I bouldered for two months right up until I went away to France. Near the end, I managed to get another two 7C’s a 7C+ and my first font 8A, Trigger Cut. The 7C+ was a grit problem my mate Ryan Pasquill put up a few years ago at Rivlin called ‘Master Kush’. Trigger Cut is a four-move problem in Parasellas Cave, Wales.

Once in France, Dan met me at the airport as he'd been in France for five weeks already and we went straight to St Leger for a week. I managed to tick an 8a and two 8a+'s that were boulder problem starts into easier climbing above, using my strength after bouldering for so long, so a good start to the trip.

After a week, we headed to Gorges du Tarn to find cooler climbs. Gorges du Tarn is very pocketed and has mostly long sport routes - up to 70m single pitches! As I'd not really ever climbed on pockets before and still lacking in endurance, I struggled in the first week and lost lots of confidence. Seeing as I before the trip I was just Bouldering, and before that, I was working in Kent for three months, I was definately out of shape for tackling sustained sport routes. I persevered however and started to get the hang of climbing pockets and managed to do an amazing 35m 8a+ called Priez Pour Nous that climbs through a massive bulge. I also did three more 8a's, one of which is the classic power route Bar-Bitturique (see picture).

Bar-Bitturique 8a, Photo (c) Dan Walker

Now I’m back in the UK with loads of fitness and psyched to climb long routes, I can’t because most things I want to do are wet!

Next on the agenda is Rodellar, then a three week multi pitch sport climbing trip to Morocco's Taghia region in the High Atlas mountains awaits! Hopefully everything will be dry in Britain by the time I return. Saying that, I might need to start work again at some point!