font day 9: going home

Today we had a quick visit back to 95.2 so I could have yet another go at La Mur de la Fosse aux Ours, my 7a project. Needless to say I still didn't finish it. I did get to watch a rather nice young German chap try it and also not get any further than I did, although he did seem to be somewhat stronger than me so that was nice.
I blame the fact that I'm just not a very good climber, and I'm weak. But also - I think I have whiplash. Stupid stupid woman. NEVER get wrapped in a bouldering mat, not for any reason, ever.

The journey back was fairly straightforward, although we did see some kind of weirdness going on at one of the motorway services - it was closed and ALOT of fire brigade vehicles were turing up, including the chemical unit and the big vehicle lifting airbag thing. Not quite sure what was going on but it did spawn some interesting conversations in the car.
I also had a really nice panini for lunch - chicken curry in a toasted ciabatta! Amazing! French motorway services clearly aren't all bad.

We had dinner at Cite Europe even though all the shops were shut. I only mention this because I had a huge bowl of mussels and they were lovely!

font day 8: stupidity

Cleared out of the Gite then back to 91.1 for a chilled out day bouldering. I swear the grades there are harder than at other areas. Or maybe the climbing's just a different style that really doesn't suit me, I don't know. Anyway I think Dave enjoyed himself - he certainly managed to get into some interesting positions at times.

Anyway the main point of this post is to emphasize just how immensely stupid it is to be wrapped up inside a bouldering mat and then participate in your friends challenges. Ok so the wrestling (see above) wasn't so bad - I only ended up with a face full of sand. And the race round the boulder was tame enough. The falling over backwards thing however, was a REALLY REALLY crap idea. I cracked my head really hard on the ground and very nearly passed out. Stupid woman.

Ok so after the day's antics we went to the restaurant near Elephant - I had the Kangaroo steak - it was lovely :)
Then we made our way over to the Formule 1 hotel at Moret for the night. Cheap but, umm, well, kinda crappy - but hey, for around 10 euros each it was a bargain!

font day 7: condoms and climbing

Bas Cuvier. Who's idea was it to go there? Ok so I wanted to have a go at 'La Marie Rose' - the first 6a in the forest, and we wanted to see why the area is so popular.
I didn't finish the problem and we didn't stay very long - the place is littered with all kinds of nastiness (it's also a major dogging spot).

We moved on, firstly to the Intermarche for dinner supplies, then to 91.1 to climb.

We accidentally overshot and ended up at Cul du Chien temporarily and then I got lost as we ventured back towards 91.1. Anyway, we got there eventually and I had a mission - a 5b that had defeated me on my last visit to the forest.
Jen cruised it. I got spat off repeatedly. I may have had a bit of a paddy.
Did some easy problems then went back. Long story short, eventually I got it! Thank god! It's amazing what difference a subtle hand movement can make.

Not sure what's on the cards for tomorrow...

font day 6: pain

A good day all round. Dave's first day in Font - I think he enjoyed it.

Ok so I didn't get anywhere near to doing the 7a but I tried and I suffered for it. Nearly split a tip and ended up feeling incredibly battered. Such hard moves!
Anyway, my excuse was that the conditions were too bad - it was roasting! Apparently 32 degrees for alot of the day - the rock sweats. Jen and I failed to do a 5b we'd both flashed earlier in the week, purely because the rock was sweating so much!
Phil and Alex managed to finish their project so the day was still a good result.

Ok so I gave up on the 7a and we went off and explored 95.2 a bit more - it's a cool area. Found a nice arete problem, graded 6a that we decided to work. I managed it first (not that I want to brag ;) ) and then repeated it a couple of times (see bottom photo). Jen and Dave both did it too and were really chuffed :)

Again a nice dinner - Phil cooked a curry of sorts, once again lots and lots of good food. Oh, and crepes for dessert - amazingly fun. We even discovered that Dave truly is 'a great tosser' (his words not mine!).

font day 5: rest

So today was a forced rest day. Think I've been going stir crazy.

Just got in after having a short but entertaining session on the training wall. Admittedly most of the time was actually spent chatting but hey!

Once again a big meal with a ridiculous dessert - was a bit of a shame that the entire tub of ice cream had melted in the freezer and was more of a fluid mousse type thing. Not great but still.

Picking Dave up from the station tomorrow morning, still undecided as to where we're going to climb (I do however have a desire to head back to 95.2 for a 7a re-match)!

font day 4: de-motivation, rain and the world's biggest spag-bol

Ok so day 4 was a bit of a washout. We went to La Roche aux Sabots with doing the whole yellow circuit in mind (this was mainly Alex's goal so we all thought - great a nice day of fun climbing!). Anyway, we only managed 12 out of 34 problems before we all got fed up and went to sit down to eat lunch. Unfortunately it then started to rain quite hard so we beat a hasty retreat back to the car.

We had a bit of a play back at the training wall, doing some endurancy type circuit work (I felt the need to do more exercise after eating a fair amount for lunch).

Dinner was, well, large. Jen and Alex cooked Spaghetti Bolognese, or at least they would have if they'd found the spaghetti in the cupboard. Instead we had pasta bolognese. All fine so far, the trouble was they had decided to use a whole packet of pasta plus the remains of another for a meal for 4 people! Honestly, there was enough to feed 7 or 8! Plus we then finished the massive chocolate gateau from Monday night. Dear goodness was I full!

Tomorrow is a forced rest day. Slightly depressing as I'm desperate to get back to 95.2 to do battle with my 7a project again (a problem called La mur de la Fosse aux Ours).

font day 3: I am a glutton for punishment

Day 3: 95.2

Ok so we got off to a late start. No-one got up particularly early and then we had to go shopping. Lots of fun in the Intermarche. We were so late that we decided to have lunch at the gite and just take snacks for the afternoon.

Ok next I managed to navigate us to completely the wrong area. A combination of Phil and Jen being sensible managed to actually get us to the start of the blue circuit at 95.2.

We never intended doing particularly much, just the problems we saw that took our fancy. Anyway, I managed to get a few 4s and 5s done - the hardest being another 5c. Then we stumbled upon a really nice 5a (managed to flash - nice) which had a similar problem next to it that I thought I would have a crack at - vertical wall completely covered in calcite (so no real friction) with small crimps and edges, my sort of thing! Anyway, it transpires that the problem is a 7a - way beyond my current capabilities. Anyway I had a few goes and I actually think I can do it. It will be a struggle and a bit of a siege but maybe, just maybe it will happen later in the week when we go back :D Fingers crossed!

font day 2: a punter's paradise

Ok so it's day 2 of our Font trip. Today we actually got to climb! Yay!
The plan was to try to do a complete circuit somewhere, so we went to Canche aux Merciers to try to do the entire Orange circuit. No problem. Ok so we started late and it rained half way through but we did it, along with a couple of other interesting problems along the way - the hardest of which was a rather nice overhung, juggy 5c.
I felt good, fine, full of energy and having no problems right the way through the circuit until around about problem 35/36ish (out of 44 total, plus others), at which point it all became hard, scary and rather lacking in technique. Still, we finished and all is good.

Had a rather nice meal and am now sitting watching climbing DVDs with the others. The shower is awesome.

Plan for tomorrow is a mammoth shopping trip to get [hopefully] everything for the week. Then we go to 95.2 and just try stuff we like the look of. We may start out on the blue circuit or something, just as a means of getting moving. I'm looking forward to it :)

font day 1: the journey and sink disasters

Ok so right now I'm sat at the dining table in our Gite in Font. Fantastic. We've just eaten a rather nice chilli con carne (I made it so it had to be good!) and had a slice of strawberry tart for dessert. A nice glass of red wine on the side has made for a really nice evening. Everything was going so well...

Ok so everything has been fine today, journey was ok, nothing special but no major problems. Phil did a valiant job in driving the whole way (thanks Phil!). We've eaten copious amounts of junk food - crisps, sausage rolls, chocolate, more chocolate etc and now had a nice wholesome meal.
Absolutely all was good, that is, until Jen decided to wash up. Now the sink is blocked. Lovely. Imagine a blocked sink with pieces of manky food and ancient sludge from the pipes floating around in it, yummy! We're hoping it will drain overnight - not sure what we're going to do about washing up after breakfast if it does though!

Anyway, tomorrow we're planning on having quite an easy day. Not sure what the weather's going to do but we're planning to go to Canche aux Merciers to try to do the whole of the orange circuit - should be fun! Hopefully this will help us get used to the rock and general style of climbing so we can get on and try some harder stuff later on in the week.

fontainebleau!!!!!

Saturday. 6am start for a 10am ferry crossing. I'm excited, not by the early start - I prefer to stay in bed, but by the fact that we're going to Font again for a whole week - woo!!