Day 298 - Animal Control

new dog stuff

Difficult photo choice today...a horribly under-exposed snap of new dog stuff, or alternatively, a horribly over-exposed snap of new dog stuff.

I've gone with the horribly under-exposed version...and ignored the third option, that I didn't mention, which was to light the damn subject a bit better...and conveniently overlooked the fourth, which was to get the DSLR out and take a better photo.

Photo quality wasn't really the point, you see...the point being, of course, New Dog Stuff!

We have lots of old collars, leads, and one thing or another...but most of it hasn't been used for years, and smells of Jazz and Bluez, and is probably covered in cobwebs or stiffening with age in a crate in the loft...

So we nipped out to PetsAtHome to get some New Stuff for our New Dog...a new collar and lead (nice Red collar!), an extendible lead (which we'll need for a while), and a name tag (which he's legally obliged to wear).

Now that it's all confirmed, and we're collecting him tomorrow, I can share his name with you...he's not actually Batman - he's Robin!  

robin

I think that makes me Batman, probably - and makes Anna Batgirl!  That works - we've already got the tee-shirts and everything... ;-)

Anyway, I don't know how long the name Robin will last, but we'll go with it for a while...as the rehoming officer pointed out: everything is going to change for him - all he really has is his name.

So we'll try to resist giving him too many nicknames straight away...although the phrase red robin keeps flitting across my mind like...well, like a little red robin...that might become simply Red...maybe.

But maybe Robin will stick...we'll see.  I feel that his real name will emerge as we get to know him. 

I've installed a dog gate cordoning off the kitchen from the rest of the downstairs, in order to introduce him gradually and give the cats the option to escape should they venture in with him. 

Loz has already twigged that something is going on, and has been charging around, wide-eyed, and looking at us with an accusing glare...I'm sure she's reading our minds!

Before tomorrow night I'll move the gate to give Robin additional access to his bed...he has a choice between a brand new bed, only used once (by Loz the other night), and a stinky old dogged up bed that Jazz and Bluez used to use...it will be interesting to see which Robin prefers.

Right, I'm just burbling along, preoccupied and distracted by the imminence of Robin's arrival, so I'll sign off there.

Just one more night in a dogless house...

:-)

Day 297 - Mutt-ley Crew

batman

Today we had a wonderful and exciting opportunity to meet a quartet of handsome young dogs that are available for rehoming!

All are withdrawn (read: failed) Guide Dogs, for minor behavioural issues...all are 15-24 months old...none have quite reached the very high bar required to become a Guide Dog, and none are quite suitable for other service work. 

But all are potentially perfect as pets. 

Discovery.

Having applied to rehome a young dog, as one of several avenues we've explored for finding a new dog (and our preferred route, all things said), we were invited to meet a few young males that seemed to suit our requirements.

We had a long conversation about the dogs, and more importantly, what we could offer to them...the conversation went very well, and I think both parties felt that we are all on a similar wavelength in our attitudes and ethics...

In any case, I think we passed muster, and will therefore be offered the opportunity to take one (or two?!) of these dogs as new members of our family, should we choose to.

Dogs.

Dog # 1

The handsome chap above - let's call him Batman (all names changed to protect the innocent!) - was our first suitor.   He is 2 years old, and a Labrador/Golden Retriever Cross...this is a popular cross breed for service dogs, and they are sometimes referred to as Golden Labradors, Goldadors, or even Glabs(?!)...

He has been rehomed before, and has one or two issues...notably, he guards food, and eats poo!  He's smart, somewhat independent, and something of a Top Dog...he has a quiet confidence, that can sometimes lead him to challenge his owner.

He's fine in pretty much all other respects, and he has a lovely, smiley energy about him that I really liked. 

Dog # 2

roddy

Roddy (again, not his real name!) was the second dog we met.  He was pure Yellow Lab, around 16 months old, and to be honest, a little odd.  He was by turns bouncy and energetic, then disinterested and distracted.

He has some digestive issues at the moment which means he's on a special diet, and so won't be available for a few weeks yet.

He was nice, and we had one or two little moments of interaction with him, but overall our feeling was, sadly, that we didn't really click immediately...this wouldn't necessarily preclude working on it and building a bond with him, but we are in the luxurious position of having a variety of options...which leads us to:

Dog # 3

nigel

Nigel(!), is the prettiest of all of them.  He is a Goldador, very young at only around 15 months, and still with an air of puppyness about him.  He was very lively and energetic when he first greeted us, but after a while calmed down nicely.  

I found him very sweet and seductive, and I must admit to having a little crush on him from the off...

He has had little to no training (although a lot of brilliant socialising, of course), and would require some work...but oh boy, was he cute?!

Dog # 4

saturn

Our final dog, Saturn, was, quite simply, Bluez in a slightly larger, yellower body. 

A little standoffish, but with hints of a strong inner warmth...quiet but intelligent, and fairly low energy.   

We were with him for about 20 minutes, and for most of them he didn't pay us much attention...but with 10 minutes left on the clock, he made his move, and started slowly circling Anna, giving her the lovely slow wag and smiley mouth...

He just drew her in, snuck under her skin, and gave her a good tug on the heart strings...


Dilemma.

So, what to do?! 

Do we want one or two?  Which two?  At the same time, or staggered?  Which first?

In a late twist, a spanner was thrown into the works in the shape of an Irish Water Spaniel/Black Labrador cross...a 5 year old bitch, which is apparently the best dog ever and would suit us down to the ground, and which we'd immediately love if we met, is also available...

I won't go into the endless machinations we've been through since leaving there around 8 hours ago...but I'll tell you where we are going from here.

Decisions

Firstly, we are going to offer a forever home to Batman...there are many reasons for this decision, and this is one of them...

dozing

After about 20 minutes where he'd bimbled around and we'd had some nice interactions, he came and lay down with one paw over my foot.  After a few minutes he rolled over, wedged his head against my ankle, and dozed off...

This is a dog I can bond with!

We think he will make a lovely, solid member of our little pack, and we're happy to help him work on his one or two little issues.   We're hopeful that they'll ease away as he settles into a relaxed, stimulating home life with us.  

Roddy isn't immediately available, and has current dietary issues, so we passed on him.

Unfortunately, it turned out that there are question marks over Nigel's suitability to live in a multi-dog household, and this really is a show-stopper for us - we are always going to have more than one dog in our home...so with a pang of regret, we had to cross him off the list too.

Saturn could really work, and there is some thought that he could benefit from living with another dog.  Anna has quite a soft spot for him.  I find that he constantly reminds me of Bluez...and I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or bad!

Also we feel it would only make sense to meet this spaniel/lab X, and then we think we'll choose between her and Saturn, if we still think we can make it work well with two, and assuming Batman is settling in happily. 

Deal.

So we're hoping to pick him up this Thursday, which will be his 2nd birthday, and the day before Anna's birthday too. 

We will try to arrange to see the other dogs then, and see where we go from there. 

In any case, we're very happy and excited, and I'm sure you'll hear much more in the coming days...

Done.

B-)

Day 295 - Unoriginal Replica

unoriginal?

Whilst wandering somewhat aimlessly around Homebase today, trying to remember why we'd gone there, I stopped short as I saw this interesting wall-hanging, which they're selling as decorative art.

It's not that the view is so interesting and atmospheric, but that it's so similar to a photo I already know well...

Early last year, in order to kick-start our outdoor climbing adventures, we headed off to Snowdonia...we were there to attend a course at the famous Plas-y-Brenin National Mountain Centre.

The course was about learning to climb on rock, in a Traditional style...that is, to learn the technical rope and climbing equipment skills and techniques that would enable us to head into the mountains on our own. 

We were already competent climbers at this point, so the course was focussed on;

• placing gear - putting chocks and cams into the rock to clip the rope to...
• building anchors to, well...anchor yourself to...
• multi-pitch routes - those where it's necessary to split the climb up, and hence the need to build anchors halfway up a cliff face...
• abseiling - for descending, or as an escape route if required...

We'd foolishly not considered the weather when booking a course in the mountains in March, and so were surprised to arrive there in a blizzard!

Due to ongoing wintry conditions within the Snowdonia National Park, we were forced to the significantly milder coastal temperatures, to climb on Anglesey, and later at Tremadog, having many an adventure along the way.

On our final day there, we completed our first multi-pitch route entirely on our own...it was an easy 50m climb up a gentle crack system on the slab of Tryfan Fach (Little Tryfan)...right on the snow line, in bitterly cold conditions, we found we didn't quite have the right clothing!

Yet despite being utterly frozen, we came away triumphant at what felt like a significant breakthrough climb for us...the climb that opened up a great year of adventuring for us. 

We also learned that day that we are not really cold weather climbers...or at least, we need better mountain-wear!

The point (there is a point, honest!), of all of which is, that whilst staying at the National Mountain Centre in Capel Curig, we went for a walk around the lake.

Anna took the lovely photograph below of the view up towards a cloud-enshrouded Snowdon at the top of the valley...

replica?

Homebase stole Anna's shot!  

Then again, maybe everyone who walks up there stops at that point and says, "oh look at the lovely view...that'd make a nice photo...".

At least Anna's is exactly as it came out of the camera...no fancy post-processing.

And beautifully framed, of course...

:-)

Day 294 - Big Rock

gecko

We have three days to go before a very exciting event, so to distract ourselves from this...erm...distraction, we took a trip to Milton Keynes for some indoor climbing.

Ooh, radical and adventurous!

Oddly, though we drove there through wind and rain and a fairly drizerable Autumn day, when we came out 3 or 4 hours later it seemed as though Summer had returned.

The skies were blue and bright...all the way home, I was reminded of the lateness of the year, by the lowness of the Sun!

Anyway, the big bouldering island in the middle of the gym was reset this week - that is, all the holds were taken off and a whole lot of new climbing problems created in their stead.

the island

The setting was done by a couple of famous route setters, Rob Napier and Percy Bishton, who regularly create the problems for the Bouldering World Cup and World Championship series, that take place around the world through the year...so we were keen to try our hand(s, and feet!) on some of their problems.

Suffice to say they were fairly hard!  

Anna found many of the problems quite reach-y...I found them nicely suited to me from that respect, but quite strenuous and very tiring...this was in part down to the fact that they're almost all overhung, but also just the nature of the problems.

They were interesting problems though, and we did quite a few, including some cool ceiling climbs, which I think we climbed quite nicely on. 

We both found ourselves tired though...having exercised regularly in the run up to Font, then climbed every day once we got there, we realised we've come home and done virtually nothing...as of today it was a whole week since we'd done any exercise at all.

All those hard earned gains seem to melt away as soon as you stop training for a few days!

We're going to enter a winter bouldering competition, that requires you to climb regularly all through the Winter...we hope this will get us fit for another trip to Font in the Spring...

We're hoping to have a new member of our climbing party for that trip, which will be fun and different...

;-)

Day 285 - Jumping Frog

Freddy

I met this little chap when out mowing the verge today, and he was kind enough to pose for a short photo session.

He's a common frog (rara temporaria for the ecology geeks (cough...Anna...cough)), and he was hiding in the long, wet grass of the verge...he was fortunate not to be mowed down (literally), as I found him hopping around where I'd just passed through with the mower...

The grass was overdue being cut, and it had rained overnight, so it was quite heavy work...but I felt better for it, after a few days of inactivity. 

I had to stop when I saw Freddy here, of course, but I was eager to get on with it, so shooed him back into the safety of the ditch...




As long as he doesn't venture onto the road, he should be ok...and the verge is nicely mowed now, so that's a good job jobbed...

It won't last, of course, but still the physical activity was helpful (if not much fun).  

Climbing tomorrow, I think!

:-)

Day 284 - Old Fart

black and white

Even the copious amounts of caffeine delivered via this lovely, big, new mug don't seem to be enough to stem the tide of lethargy and sleepiness that has overtaken me this week.

I've still got the low level lurgy/chest/sinus infection that I carried throughout our trip to Font, and I'm sure that hasn't helped...but since getting home at the weekend, I've really struggled to find the energy to do anything...or at least, anything that doesn't consist in large part of sitting in my chair (and maybe dozing off now and then).

I've barely unpacked (note to self - finish unpacking!), and haven't mown the lawns (which need doing), or been climbing (we had plans this week for some climbing challenges, but haven't had the energy, and now the weather is against us)...

Mostly I've just sat around editing video and xboxing, and apparently being distant and disengaged...to Anna, it appears that I'm depressed...I'm not, everything in life is good and looking better, and I'm optimistic on many fronts - new dog, new house, new job...

But I do feel flat, and as the old saying goes, like my get-up-and-go, got-up-and-went...I just feel very, very tired, and permanently sleepy (early mornings excepted, of course).

Anna did a quick bit of internet research and it seems feasible that I am, in fact, fatigued, to some degree. 

My job has been fairly relentless over the last 18 months...these days, I'm always logged on to my work account between 7.30-8am, and from then on it doesn't stop until 6pm or so...

None of it is directly very stressful, and I don't feel stressed as a rule...but it does involve a constant and steady stream of demands from every direction that, over time, has led to me feeling drained and out of reserves.

My sleep has been all over the place for months and months now...I can't stay awake mid-evening, and have fallen asleep through many a film of late...and yet I'm often awake between 5-7am, and end up getting up at this time even on the weekend.

I do push the envelope pretty hard, as you know - I climb often, do other exercises at home, and rarely shy away form a physical challenge such as driving to France, climbing all day every day for 6 days, then driving home again.

And importantly, I am, you know, a bit of an old fart...

Still, the good news is that a good step towards improvement of all this is to stop eating everything that I eat and drink (because they're what I like to eat and drink), and simply replace them with all the things I don't currently eat and drink (because I don't like to eat and drink them).

So that's, ya know, awesome...

Yay!

:-/

Day 281 - Lazy Day

disturbed

I've had a lovely lazy day today, watching the Grand Prix, sorting out video's from our Font trip, and even playing on my Xbox for the first time in months.

At one point I had to take a break from all this sedentary activity to go and sit in the sun for a few minutes with Anna and the Cats (there's that band again)...

Loz took up what has oddly become her usual position - under the kitchen window, just next to the drain chamber, in the mud of the border.

She looked so chilled basking in the sun that I took the opportunity to take a quick snap of her on my phone (the decent camera is still packed!)...or at least, I intended to - then the sun went in, prompting Loz to open her eyes, stop looking quite so chilled, and start looking annoyed at both the loss of warmth and at being disturbed by me.

So I just got this photo instead.

In keeping with today's theme of idleness and inactivity, I'm going to leave this one right there...

More tomorrow, of course...see you then!

:-)

Day 279 - Adieu a Fontainebleau

orange for orange

So today was our last day in la foret, and despite all the niggly injuries, we all wanted to use up all our remaining reserves in one final day of bouldering.

We went to a place called Rocher Guichot (where you can drive a little way into the forest and park right next to the boulders), in order to maximise our available climbing time.

There's an Orange circuit there with exactly 30 problems, so we set out on a mission to climb them all in one day.   They're of a grade where we mostly get up them on our first go, and rarely find any impossible for us. 

In the photo above, Anna is setting off up the final climb of the circuit, of the day, and of our holiday here in Font...

Despite being fairly short (the climb, not Anna! (although Anna too...)), it was the hardest problem of the circuit at 4B - the steep, slippery slab Anna is stepping onto has almost nothing to use for hands or feet, except the odd little depression in the rock, a vague bump, or a tiny flake a mm or two deep that you can just about get a little purchase on if you push your fingertips painfully onto them. 

We were very pleased then, to finish our brilliant trip here with a last great day in the forest, climbing the boulders amongst the trees, alongside the various flora and fauna that abound.

extrovert

For instance, this little chap was bimbling his way up a very steep rock face, all resplendent in his big yellow climbing pants, and his posh red tail. 

That said, despite his obviously advanced climbing skills, his route-finding left a little to be desired...

he's got the look...but not the brains

He's clearly going the wrong way...and what's he doing on an Orange circuit anyway?  He's clearly capable of significantly higher grades than we play about on.

Anyway, there it is...a great holiday in the magical and majestic Foret de Fontainebleau draws to a close...tired, weary limbs and minds...sore fingers, knees, shoulders, arms, legs and elbows...cuts, bruises, scrapes, scratches, grazes, bites, lumps and bumps everywhere...

It's been brilliant!

We've unlocked a whole bunch of Achievements - Jezz did his 40@40@Font...Anna and I completed a fantastic circuit we started last year...we all climbed our first Font 6A graded boulder problems...we completed an Orange circuit in a day. 

We climbed around 100 or so boulder problems each, and we video'd most of them - so you've got that to look forward to!   ;-)   

Haha, only joking, I won't inflict them all on you...just a few, maybe...when I've had time to process and edit them...I promise to cut out as much of the dull climbing stuff as I can bring myself to!

We've had great fun, supporting and encouraging each other up climbs that were hard for us, and we've all found huge personal satisfaction in our endeavours.

And of course I've got a big tick for my list of challenges for the year - Go to Font!

Big thanks to Jezz for his (contrived) sexy man pose, Anna for her (natural) sexy woman pose, and both for all the top spotting and good laughs, and putting up with my random foibles...we've all survived intact, and I think it's safe to say...we'll be back!

But tomorrow we'll be up early for the long drive back to Blighty...

Pour maintenant, c'est au revoir de France, vous voyez en Angleterre demain...

Au 'voir!

B-)

Day 278 - Balls

summary of the day

All in all, today didn't quite go as planned!

I suppose we set it up badly...after the curious incident of the locked door in the night last night, we didn't finish our dinner until gone midnight, and it was nearly 2am by the time we got to bed.

Unusually, I managed to get back to sleep after being awake at 8am, and eventually awoke suddenly to the sounds of Jezz and Stef (our landlord) standing just outside our bedroom discussing the bedroom door...only to find we'd slept until nearly 11am!

Feeling bleary and behind schedule, and realising that my lurgy (which had been receding) was back with a vengeance, we got up and got on with the day.   It was a really hot morning, high 20's, and Jezz wanted to pop to Decathlon to get a singlet (which he's suddenly developed a bit of a penchant for) before we climbed.  

We headed a few miles north, and grabbed a few items of hot weather clothing...I got some shorts, which I'd stupidly not brought to France with me.

By the time we got to La Foret, it was nearly 2pm...we changed in the car park and wandered in to the boulders, which all looked really high and scary. 

We were at a place called Bas Cuvier, which is one of the earliest climbing areas in the forest, with documented climbing dating back over a century...consequently, the rock is very polished, and the climbing is generally much harder than you'd expect.

On the walk in, the immense power of my middle-aged belly proved too much for the press-stud on my new climbing shorts, which promptly fell apart...

(note to self...stop pretending that you can get into size Large clothes, and just accept that you're eXtra Large)

So I trekked back to the car to change my trousers, whilst Jezz and Anna prepared for the first problems.

Immediately, the climbing was quite tough...for the third of the day, I chose Blue 10, which turned out to have quite a committing, dynamic move up to a high, poor handhold.  On my third attempt, my foot slipped and I fell off from the dizzying height of about 2 feet.   

In an episode eerily reminiscent of when I broke my leg falling off a low boulder at Cratcliffe in 2012, my right toe caught the rock as I went down, forcing my weight into my heel, and consequently bending my foot upwards from the ankle much further than it was really happy to bend.

For a few minutes, the pain was intense, and I thought that my climbing might be done for this holiday.  Fortunately, it turned out to be one of those injuries that quickly eases, and within about 10 minutes I was standing on it again, and prepared to have another go at climbing.

Then Anna announced that she'd felt a spot of rain...sure enough, immediately we could hear thunder rumbling faintly in the distance. 

As we attempted the following problem, the raindrops increased, and so we were rushing more than was sensible...it turns out that there was enough time to injure myself some more!

Climbing Blue 17, I was trying to pull up on a thin crimp (that is, a tiny hold, maybe half a centimetre in depth, which I could just get three fingertips on), but it was getting increasingly slippery in the rain.   I pinged off it two or three times (probably rushing it), and wrenched my right elbow a little in the process.

Tomorrow, both my elbow and my ankle are going to be rudely complaining!

Anyway, to finally put the tin hat on it, the rain, complete with thunder and lightning, set in...

pleuvoir dans la forêt

Anna, who'd very much been up for some hard climbing today, was not amused!

We sheltered under overhangs amongst the boulders, and ate our sandwiches whilst wondering whether we'd get to climb any more this trip, let alone today.

I found lots of little puffballs, and spent a few minutes getting photo's after the worst of the rain had passed.

little ball of puff

Thence, we headed home, a little bedraggled, mildly injured and a little disappointed.

Still, we're off out into Fontainebleau for an evening meal shortly, and tomorrow we hope to get one last session in...more thunderstorms are forecast, but we're remaining optimistic that we'll find something climbable at some point during the day tomorrow.

Also, we found this spider doing some web repairs outside our gite when we got home.

henri le spider

Not the greatest photo, I couldn't quite get the lens combination right for the light conditions...and the critics amongst you will no doubt tut and sigh over the vignetting...

But let's see your photo of a French spider, huh?

:-p

Day 277 - l'elephant (part deux)

l'elephant!

Having focussed yesterday on Jezz's 40@40@Font Challenge, today was our turn to work on one of my (and subsequently our) Font missions...to climb a problem graded at 6A.

Most of the climbs we've done this week have been in the 3' and 4's, so 6A represents quite a step up.   

Having said that, mostly we climb problems on our first attempt, whereas to climb something at your limit requires much trying, and failing, and working it out over a series of attempts.  This can be a frustrating process, as you can spend several hours (or days, weeks, months, or even years for the professionals), and never succeed.

So usually we go for climbing lots of problems that we can climb, but now and then it's good fun to work on a problem that initially seems impossible...the sense of achievement upon eventually getting to the top is immense, and deeply gratifying.

So we went to a famous and iconic climbing area of the Fontainebleau Forest, known as l'elephant...and by incredible coincidence, there's a large, elephant shaped boulder near the start of the climbing area!

I'm happy to report that we did get up our first 6A's!  There was some debate over how we climbed the first one, and whether it counted, so we added a couple of hard moves on the beginning (to satisfy the nay-sayers - you know who you are... ;-p ), and then did it again!

Then we tried another one, which started with a mono (a one-finger pocket in the rock) before climbing a steep face to a very sketchy (aka desperately trying not to fall off) climb over the top of the boulder...

Here's me halfway up...

hang in there

This may not look particularly hard, but I can tell you it was physically very challenging!

Of course, Anna flashed it (which means to climb a problem on your first attempt), whereas it took me about 20 goes...which I interpret to mean that Anna is 20 times as good as me...which seems about right, because, well, she is!

Anyway, I've just realised it's gone midnight, and I have yet to shower after a hard days' bouldering...we went out late and bouldered until it got dark, which was a lovely treat, but means we've been behind schedule all evening.

Oh, and in a further adventure, we got back to our gite to find that our bedroom door had mysteriously jammed since we went out at lunchtime.

After a significant amount of messing around trying to get it open, we had to call the landlord, who essentially advised that we break it down using brute force and/or a pied de biche (that's a crowbar to you and me).

We were reluctant to do this in his absence (he was away for the evening), but after his wife came round and egged us on, we did indeed kick/crow/shoulder the door open.  

So not only did we achieve our 6A mission today, but we also have a bed to sleep in tonight...

Yay!

:-)

Day 275 - They Have a Cave Troll

behind you

It was a glorious day in the forest today - bright and shady, warm and cool, tiring and invigorating, tranquil and challenging...

When we were in Font this time last year, Anna and I had done the first half of a fabulous Orange circuit at an area of the forest known as Haute Plaines in Isatis, not far outside the town of Fontainebleau itself.   

As it happens to run alongside a yellow circuit, which Jezz was interested in doing, and in reverse order (that is, the orange circuit finishes where the yellow starts) it seemed like a good pick, and sure enough, we had a brilliant day.

Anna and I finished the Orange circuit, which was just as much fun as we remembered it...and Jezz did half of the yellow circuit in a final prep day for his 40@40@Font Challenge, which is currently scheduled for tomorrow.

Some of the problems Anna and I did today were a bit harder than yesterday, and so Anna had her game face on...

elvis?

This was also handy for scaring off the giant cave troll in the red vest top that was hanging about all day (see top photo)...

We saw a brilliant green sand lizard as we walked into the forest, the biggest lizard I've ever seen in the wild, I think...and it was around about this time I realised I'd forgotten the camera (although not very helpfully, I did have the heavy lenses in my backpack).  Jezz had his camera, but of course not the right lens...and conveniently he has Canon and we have Nikon, so they're incompatible.

Huzzah!

Still, I borrowed Jezz's camera to get this cool shot of a spider...

harry the spider

Check out the amazing bokeh on this, that's a nice lens of Jezz's!

Speaking of which, today I sub-contracted out the boulder that looks like something else photo for today to Jezz, who promptly found a submarine...

Good work, buddy!

B-)

Day 274 - I Was, Like, Woah

crush

Rather than bore you repeatedly with endless climbing photo's, instead I'm going to try to bring you a series of unusual boulder shapes...

Of course, I'm still going to talk about climbing,and I'm still going to bring you climbing photo's...maybe just not every day.

Today we went to Rocher Fin, in la Foret de Trois Pignons....we call it three pigeons, but it actually means three hills or something like that.   It's a lovely, big, sandy forest of both broad leaf and pine, and we had a gorgeous sunny day to enjoy it.

We climbed on the Orange Circuit, for the most part, at a grade of Assez Difficile...it was fun, and we all climbed pretty well.   It was Jezz's first day on Font rock, so he was finding his feet as we were rediscovering ours. 

We did around 25-30 problems, which bodes fairly well for Jezz's 40@40@Font Challenge - to climb 40 problems in a day, at Font, at the age of 40...we're hopefully doing that on Tuesday.

Anyway, we all flagged at various times today - we all have ridiculously demanding jobs, working long hours with a lot of responsibility and the ever-present stress that goes with it, and so we're all very tired to be starting this holiday...and of course we had that long and tiring journey yesterday... 

Actually, I was fine all day climbing, but flagged seriously on the long walk back to the car (we'd gone a long way into la foret to avoid the inevitable Sunday crowds).    

And of course I was up at first light this morning, as seems to be becoming annoyingly standard of late...So, you know, poor me, or whatever...

So rather than bore you with all of that, I bring you...

Boulders that look like things!

The boulder pictured above immediately said "turtle" to Anna...it looks just like Crush from Finding Nemo!

alien face

And the couple in the photo above seem woefully ignorant of the giant alien looking over their shoulders.

As we wander la foret over the next few days, I'll keep my eye out for more boulders that look like things!

I know, right?!

You're so lucky - it's almost like having your own personal internet, right there at your fingertips whenever you need it!

;-)

Day 273 - Allé à France

plus three

Sorry folks, but this is going to be another short one today...I'm really quite brain-fried after a fairly draining journey.

I was awake at 5am this morning, and couldn't get back off to sleep, despite feeling very tired and really quite poorly. By 5.30 I had given up hope of getting back to sleep, so got up and started preparing for a 7am departure.

We got away fairly well - it was 7.05 as we drove out of our little car park.

We collected Jezz near Heathrow, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect...less than 30 seconds after we arrived at the long stay car park, a transit van pulled up behind us, and out popped Jezz, who had been offered a lift with all of his stuff.

We stopped to fill up with diesel, and then for the loo and a coffee on the M25, before heading down to Folkestone to the Eurotunnel in very good time.

We arrived at The Chunnel at 10.30, nicely in time for our 11.20 train...

...only to find that a train had broken down in the tunnel, and so there would be a 2.5 hour delay.

The sign above was showing the waiting times...we were booked onto train G, which wasn't even showing on the agenda, even though we'd been there for a couple of hours and our train was already over an hour late.

The 2.5 hour delay turned into a three hour delay, which was closely followed by a sat-nav nightmare, which ultimately led to us approaching Paris from an unexpected direction...the road was tight and poor, there was a lot of traffic, and constant speed bumps, and before long Anna (who was taking a stint in the back), was ready to throw up...

We ended up stuck in crazy traffic on le peripherique...and I mean, crazy!  So much aggressive, big city driving!

We eventually got to the gite in la Chapelle la Reine, at 8.30pm...it's now approaching 10pm, I'm losing my voice, and I'm very snotty!

So, some stats:

Hours sleep last night - 4
Hours journeying - 12.5
Miles driven - 400
Hours stuck at bloody Folkestone - 4
Coffee consumed - plenty
Sat-nav provoked profanities - many!

Long day, long journey...but here we are in Font!  Tomorrow is a new day, I'll ignore the lurgy as best I can...and we'll go climb some boulders!

And if my voice carries on the way it's going, the others will have an extra-peaceful day!

:-/