By Gary Phillips.

Fed up of the usual areas in the south of France? Well here's a great new area where you don't have to line up for routes and fight the polish. Hidden on the northern side of Mt Venteux near the tiny town of St Leger du Venteux lies a spectacular canyon.

The canyon or better known as St Leger offers more than 200 high quality routes to suit climbers of all abilities. The routes tend to be steep and athletic with interesting moves on tufas and edges. St Leger has a major advantage over a lot of other areas in the south of France in that it has North, South, West and Eastly aspect therefore offering shade or sun to suit your climbing needs.

The area has been broken in to 6 main sectors East Face, North Face, South Face Cirque, Pranyania and finally Al Andaluze. To get to the crags from the parking, cross the Roman bridge and follow the dirt track along the river. As you get level with a small cliff on the right the track will fork, go left for the North sector and right (crossing the river on stepping stones) to access the others.

Best Time:
March to May and September to November.

Getting There:
If you're approaching from the north take the auto route to Lyon and then on to the town of Bollene (north of Orange). Turn left and follow the D94 and then D20 to Vaison-la-Romaine. From Vaison take the D938 and D54 heading to Mollans-s-Ouveze. Approx 1km from Mollans turn right on to a small road D40 follow this to St Leger-du-Ventoux. If you're coming from the south head to Carpentras and then to Malaucene on the D938 after about 5km head right along the D13 and then on to St Leger.

Provisions:
There is a small bakery and supermarket in the village of Mollans-s-Ouveze and a slightly bigger one at Vaison-la-Romaine. If you need more than this 30 minutes away is the city Carpentras.

Accommodation:
There is a Gite at St Leger (near the roman bridge) but no campsite, there is a campsite at Vaison-la-Romaine which is approx 15 minutes drive from the crags.