CMC allied advance on Font!

Thursday 5th April

The day started with an 8.15am ferry to Calais and as always we had driven to within about 8 miles of the port the night before and slept over in the car.  We drove over to the port and got there for 7.10am - less than twenty minutes later we were boarding the ferry and was on the move just after 8am!  We had some breakfast, read the newspaper and before we knew it we were docking at Calais.

After a quick breakfast and drive into Milly for fresh baguettes we all headed over to the Cul de Chien beach

The drive to Milly was very easy and by 4 o'clock we were in Carrefour just outside of Milly stocking up on the weeks supplies.  Jim and his sister Stella were on a ferry just an hour behind us and so we all met up there before driving to the campsite together.

Once at the campsite we pitched up our tents, had a very late lunch and then waited for Marion, Ben and Sarah to join us.  Once they arrived we all set off to Roche aux Sabots for a spot of early evening bouldering.

Unfortunately dusk was closing in fast and so we only managed to do about 5 problems before admitting defeat and heading back to the car park with headtorches.

At the campsite we all cooked our dinners pretty quickly and after relaxing with a few beers we headed to bed.  Despite the lovely weather during the day the temperature had really dropped due to the clear sky.

Friday 6th April

Alarms were set for 7.30am but I have to admit Martin and I didn't venture out from our tent until gone 8am - we were so warm and cosy!  After a quick breakfast and drive into Milly for fresh baguettes we all headed over to the Cul de Chien beach, "a desert with boulders that gleam from intense popularity.  It's a sumptuous area with golden sand but the blue circuit [where we were wanting to climb] starts it's life in a completely different location and with a very different character, some 500 metres north and deep in the pine forest."  Unfortunately this proved to be just a bit too far away for Marion, Sarah, Ben, Jim and Stella and so they decided to start halfway through.  Martin and I wanted to find the beginning so off we went and all agreed to meet up later.

We found the beginning pretty easily and rattled through the first 3 problems without any difficulties.  Number 4 was a bit tricky and despite our best efforts we decided to give up and move onto number 5 - a tricky traverse which we both managed in the end.  It was graded at 4b - which equates to an English 5a, so we were both pretty chuffed.

Martin's climb of the morning was number 7b - a 4c + (5 b+).  After Martin pulled himself up on 2 delicate sloping hand holds with only the smallest ridge for his feet he then had to start moving left with a layback with similar sloping holds using a smear with his right hand.  He was then able to reach out left fully stretched thinking at the back of his mind how useful the warrior position in yoga was now!  In this position he then had to bring his left foot over to the middle of the face then trusting his left he had to let his full weight rest on the left foot hold then with a quick one, two quickly match feet whilst still in the warrior position.  He then placed his left foot onto a hold that felt more solid than all of the rest.  Then by rocking his weight onto his left to relieve the pressure on his right he was able to pull through whilst standing up on his left leg and then go for the top with his right hand, and the the problem was bagged.

In no time at all we were at number 15 and feeling hungry so we left the circuit and went to find the others to have some lunch.  We soon found them messing around on some yellows and more blues so we had lunch and then joined them for the rest of the day.

After having a fairly big excursion in the morning we dropped down to the yellows in the late afternoon to warm down from a fairly big first day in Font.

Jim was eager to photograph us all on a boulder shaped like a dogs head - hence giving the area the name Cul de Chien.  This proved to be very entertaining as it wasn't a very big boulder!  Ben was first up and perched on the top, then up climbed Martin and finally Jim, leaving us ladies to find a spot nearer the bottom!  After numerous photos we all climbed down - easier said than done for the boys on top!

By this time it was getting on for 7pm and the temperature was dropping again already so we all headed back to the campsite.

Saturday 7th April

What a great day!  And no, not because it was Jim and Stella's last day :-(  After saying goodbye to them we drove to Diplodocus.  "This area gets its name from the giant central sandstone block that towers some 9m high, and which resembles a sleeping Diplodocus - ableit with a slight touch of imagination.  The boulders are generally low and have square cut edges at the top, to give straight forward and relatively easy finishes.  This, combined with nice flat sandy landings, makes this a very friendly spot."

There are 3 circuits here - yellow, orange and blue; all of which are intermixed with each other so we had plenty to choose from!  Martin and Ben threw themselves at a blue dyno problem which proved rather tricky so Marion, Sarah and I worked our way through the first yellow and orange problems.

Once Martin and Ben decided to leave blue number 1 alone I showed Martin the orange and yellow problems I had been onsighting.  Martin then had a go at blue number 2 which a few people had been struggling on.  He only went and onsighted it!

Because there were just so many problems here we all managed to do loads.  Plus the weather was beautiful - 21 degrees at the very least!  We all walked out at the end of the day feeling content, whilst at the same time knackered - like how you feel after a good work-out.

Sunday 8th April

Easter Day!  Finally I could eat chocolate after giving it up for Lent...  We got up slowly as we'd all had a bad nights sleep due to some idiots thinking it was a great idea to do some slack lining at about midnight, very loudly, for a fair few hours.

We had decided to go to Gorges d'Apremont and got there for about 11am, well, near where we wanted to be anyway - the road was closed so we turned round and tried to get to it another way.  Alas the other way was also blocked so we just parked up and walked there.

The area is a climbing mecca with 12 circuits ranging from the easiest yellow to the extreme white.  We had our eye on the green route which was said to have a few polished holds but which were low down, highlighting the fact that sand on the soles of your shoes really does grind away the rock to a polished sheen.

Once we found the green route though we wasn't impressed - the problems weren't numbered and the landings didn't look great so we walked over to the yellow circuit instead.  Unfortunately here it was really busy and again the landings didn't look great so we decided to give up and go somewhere else.

That somewhere else was Rocher Canon and what a good decision it was.  "It consists of a real mixture of problems and without too many nasty delights in waiting.  It's also a very easy circuit to locate and only a minute from the car.  However Rocher Canon is spread over two hillsides and the geography is very confusing on your first visit."

There was a yellow and an orange circuit here so we decided to all do the yellow circuit.  We did some lovely problems and best of all we were in the sun!  At about 3 o'clock Marion decided it was Pimms o'clock so we all stopped and had some lunch and a snooze in the sun.

In the afternoon Marion introduced us to two new moves - the limpet and the tummy traverse!  The limpet move being when whilst traversing round a bulge she started to slip, and just when she thought she was going to pop off and hit the mat her feet stuck, with sheer surprise to her!  Along with her facial expression it made us all double up with laughter!  Hence the limpet manoeuver was born.  The tummy traverse became a new way to get round an overhanging traverse with a big undercut - yes, Marion just crawled along underneath it!

We managed about another 10 problems after lunch, rounding off another excellent day.

Monday 9th April

Our last full day.  Despite our best intentions we still didn't manage to get up any earlier - but when you can boulder until 7pm or even later it doesn't really matter!

We wanted to make sure the area we chose today was appropriate for everyone - not like yesterday!  We decided upon Rocher Fin, the farthest outcrop from any of the parking areas, with lovely golden sand.

"The circuit is named after the superb giant finishing 'cube' boulder, where the orange circuit climaxes at the top of the hill with a highly slippery and desperado problem.  The orange circuit starts at the base of the hill with all the other circuits, and then takes a convenient line following the scattered boulders up the hill, being comfortable and pleasant with technicality throughout.  The landings are mostly sandy and good, with only a few problems really needing a spotter."

Martin and I were determined to complete the whole orange circuit here, and would you believe we actually managed it!

The day started off slowly, with lunch after problem 9.  It was a lovely and sunny day again, the hottest yet so after lunch Marion, Sarah and I had a snooze in the sun whilst Martin and Ben ticked off numbers 10, 11, 12 and then looked at a blue problem.  I was soon enticed back onto the rock and completed numbers 10 and 11 with ease.  Number 12 though, blimey.  It was a reachy traverse culminating in a pumpy ascent to the top.  I enjoyed it and almost onsighted it, just coming off as I was reaching through on a very difficult hold.  I dusted myself down and started again, this time making it all the way to the top - hoorah!  However this problem was also the first to draw blood as I bashed my knee on it.  Oh well, another scar to add to my collection!

Number 27 was an interesting problem where Martin's 'PUSH AND PULL' mantra was used very loudly by the man himself!  Whilst yes, it did get me up the problem it also almost made me fall off from laughing!  It started off with a pull up onto a smiley, crimpy scoop and my feet were on very delicate smears, with my knees almost reaching my hands.  I had to pull with my right hand and reach with my left hand to the top.  Another onsight!

Martin was especially proud of number 33, an overhang which required a lot of thinking.  He tried several ways, all of them unsuccessful but he knew it was do-able.  Having stepped back 2 metres from the problem to have another look he spotted a small pocket out left which he felt if he could get his left hand into it he could work his feet up higher which would then enable him to hopefully go for the top.  His previous attempts were unsuccessful mainly because his feet were too low.  So on his fourth attempt he went for the pocket, got his feet up onto better holds, pushed with his left foot, pulled with his right hand and stretched for the top.  ('PUSH AND PULL'!)

By the time we got near to the end of the circuit (there were 40 problems in total) it was getting on for 7.30pm and the others were wanting to go so we packed up and headed back to the campsite one last time in the setting sun feeling content that we had completed the orange circuit.

Tuesday 10th April

Despite having to pack up our tents and the car this morning we were still up and out by 11am - not bad hey!  We drove into Milly one last time for our baguettes and then drove to Bas Cuvier.  "It's an exceptionally busy sector, due to the high density of problems with good landings, however it's a terribly noisy location and is only metres away from one of the busiest roads in France - the N7.  [However this is why we like to climb here on our last day because it is on the way home.]  The climbing is superb, if somewhat polished on many of the easier problems which are also notoriously undergraded."

We all took a walk round first, and we recognised a few blue problems which we had done the year before last.  The others couldn't stay for long as their ferry was earlier than ours so they watched us scamper up an easy yellow problem and then headed back to their car.

After waving goodbye to them we decided to sit in the sun for a while and relax.  We were both feeling the effects of climbing for 5 days and wanted to finish before we broke or sprained anything!

We had a picnic in the French sunshine and then at about 2pm started our journey home...