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Big Euro Sport Trip 2012 - Info/Beta/Keen? 5-Jan-2012 At 10:32:44 PM will b

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Hey all,

I'm 19 y/o Will from Tassie. So 2012 is my belated gap year, and I'm taking a year off from Uni to go on an extended Euro sport climbing trip. With any luck will be the trip of a lifetime! I'm aiming to leave at the end of May with completely open plans, and will return to Aus when the $$ runs out, ideally at the start of December or something!

The general plan of attack is to head to as many world class crags in France/Spain/Italy/Switzerland/Switzerland/UK as possible and climb some rock. I can't rent/lease a car (I can from Hertz but with an extra 30 Euro a day surcharge it's not feasible) as I'm still on my P's for another year, so will be travelling by public transport. As yet I won't have a definite climbing partner until at least late July or August, with a couple of people I know heading over for a few months around then.This isn't too much of an issue because it seems finding partners at the big crags isn't a problem at all. For some context grade wise I am currently climbing 30ish (8a+) but would like to climb some harder stuff over there!!

I've started planning by reading lots of info on the web and on forums such as UKC. My extremely rough itinerary has got this far:
- May: St Leger, possibly Rodellar or Ceuse.
- June: again, Rodellar or Ceuse.
- July: Ceuse
- August: Ceuse (?). Possibly Spain but where, will be hot I imagine! Maybe UK? Frankenjura? Switzerland?
- September: any of Margalef/Terradets/Santa Linya/Bouox/Suirana
- October: Rodellar/Margalef/anywhere good in Spain
- November: Rodellar? Gorge du Tarn perhaps? Arco?
- December: Spain?

Bearing in mind I won't have a car or climbing partner for parts of the trip (especially the start), what are your suggestions/advice/beta on this rough plan? I have heaps of individual questions the most pressing being:
i) Is Rodellar too hot/cold/too much seepage on the tufas in late May through June? Would there be climbing partners around then?
ii) If I went to Ceuse first would I find climbing partners again in late May/June? My issue is I don't want to spend 3 full months at Ceuse, 2 months tops probably so going in late May will limit that.
iii) Is anyone keen on St Leger (South of France) in late May/June? I've heard it's the place to be before lots of people migrate to Ceuse, except you need a car as it's spread out and I presume this would mean partners are harder to come by too.

If anyone is keen for any climbing at any time I'm psyched to meet up! It is completely open plan so any suggestions/beta welcome. Would be happy to pay my share of hire car costs for instance if someone was keen for St Leger or wherever.

Thanks for any info or beta, it is much appreciated.

Cheers,
Will