UKC

I should be going on holiday to St Cast le Guildo during the summer with my family. The only thing about it is that I can't seem to find any climbing near by. Unfortunately my father doesn't want to drive more than an hour from St Cast le Guildo and I can't seem to find any climbing within that vicinity. I would prefer bouldering although sport climbing could be an option too. If anyone had been and found some climbing could you please help me out, don't think I can go two weeks without climbing! Thanks

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

I used to live in the area (wasn't into climbing at the time) so did some googling for you:

http://escalade22.escalade-armor-argoat.fr/sites.html

The red triangles around Erquy are just around the corner from where you'll be.

This one seems to be the best equipped of the four:

http://escalade22.escalade-armor-argoat.fr/pleherel.html

The website is in French but I'm sure you could contact them in English and they'd be happy to help.

Off the top of my head, the coast further west towards Lannion and the Côte de Granite Rose has lots of boulders and interesting low rock formations in the beaches and bays.

In reply to GreatApe:

We went to Pleherel, we didn´t bother to get the gear out of the car. Suppose if you´re deperate.....

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

There are some bolted routes at Le Lac Bleu above Erquy

http://www.erquy-tourisme.com/Loisirs-Plein-air-Detente/Escalade_fiche_790....

http://www.sites-escalade.fr/loc.php?f=519

No idea what the routes are like

We are having a family trip to Erquy at the end of July and am thinking of taking some gear.

Would welcome any info

In reply to jimtitt:

Brittany isn't great for people who like things that take place on inclines!

Good for sailing and crepes though!

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

If you can talk the rest of the family into a day trip to Brest get them to drop you off for the day around Kerlouan, loads of beach bouldering dotted around, use a bike to link places up

Its also a cracking place for a family visit, tons of nice beaches etc. for the family to while away the hours

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

There's plenty of bouldering round Ploumanach area - I've read magazine articles and Martin Crocker's done stuff if you can get hold of him.

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

Have you seen this site?
http://krimpadenn.fr/
it has a map of climbing venues en Bretagne. I find you have to re-centre the map on Brittany (it always starts up in the Canary Islands or some such) and then hit 'reload' to get all the flags to appear.

There's really great bouldering at the 'rocks of the badger' - but that's about 1hour24mins away (it's just North of Rennes). It's a miniature Brittany Font – a woodland venue, much smaller, but lovely rock - more than enough problems for a nice day-trip out, marked up in colour-coded circuits.
http://rochersdublaireau.wordpress.com/
here's a video
vimeo.com/104663631

I went to the côte de granite rose but couldn't find anything I was particularly interested to climb. The rocks are really impressive, pink and gorgeously hard with massive quartzite crystals in them, but not great for bouldering – large & sharp granularity with every surface like a sloper (no cracks or weaknesses) means you're running your whole hands over jagged glass. I'm probably just a wimp though, people definitely boulder around there (Ploumanac'h lighthouse - also about an hour and a half away from you) as Toerag says:
vimeo.com/126305395

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

The best climbing in Brittany is at Pen-Hir near Crozon. Think Land's End Cornwall only French and warmer.
There is a good range of Trad and Sport routes there (some of the trad routes are fantastic) and most are easily accessable and do not involve any abseiling.
There is a new guide out at the moment "Escalade a Pen-Hir"
One word of warning we had our car broken into while we were climbing so don't leave loads of kit in the car.
It is well worth the visit but is about 2hr 30min from where you are staying.
There is some climbing on Le Cube near Brest but I have not been there.

In reply to Duncan Bourne:


About 20 years ago, we spent three days (very sporadically) searching for Le Cube - never found it, although my guess is that we got top within 300 yards. Turned out the French couldn't find it either!

Instead we found a lovely little crag in the vicinity, called L'Imperatrice (or summat like that). Back then, was half-trad, half-sport. Being lazy, we ticked the latter. Nice views of Brest and a belt of overhangs which you could yard through on jugs/flatties at never more than about F6c.

Caveat: a long time ago, failing memory, things may have changed. But we thought it better than Pen-Hir.

Mick

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

We thought we'd start the annual Euro trip last year a bit differently, so got the ferry to Roscoff, then planned a few days climbing in Brittany before heading to the proper stuff. Delightful place, and a fun day's bouldering at Kerlouan, but apart from that, it was the biggest disappointment since 2001 A Space Oddessy! Pen Hir in particular was a mega disappointment, after a reasonably favourable press on here and in French media. Still, great croissant and a nice way to start the holiday! Won't be doing it again mind!

In reply to Steve Wetton:


Ditto, I went a couple of summers ago - the weather and the climbing were both very disappointing,


Chris

In reply to Steve Wetton:

What was it you didn't like about Pen-Hir?
Just curious as we did some fantastic adventurous routes there and really enjoyed it. The bolted climbs were OK but the trad was brilliant and varied, if a little loose in a few places (lack of traffic?)

In reply to Duncan Bourne:

We may well not have been at the best place, we parked up on a headland by a huge monument? The guide was out of print so had to take copies from the local tourist info place - so less than perfect info! We were just underwhelmed I guess. Poor rock and a bit scrappy, nice place as I say, but I'd only want to climb there if I lived there and had nothing else to go at.

In reply to Neil R:

Thanks for the photo. We had a good day there - happy memories.

Mick

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

Anyone know what this place is like?
Primel Tregastel

In reply to Hat Dude:

Hi there. Just come back from erquy on family hols and took some gear to try the climbing. Nice little quiet spot looking out to sea. About 25 routes from 3 to 6b. Nice for kids and less extreme climbers. Some routes can be set up for top rope by scrambling up the back and climbing round. Routes we did are fine, on nice pink granite. Easy walk in less than 5 mins. Guide book available in tourist office about 6 euros. I can PDF you a copy though if you like.

In reply to greedo:

Cheers Thanks for the info, would appreciate the guide, though I'll probably also buy one when we're there to support the locals

In reply to Hat Dude:

Ditto!

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

I by chance found a magazine article on bouldering in Brittany last night - message me if you want a scan of it.