The Calanques...One last time

I went, one last time, down to Marseille ...to enjoy the sea, the weather, and the run-out climbing :) I went with Xavier, Laure, and her Swiss boyfriend Pierre-Dominique (sounds pretty French if you ask me!)

Here is my friend Xavier and his bald head...getting ready to climb. We had beautiful weather...well, during the day in the sunshine. At night it got really cold, and was so windy that my staked tent wouldn't stay staked !
Below: On hike out of Les Goudes, we took a little shortcut through the first cutout in the rock that you see...we had been climbing on the other side. So we passed through the cutout...it's a shear drop-off mind you. The wind was blowing at about 30mph - reminiscent of the deafening Indian creek wind that so graced our desert tower route. We were practically blown through the hole and onto the "foot-path" - really just enough room to walk and plaster yourself against the rock, praying that the wind wouldn't catch your clumsy high-profile pack and plunge you over the side, falling to your death, all the way down knowing that your mother would never forgive you for this. Well, this is what I was thinking anyway. Xavier practically ran and bounced along the polished tiny path, making me look like I'd never learned how to walk. It's funny how an every day activity like walking can become so difficult under the right conditions...but these small humiliations come to me frequently :)
A close-up, which does the smallness of the path no justice, it looks quite large here: