orpierre, day 3

As usual, Alex did not sleep well. Unfortunately, I had the night shift. He only got up once, however, so I was in luck. Since it was 5:30 AM, and there is not much point in trying to get a half hour of sleep, I took a few pictures of the village



After breakfast, we went to the Puy crag, which is beautiful. I had configured my new Cilogear pack, which I will review at some later date, but suffice it to say that I am very impressed thus far. I was expecting the kind of blocky limestone you find at other southern Vercors climbing areas, but the bottom of le puy tuned out to be surprisingly crimpy and technical. Here is Ian on "Le Meilleur du Pire"

and here I am, helmet camming it up


I worked the moves on the first route, but found it to be pretty difficult.

Meanwhile, the parents had taken the children to the cafe

and my mom taught Zoe how to take pictures with her camera. Here is Zoe's second ever photo:

We bought some ground beef at the local market (I politely declined the meat that had been sitting in the grinder since the morning!) and grilled up roquefort burgers for lunch. Yes, the gite even has a gas grill and patio! Next, we decided to visit Sisteron. Chloe and I must have passed it a few dozen times on our way to various crags, but never found time to stop. The Renault Espace's Nav system brought us right to the citadel, and then we all walked up to the top. We were all impressed by the fact that Kenji made it to the top, and quite quickly!









Here is the tower where the King of Poland was imprisoned


Next came a visit to an overpriced salon de thé (are they all?). We stopped at the impressive looking blades of rock across the river from the fort to check out some of the routes and then headed back to Orpierre for another excellent dinner : salad, lasagna with a bechamel sauce and more homemade cookies. Oh yes, and much more wine.