Saint-Jeannet climbing

Crag: Baou de Saint-Jeannet, Provence
Routes: L'Arete Sud (uD- 3,5,5,4,5:led p.1,3,5), Le Gruyere (f5:sec), La Fondue (f5:sec), Dernier Archipel (f5+:led*), Le Parapluie (f4+:led)
Our flight left Nice in the evening, so we had the perfect opportunity to get to grips with this crag, which is so obvious from the airport and environs. I'd last visited the place in 1994 with Tim, but had never climbed on the main face. I was a little too tired for the big routes today, so we settled on L'Arete Sud which takes the line its name suggests up the edge of the shorter and less intimidating South Pillar. Amazing clarity of light this morning, following the Mistral, with the Maritime Alps looking superb and Corsica remarkably clear even from the village of St Jeannet as we walked through. A steep path through the pretty village gave a delightful start to the day, and leads to woods then the traverse to the base of the main face. The arete is an obvious line, and I led an easy first pitch up a shallow groove to gain a cave. Vic led a good but polished second up a steep, slanting groove to a very big ledge which briefly spoiled the route. My third pitch took an awkward wall before a big ledge leads back left to gain a stance on the arete. An easy fourth pitch over blocks, before I completed the climb with a slightly loose fifth pitch weaving up more short walls, corners and blocks to the top of the pillar in a fine position. Very simple stuff, low end VS, but ideal for the day. We moved quickly up this 120m route, and it did give us something of the flavour and atmosphere of the crag. Most notably, the views were truly outstanding. From each belay, it was hard to know what to look at. I could see planes taking off from Calvi airport in Corsica, with Monte Cinto beyond, as well as Esterel, Nice, the Var valley, St Jeannet and its swimming pools directly below, all in perfect clarity. We descended via the middle tier and grabbed a few more routes before we finished. Gruyere and Fondue take pocketed slabs and grooves, as their names suggest. The latter saw the rope flick needles off a juniper bush, one of which landed in my eye and caused discomfort before emerging much later as we were driving to the airport. Dernier Archipel is a mini-classic taking a steep flake to an overhang. I then traversed too far right, very strenuous, with nothing for my feet, before losing strength. I later seconded it cleanly: it was actually a straightforward direct move over the overhang, reaching up for a juggy vertical pocket to pull over and gain a delicate slab. I finished by leading the juggy but very steep and polished corner of Le Parapluie, which I also lead 17 years ago! Strength failing, acknowledging that we were finally climbed out after an excellent trip, we called it a day and headed back to the village.