[rich d]

i'll be 40 next year (2012) and to celebrate being over the hill I fancy a few days somewhere bouldering. There will be up to 8 of us, with some non-climbers. So somewhere not too far away - ideally not too expensive, with something/somewhere for the non climbers to chill out/recover from hangovers. And somewhere on the evening to get well and truly  My first instinct is font, just wondered what other ideas people may have. I know this seems ridiculously early but we've all got kids etc and the more notice the better. PS the idea is that none of the kids will come with us 
Cheers Rich

[fried]

somewhere for the non climbers to chill out/recover from hangovers

Are you implying that that the climbers won't have hangovers! You know you're going to be spending your 40th in Font

[SA Chris]

How far you intend travelling? Did Northumberland for mine had folk congregating from up in Inverness to down in London and everywhere inbetween. Climbing, bouldering, barbies, walking and kites on the beach featured strongly. Some alcohol was consumed. 

[rich d]

Fancied abroad really,trying to sell northumberland in sept to some of the uninformed might be a hard task. I reckon we'll all have hangovers

[SA Chris]

We did it for May Bank weekend. We camped - most folk were fine, a few were a bit "underprepared" when it got a bit chilly one night, but I had a 3 season bag and a beer jumper, so had no problems.

Otherwise font is the obvious choice, but you could do somewhere like Lisbon combined with Sintra? Or Albaraccin?

[Paul B]

Albaraccin might be good?

There's slightly more to do for the non-climbers than in Font, the tapas bars are good and the wine is cheap (and good!)!

If you haven't been then the climbing is good, its nowhere near as extensive as Font but there's plenty to go at.

Accomodation could be camping or the wooden huts that the campsite offer.

[rich d]

Cheers. Looks good.

[account_inactive]

Paul could be on the money there. It's warm, child friendly and only a couple of hours from Madrid to do cultural things innit. 

The other option might be Targassone?  The ski village is pretty cool and people could possibly drive

[rich d]

Has anyone got any experience of cote de granite rose? Looks very cool, saw a small vid on a previous thread by TomTom.

[fried]

Has anyone got any experience of cote de granite rose? Looks very cool, saw a small vid on a previous thread by TomTom.

If you're looking at Brittany, Kerlouan is a much better preposition and possibly the best bouldering in France outside Font. It does get a lot of rain though in comparison with other parts of france.

http://krimpadenn.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=46

Targasonne is excellent too, much a long, long drive (even from Paris!)

[tomtom]

Brittany is great, but possibly a bit of a schlep if it's just for a weekend.. Ferry is 6-10 hours and some driving.. Not sure about flights etc.. Weather = Cornwall. Great place though.. Chilled out. Avoid French summer hols, 1/2 of Paris seems to have a second home in the region...