the outset, the rest is going pretty well.
end of the day watching the beautiful sunset in the Mediterranean while we drink a little beer.
Last day at the "Rock of
Goudes " with certainly one of the best views on the Mediterranean island of Riou in the background. Passing by Callelongue we passed a stand of the association for the protection of creeks: Union
Coastal Creeks. Time for them to present their regular action defense creeks we leave with plastic bags to collect rubbish pass. The tracks are about 30 meters and provide access to views on the sea, cove and a piece of Marseille. From 3b to 6c, the average is more around the 5a/5b. This does not prevent some great tracks:
- The Roof
(5c): As its name suggests, the route has a passage that requires almost slab crawl under a roof.
-
feeling down (6a +) : Not exceptional, but offers a curiosity at the top.
- You
More Tricks, Less You wear out (6b): I just fell in love in the climbing portion alternating vertical well, recovery while requiring concentration from beginning to end ... Hmm ... A treat :-)
In the end, four days a dream! Marseille has an almost inexhaustible reservoir of cliffs just waiting for the climbers, all for a very reasonable budget. Sure, we'll be back ... uh .. in fact ... it is already our 3rd stay ;-) We love it! We will return ... yet :-)
Marseille (13000) info :
- Getting there:
Calanques, Marseille, France -
Weather Today -
Union Creeks Coast - Official site of topo creeks:
topo-calanques.com
