We were greeted with blue skies as we woke to our first activity day from our new alpine hideout, but there was no need (or desire!) to rush anywhere.

A breakfast on the balcony (actually much sturdier than it looks!) in the shade, after some gentle stretching broke us into the day nicely and gave time to peruse the guidebook while sipping coffee in a very relaxing way. By 11am we were ready to head out into the day. There is plenty of climbing to chose from, so we opted for a high crag, above the nearby village of St Crepin.

Is thought we could traverse the hillside from the hideout, but after a few minutes, tarmac gave way to gravel and we aborted, opting for the safer route which drove down to the valley and back up again, via many switchbacks. The road ran out again for the last few hundred metres, so we parked up and walked the last bit to save any undue stress on us or the car.

The crag of Les Guions is perched on the hillside with superb views of the valley. As predicted, we had the place to ourselves and chose a couple of short multi-pitch climbs to get a feel for the place.

A warm wind was blowing through the valley which kept the temperatures perfect. Not too hot, but definitely t-shirt weather. A shady crag base for belaying and lunching in made it the perfect choice for day one.

Having been on two different climbing trips, with very different rock types, in the last four weeks, the alpine limestone smoothness, required us to remember another climbing style – and then get used to it! There was a lot of balance moves while standing on a seemingly smooth section of rock!

After five good pitches of climbing, we decided to head down and check out the lake below our village. The wind was keeping us cool, but the thermometer was reading 26.5°C. The lake was a delight, although surprisingly cold! It felt about the same temperature as Llyn Padarn at Llanberis, where we’d swam one evening last week.

But it’s easy to warm up and dry off with this level of heat! The swim gave us a good ‘re-set’ and after a quick shop stop, we arrived back on our balcony to bask in the golden evening sunlight.

All that was left to do was rustle up some food and toast the day!

Climbs at Les Guions:

– Six Roses, 4c, 5a**

– Le Mystère, 6a (tr)

– La Mobiletta, 4a, 4b*