The Return

Looking back the last week went very quickly, at the time I’m sure it felt very slow. We were joined in Gorge de Tarn by the same Brits as from Spain, so once more our evening where spent chilling with Ben, Charlie, Gillian, Bob and Tash. We even opened out the Uno cards, although this resulted in me breaking my chair as I attempted to sneak at peak at Tash’s last card.
I learnt a lot about my climbing in Gorge de Tarn, the first was what ‘Pump’ really means, not some dull ache in your arms, but screaming muscles which uncurl your fingers on every hold. I revisited a 7a I had failed on, normally the redpoint at this grade is just a formality, but I still pulled onto the top slab with a big question mark whether I could fight the pump in my arms and reach the chains. The other lesson was that I am a good route climber, I just need to push on through and take the falls. Because of this I am now super psyched to get back into routes and have set a few goals for the summer.Gorge de Tarn
For our last few day we headed back up through France, a short stop off at the now baking sands of Fontainebleau resulted in more sitting and looking at boulders than climbing them. A quick drink with Toby and Nicky who were down for the week and it was our last night of the trip. The plan being to grab a few hours sleep before heading off at 1 a.m for the 6.45am ferry. Those few hours sleep didn’t happen, an excessively warm van when I got my head down at 9.00 didn’t help, neither did the German van with headlights on full beam taking half an hour to park up beside me, nor the massive party happening 500m down the road at the race course. By 12.30 I gave up, woke up Steve and hit the road early. It was probably lucky I didn’t sleep as my alarm was set for 1.00 next lunch time and not in the morning.
Planet Cause, one of the best 7a+ i've ever been on
So now we’re both safely back in the UK, the van’s clutch problem has nicely been covered by the warrantee, I’ve had my first session back at Craggy which felt hotter and sweater than Gorge de Tarn in the sun and been well chewed by Mello, who seems very happy to see me again.

Back on the Road

Since India life’s been taken up with work and a bit of climbing, I never found time to finish my last part of my India trip for the Blog. All the time was the plan to get back on the road. Only for a short time, but back climbing properly again! I had my notice handed in for 15^th of March, but still no plans, only the week after this did things start falling into place, I got the van and with Steve on board rushed to get it done for our Thursday departure, as with all DIY I left the craftsmanship to Steve and allowed myself to do the furnishings and fittings (bits that are less likely to be bodged).

The Van under Moonlight and below Steve in Font

Thursday finally came, the van finally being completed the night before and we headed down to Dover, in Fontainebleau we crashed out at the Hippodrome, a large horse racing circuit with free camping on the side, but no facilities. It was great being back on the slopey sandstone of Font, an over confident approach with my feet left me arse down on the mat a few times, but I soon got the hang of it. For a first day back bouldering it wasn’t bad, three 7A’s and a 7A+, things felt good! Things felt better as we had joined a group of Canadians touring Europe of the winter, including Tim who I had so much fun climbing with in Magic Woods last year. To top the social gathering Raul and Sabina pitched up that night brining Johnny and her three new little baby Ferrets. Unfortunately with only one more night left in Font we never managed to fit in the regular Uno nights of Magic Wood. Our two days in Font where just what we needed, we got our eye in and got a huge confidence boost from the quick send of an amazing 7B+ roof. We left feeling really ready for the rest of the trip.

Panoramic view of Targasonne, the Pyrenees with the Van in the Foreground

Life on the road can also be pretty boring, the next day was exactly that 10 hours of driving, those pretty villages of Font soon gave way to the monotony of flat French countryside stretching for miles and miles. After 5 hours we finally hit the Dordogne, but were too knackered to enjoy it. The only highlight of the trip was turning that last hill after Toulouse and being confronted by the Pyrenees with their snow capped peaks, within the hour we were up in the snow line, snaking through the passes on our way to Targasonne at 1500m, luckily Targasonne or ‘Le Chaos de Targasonne’ as its know is south facing and the doesn’t linger for long, but it was cold enough to freeze the van’s windows in the morning.

Me taking the swing in Targasonne

‘Le Chaos of Targasonne’ describes it perfectly, from a high vantage point you have this amazing pile of boulders stretching out from you for a 1km in each direction, but beyond that is just fields and mountains, no more boulders. The climbing is on ruff granite blocks of all shapes and sizes, often following incredible lines. In the sun we climbed in t-shirts, but quickly backed out of the shade where the temperature plummeted. So far the climbing has been excellent, with two days here before we commence our journey to Albaraccin we’re seriously concerned if our finger tips will last.

Cheese, Pate, Pastries and Wine

Travelling in France has mixed blessings, after the bustle of English roads driving is very sedentary. You never seem to encounter traffic jams, everyone actually seems to be able to drive and when you stop at a service station the food is actually edible. The food is almost always interesting and different; I can’t recall seeing a single McDonalds or Burger King. Maybe it is this which prevents hoards of Brits descending on the country. The restaurant opening times are a bit haphazard, they seem to open and close when ever suites the owner. Finding only the one restaurant out of a high street of six restaurants open on a Friday night was bizarre and to compound this, the restaurant was a kebab house. I had been fully kebabed out for the year in Turkey and this was the last meal I wanted.

The Forest of Fontainebleau

The purpose of our trip was to avoid the usual bank holiday rain in England and enjoy the sun and sandstone bouldering of Fontainebleau. The vast forests surrounding the Royal palace of Fontainebleau where the hunting grounds for the Kings of France, well they where till they chopped their heads off. Within the maize of tracks and paths lies mountains of sandstone boulders, deposited their by some geological phenomenon. Each area has marked routes going up and down the boulders linking them together, providing a training ground for mountaineers from Paris going to the Alps. Each circuit is marked with a different colour, usually yellow the easiest, then orange, blue, red and finally white or Black. With each boulder typically being between three to five metres high and around fifty problems in a circuit you can quickly climb many hundred metres in a day. Or alternatively as I did just choice the problems which look the most fun and play about on them.

Me, about to fall off the last moves of this problem

When you are not bouldering you are usually either eating or drinking, the reputation of French cheese needs little introduction and this combined with some Pate and an ample supply of French bread usually ensures any calories lost climbing are quickly replaced at lunch. After climbing, just in case we hadn’t eaten enough for lunch the Patisserie’s offer such a vast array of sweet pastries with cream and chocolate in them that you are guaranteed not to lose any weight on a trip out here. If you are lucky after a day of Cheese, Pate, Bread and Pastries you might find room for the evening meal, which is never going to be light.

Yvette, enjoying one of the steep problems

After all this it is a relief to be back in control of my meals, but am coming to realise this summer’s trip around Europe might not be a very slim one.