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 19 - The Circle of Life

Amazeballs!

As it was a nice sunny day today, we decided to go up to the woods to visit the place where we scattered some of Bluez ashes, and carved his name into a tree. 

It was the first time we'd been up there since his memorial day, a week after he died.

Jazz was quite lively going up into the woods.   His arthritis is pretty bad, he limps all the time now, and sometimes is clearly in pain.   But today he seemed to have some energy and was even trotting out of choice, at one point.   

Normally he just limps and plods these days, so it was really nice to see him apparently invigorated by the fresh woodland sights and smells.

And he was finding quite a bit of rabbit poo, so that helped motivate him, I'm sure. 

I, however, was feeling quite different...

Walking back up along the wooded path where I took them so many times (the same route we took for his little funeral procession) brought the pain flooding back, and I struggled once again to hold back the tears.   I miss him so much. 

Even now, 8 weeks later, I can still be caught off guard at a moment's notice.   Anna too. 

It won't put us off having another dog though.   The pain we are feeling is representative of how much he brought to our lives, how much he meant to us.   

Je ne regrette rien!!   I would (and will) do it again, in a heartbeat.  

Seriously, get a dog...the joy and warmth, the fun and the comfort they bring to your life is immeasurable and invaluable.   

Anywho, I had planned to take a photo of Bluez' name, carved into the tree, and indeed I did:

But whilst we were there I spotted this lovely fungi (picture above), and decided to try for a nice picture of it.  

After a little sleuthing (ok, you got me, I googled it), I learned that this is Lycoperdon Pyriforme, commonly known as Stump Puffball, as it grows on rotting wood, often the stump of a fallen tree.

In this case, it's very mature, and the little holes you can see are where it released its spores. 

This has happened in the weeks since we were last up there, so it seems more positive that we should focus on this new life, even as we continue to mourn lives now passed...

Good luck, little Stumpy Puffball spores!!