By Andy Harris.

The South of France has been synonomus with the word Stamina since the sports routes of the 70's and 80's began to appear. The upshot of this being that us Brits would spend many miserable weeks hanging on the 8th quickdraw wondering if we'd ever make it to the belay with enough strength left for that tenuous, runout slab crux. Fortunately for us there's now a little place about 90 minutes from Buoux with no bolts, only the occasional slab and most importantly very few tanned Frenchies to come and burn you off.

Set in the hilly forest above the village of La Capelle about 25 km north west of Avignon lie hundreds of sandstone boulders scattered amongst the trees. Up until the early 90's the whole area was a dense forest with narrow paths. The enthusiastic locals have spent years cleaning the boulders and clearing the dense undergrowth to produce a truly beautiful area.

The rock seems to vary somewhere between the sandstone of Kyloe in the Wood and Fontainbleau. So similar is it in some places that you could be forgiven for forgetting what crag you're at. Knobbly jugs, big roundy dishes and sloping crimps are the specialty here so the colder weather offers the best conditions. Seeing as most of us only visit the south in Easter or summer the evenings are often the coolest time of the day. But no matter how hot it is you'll still be able to have a great day out even if it does mean dropping the grade a bit.

Most of the problems are marked with arrows a la Font' (yellow, blue, red, white & black), although only the excellent red circuit of about 20 problems is numbered. A topo of La Capelle is a near impossibility due to the number of boulders and the way they are interwoven into a myriad of tunnels and formations. The best thing to do is find a spot you like, climb, up camp and move onto the next area.