Magic Wood

To say that it has been a long time since my last post would be to make a gross understatement. In no way does the recent frequency (or, perhaps, the lack there of) of my writing reflect the level of excitement in our lives! So much has happened over the last couple of months that I find myself at a loss as to where to begin! I suppose the best way to begin would be simply to chose a destination and tell you about it, would you not agree? So here goes, lets start this story in a campsite, girt by a raging river, in the mountains of Switzerland....

Magic Wood
If any forest is more worthy of the name Magic Wood than that lying between Andeer and Ausserferrera, Switzerland, I am yet to have seen it! Bursting with life, ferociously delicate and overwhelmingly serene, Magic Wood will steal the first breath from your lungs (quite literally) each morning as you open your eyes to the majesty of its mountainous setting. It is getting this breath back that proves difficult, set at approximately 1'500m above sea level a stroll through Magic Wood can seem strangely laborious when you first arrive. When we arrived in Magic Wood at the beginning of May, we were greeted with snow on the ground, wet bocks and an ominous looking sky, unfortunately over the next six weeks not a great deal changed! During our time at Magic Wood it rained a lot, eventually both Josh and I were able to find lines that inspired us that were dry and finally I was able to experience granite bouldering for the first time in my life!

Josh on Super Nova 7c

Unnamed boulder 6a+

Our opportunities to get out and climb seemed to be as fleeting as a flame in the wind at altitude (and trust me after endeavouring to light fires for warmth each day and night I am very aware of how short lived this flame is!). In some ways the terrible weather that we experienced was a blessing, had it not been for the rain forcing us to abandon camp and take refuge in the guest house most days we may not have met the amazing people who made our time at Magic Wood truly memorable! The rainy days were passed with game after game of Rummy 500, Uno, Yatzee, Chess and Red 7's. The less rainy days, and the few sunny days we enjoyed, were spent in the forest throwing ourselves at our latest projects.

U-Boot 6c - learning to heel hook again :)

For me the climbing in Magic Wood was for the most part frustrating. Having not found a great deal of information on Magic Wood before we left from Australia we were unsure what to expect. Each story we heard of Magic Wood seemed to contrast the last to such a degree that drawing any conclusions on what would await us seemed impossible. Climbers we respect had told us stories from their time in the Woods ranging from 'the best place I have ever been' to 'not worth going at all'. It is only now after visiting that I understand the reason for these contrasting remarks. It all comes down to the fact that if you are climbing 7a and above Magic Wood is a theme park packed full of boulders to inspire and challenge you, if you are climbing below 7a Magic Wood may not be the best place to visit, places like Fontainebleau offer a great deal more variety at this level and may be more inspiring. Magic Wood does not offer a large number of problems below 6c (and the 6c's are tough), factor in that a large number of these 'lower grade' problems have the terrible landings associated with granite climbing and that some are so high that even the bravest amongst us will probably be searching for a belay bolt and you are not left with a great deal to climb. The climbs that are available below 7a are of value, please do not mistake me as saying that they are not, in fact some are great, but perhaps you will find greater value in a region offering more variety - especially if you are planning to stay for a while. In addition to the low number of climbs at my grade, my experience at Magic Wood was unfortunately dampened when my bad knee decided that it did not like the cold...at all! Between the somewhat epic walk-ins and my knee refusing to let me weightbear on the cold days I often found myself sat at camp with very little hope of being physically able to get into the forest. Oh well, it is a long time until my leg will need to tolerate temperatures below -10 and by then I fully expect it to be stronger and more healed, so nothing to worry about!
During the time in Magic Wood I got strong (at least compared to where I was before), unlike the delicate balance-dependant moves of Bleau, Magic Wood is strength dependant climbing. I learned to heel hook with my right leg again (well!), something I haven't able to do since I injured my knee. I learned to mantel and compression climb. I had amazing times with new friends and old. I built snowmen and made snow angels. I slept in a tent in the snow. I saw mountains and streams more beautiful than any I have seen before. And above all, I spent six weeks in a majestic wonderland, with my favourite person in the world!

Snow Day!

Josh's 1st Snowman...EVER!

Our Cosy Home

Some tips if you are planning a Magic Wood trip;

• Maybe wait until you are climbing at least 7a
• If you are going for an extended time consider having a car*
• At the start of the season you can get bad weather, but in the peak it will be super busy, decide what you would rather
• Take food for the first night, don't rely on the shop at the campground being open, you might go hungry - we did!
• The bus to Andeer is expensive, make your journey worth the money and get everything you need
• EVERYTHING in Andeer is closed on Sunday and they siesta every afternoon, go in the morning or the afternoon, not lunch time!
• Thusis is further away, but the shops are bigger and much cheaper
• Remember Switzerland has a different power point to the rest of Europe, you will need an extra adaptor 

* - It is possible to be in Magic Wood quite happily without a car. The bus from Andeer drops you directly outside the campground. The blocks are accessed from the campground by foot, thus you don't need a car to get to any of the climbing. The Edelweiss Guesthouse is about a 10minute walk from camp and provides internet, food and drinks, charging stations, TV and Xbox. There is normally someone who you can get a lift into town from, or someone who will pick up what you need when they go shopping. BUT - if it is raining chances are you can probably find better weather in a valley not too far away, if you have a car you can probably find somewhere to climb regardless of the weather, if you don't have a car and the weather turns foul, bad luck you just have to wait it out!

Innsbruck
During the middle of our time in Magic Wood we decided to go to Innsbruck (thank you to all of you who gave us gifts that allowed this to happen) to watch the Bouldering World Cup. Heidi (the friend we met in Fontainbleau) had passed on our details to her friend Barbara and before we knew it Barbara and Mathias had offered to have us stay during our time in Innsbruck, not just Josh and I, no FOUR of us! They had never met us, and actually didn't even know how we knew Heidi before they welcomed us into their home! I know what you are thinking, what legends! Right?!

Our Awesome Hosts!!!

Unfortunately, we had to wait a couple of days before we would truly find out how awesome they actually are! When we arrived in Innsbruck Barbara and Mathias had only five minutes until they had to leave to go to the cinema, after quick introductions, a tour around their fabulous abode and instructions on how to get into town they were off and we were alone in their home. Overwhelmed by their trust and generosity we sat in shock for a while! Soon we made our way into the Market Place to meet up with Nick and the Sweeds (three awesome guys we had met in Magic Wood who decided to join us in Innsbruck for a final party to end their three months of travelling around California and Europe). The walls were set for the competition and we decided to celebrate our being there with a few drinks with great people!

Team Sweden!

By the time we woke the following morning Barbara and Mathias had already left for work and we were still yet to have spoken more than 10 words to the couple who had been so generous to us. After a quick breakfast it was time to explore the city. And what an AMAZING city it is!!! Words cannot describe how beautiful Innsbruck is, mountains on every side, river though the middle, cute colourful houses the city oozes character! In contrast to our subzero rainy conditions in Magic Wood the 25 degrees, sunshine and ice-cream we experienced in Innsbruck felt heavenly! Not for the first time since starting this blog I find my vocabulary insufficient, words to do justice to the beauty of Innsbruck fail me and so again I will turn to photos in the hope that they can convey what I am unable to.

After watching the kids tear it up at the blocparty, we headed back home to have dinner with and finally properly meet our hosts. Barbara cooked lasagne for everyone and even made a special gluten free pasta for me. Over dinner conversation flowed easily and we found that our hosts were truly awesome!!! Hopefully at a point not too far in the future we are able to return the favour to them and have them stay with us in Australia!
The next day the qualifications for the world cup began, it was great to cheer on James and our new friend Sandeep! The problems were thought provoking and the athlete's ability to make them look easy was perplexing and above all else inspiring. In a controversial twist the weather took a turn for the worst after the first half of male athletes had completed the first of the boulders (A1 and B1). Strangely, the organisers had only seen the need to cover boulders 2-5 leaving boulders A1 and B1 exposed to the elements. After the rain set in the competition was paused after some time the officials decided that it would be unsafe to have athletes compete on these problems and as such cancelled the first wall. Sounds like a good solution unless you were one of the first 20 athletes whose position on the leader board was greatly impacted by the cancelling of this boulder, not to mention the fatigue these athletes took into the second problem compared to the freshness of the rest the group. Sadly neither James nor Sandeep qualified, however both should be proud of the examples that they have set to all of the climbers in their respective countries, they have truly proven that with hard work all dreams are possible, regardless of where you are from!

James on A1

After the female qualification finished, we made our way home, losing Claire and the now time obsessed Lukas somewhere in the park (they were a bit drunk to say the least). Don't worry Claire I wont tell anyone you fell asleep at the comp ;). After eventually finding our lost comrades we got home in time to join Barbara and Mathias and their friends for a few more drinks and some youtube laughs. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR_byRbXxvs Check it out haha)
Then it was final day, we arrived at the market place early to ensure that we could get seats and settled in for the entertainment! During the Semis the first female competitor had us all convinced that the problems were too easy, near on topping all of them, it was only later when the big names struggled on the same problems that we realised that the problems were in fact not easy, rather this girl was very strong! The quality of the problems seemed to improved the longer the competition went on and the home crowd support for Killian and Anna was deafening and electric! During the break between Semis and Finals Barbara and Mathias took us on a local's tour of the city, leading us to good food and great views of the city!

The sun set below the mountain ridge, spilling colours through the sky, colours that danced across the water of the river beside us as thousands of people spilled into the market place taking their place for the main event, the Finals! The atmosphere was immense, the stage was set, the crowd screamed as their favourites took to it. The athletes fed off of the crowd's enthusiasm and pulled of amazing fetes that only added to the roar! The competition was unpredictable and the result was not decided until the final boulder for both the males and females. A double win for Germany, much to Lukas' delight! Home favourites Anna and Killian both made the podium much to the crowd's delight and when it was all over I knew that we had just witnessed the most impressive competition climbing I had ever seen. I was inspired and could not wait to train again!
The excitement did not finish with the awarding of the medals, far from it actually! Following the competition was the after party... a surreal event! It seemed the more I drank the better my German speaking abilities became and before I knew it I found myself having conversations with Udo Neumann about what makes the German team so strong auf Deutsch! Carving up the dance floor with friends we were surrounded by all of the biggest names in the climbing world! Pretty amazing really! Some time around 4am the party finished and we dragged ourselves home again.
After a bit of a sleep in we were at a loss for what to do with our final day in Innsbruck. Claire had decided to walk up one of the mountains, something that my knee and my hangover did not want me to do and so soon it was decided that Barbara and Mathias needed to be taken to the Bouldering gym to see what all the fuss was about!
On the way home from the gym, after having an awesome time on plastic, we stopped off for some more amazing views! The time we spent in Innsbruck was sooo much more amazing than I expected it to be and my expectations we pretty high!

The following day we packed up and set of early, Lukas had decided to take us to visit Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. I had learned about Neuschwanstein when I was young in German classes and I was excited to finally visit the castle that Disney stole for their logo, to see the fairy tales painted on the walls and ceilings, it was spectacular and was the perfect end to our Innsbruck adventure!   

In search of magic

On Saturday we reluctantly packed up our beautiful little Gite and prepared ourselves to set off on the next stage of our adventure. It was bittersweet to leave Fontainebleau; the beauty, richness of culture and amazing climbing that Fontainebleau offered astounded me each and every day and I know that I will forever look back on these three weeks fondly. Fontainebleau really was, in every sense, the perfect start to our holiday; I cannot recommend a trip here highly enough, and if you are in the area Gite Kailloux is a perfect little retreat after a long day on the blocks. But as the old adage goes, 'all good things must come to an end', for if they do not you may never know the magic that is just around the corner. Off we set in search of some more magic...

We headed into Paris on Saturday afternoon, Josh again handling Paris' traffic like an absolute champion, and soon we were back at Gare de Lyon and car-less again. The plan was that we would head straight to Gare du Nord and drop off our packs and the enormous Gandalf the Red (Josh's new Moon Pad - which is also amazing if you are in the market for a new bouldering pad) and then go see some sights before meeting up with Heidi at 8:00pm. Onto the tube it was....we thought we were doing amazingly when we boarded the train that would deliver us directly to Gare du Nord, the less time we had with our stupidly HEAVY packs the better, however we did not get there without a couple of hiccups. First, there was the moment that I realised that Josh couldn't climb the steps of the train without potentially severely injuring people with the 50kg pack and giant boulder pad that were strapped to him and I couldn't lift my pack up from where I had set it down upstairs without his help...now is the perfect time for me to mention how friendly, accommodating, helpful and genuinely nice every French person we met was to us; look lost, someone helps you (IN ENGLISH!), can't lift your pack, someone lifts it for you (WITHOUT YOU EVEN ASKING), it seemed like help in Paris was only the next person away every time we needed it! Crisis averted! We both managed to get off of the train with our packs and we were again on our way. Upon emerging from the station we soon realised that we had exited at the wrong station, but thankfully tube stations in Paris are quite close together and we were only about 300m from Gare du Nord and relief from our packs.

Once we got to Gare du Nord the confusion continued, I had found a luggage storage place in the station on the internet the previous night, however as I searched the station (which might I add is not exactly small) the luggage storage place was nowhere to be found. I left Josh with the packs and continued the scouting mission alone, attempting to recruit the help of anyone I could with my terrible French. The first person I asked, a soldier, advised me that there was no luggage storage in the station. The second, the information booth worker, told me to go upstairs. The third, the upstairs information booth worker, told me downstairs....and on and on it went until I came back to tag in Josh. It turns out, with exception of the soldier, all versions were correct, the luggage store was downstairs, however you had to take one specific escalator to it from upstairs haha...I would never have figured that out! So, after 2.5 hours, we had managed to navigate to Gare du Nord and find the luggage store, in mere moments we would be without all our bulk and free to peruse the streets of Paris with only a day pack....well, so we thought....

At the luggage store we soon found out that Josh's pad was far too big to fit in even the biggest of lockers and no amount of negotiation was going to convince the guy to store it elsewhere, so an evening out in Paris with Gandalf it was to be, at least we were not carrying the packs any more.

Gandalf negotiates another tube system!

Having already explored London with Gandalf we were confident that having Gandalf with us would not stop us from seeing anything we wanted to and so we headed out. Our first stop was Avenue de Champs-Elysees, as we strolled from Champs-Elysees-Clemenceau to the Arc de Triomphe I think more people were taking photos and staring at Josh with his giant red pad than were looking at the actual sights, I don't imagine many boulder pads have walked the Avenue de Champs-Elysees from top to bottom. We took our time taking it all in and sat at the Arc de Triomphe watching the traffic from 12 roads chaotically force themselves around the seven unmarked lanes of the Arc de Triomphe roundabout...in one word it was hectic, and we were thankful to be merely observing it rather than participating in the madness.

Arc de Triomphe

Once our feet were rested we walked back down the Champs-Elysees towards the Louvre through the Tuileries Garden. The Garden is magnificent, the sculptures and impressive arches the adorn each and every corner combined with the beauty of a seemingly ever stretching sculpted garden full of spring blossoms was awe inspiring, it is little wonder that so many people chose to spend their Saturday afternoon lazing on the deck chairs circling the fountains. We continued onto the Louvre and sat beside the ponds watching people around us until it was time to head back to the station and make our way to Gare de Lyon again to meet Heidi. We sat on Gandalf in the middle of the square outside the main entrance until we saw Heidi come out of one of the far doors, it was clear she had spotted us when she burst into laughter at us on our massive, bright red pad! Being the trooper she is she was not deterred and into the night we went. First stop Moufftard, somehow Heidi managed to negotiate with the owner of an awesome Sushi restaurant to store our pad in their shop across the road so that we could eat there. The food was amazing, the company was even better! After dinner we headed to Saint-Michel for drinks, fortunately there was a 24hr bar that, in spite of their super overpriced menu, provided us with a comfy place to hang out until it was time for Heidi to leave us to catch the last train home. Despite her numerous generous offers to have us stay the night Josh and I decided that the late start of the train system in Paris on Sundays would make for a stressful morning and so, instead, into the night we continued. We made our way over to Notre Dame, as it was only a stone's throw from where we were and sat in front of this magnificent structure for about an hour just enjoying being with each other in this beautiful city before we headed back to Gare du Nord before the trains stopped for the night. Across from the station was another 24hr cafe that we hung out at enjoying the warmth, coffees and a delicious Creme Brulee. After a couple of hours passing time outside the station playing Yatzee, the sun was rising over the city of Paris and the station was open. We collected our bags without a hitch and made our way to Gare de Lyon to catch the TGV to Zurich.

We boarded the train, stashed our belongings (we made an effort to board as early as possible to find room for all of our stuff) and found 'our seats' seats 100 and 101 upstairs, it didn't take long for us to realise that we had made a mistake, this was a first class carriage and we had second class tickets, oops. Off the train, with our bags, we were an obstacle to everyone trying to board, and then back on on the second class carriage. We moved around the luggage in the store trying to make room for our bags and the pad and tried to find our seats, are you kidding, we did it again!!! This is carriage 15 we are seated on 17 - until this point I hadn't even realised the carriages had numbers haha! Okay off again, shit the train is leaving in like 2 minutes, Josh ran from one carriage to another with our gear as I ensured we were actually on the right carriage. Somehow we managed to find an almost empty luggage hold that fit our packs perfectly with Gandalf resting against (I am almost certain the pad would have been an obstacle for almost everyone exiting before Zurich haha), we collapsed into our seats just as the conductor blew his whistle signifying that the train was leaving and fell into a well deserved sleep for most of the four hour journey.

Once we were in Zurich it was my turn to do the talking, Josh did amazingly in France with his French and so the bar was set high. My German is bad at the best of times, but in Switzerland it is as if they are not even talking German. I made my way to the ticket office, after a failed attempt at using the automatic ticket machine, and tried to buy us tickets to Ausserferra via Chur and Andeer. The lady at the ticket counter told me that the bus from Chur to Andeer was by reservation only and that we had to be there at least one hour before to try to reserve a seat, that is if there are any seats available which there may not be. She also told me that the train to Chur was not direct, that we needed to change at Landquart. With this information we headed to our designated platform and awaited the arrival of our train. All of the information on the boards seemed to suggest that the train terminated in Chur and that we didn't need to catch a second train at all - we decided to recheck with the conductor on board. In my terrible German I asked if we needed to get off at Landquart and catch another train to Chur (not being able to pronounce this cities name did NOT help! After many attempts I now think it may be pronounced 'Core' or something along those lines). The conductor confirmed that we needed to swap trains at Landquart and so once we arrived we disembarked and looked around for the train for Chur. That cant be right, the platform we got of at said Chur and had a departure time one minute after we arrived. I asked a lovely older lady which was the train to Chur and much to our disappointment she pointed to the train that we had just got off that was now leaving the station! Crap! Fortunately, the lady found us another train to Chur that was leaving in 15 minutes and walked us to the platform, what a legend!

As the train we were on began stopping at every station we became more aware of the time, we had hopped off of the express train and were now on the 'stop-at-every-station-even-if-it-is-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-and-no-one-is-there-train'. We had four stations until Chur and 15minutes until reservations for the last bus out of Chur closed...normally the thought of spending a night in a station wouldn't upset me too much, we had our sleeping bags, our thermarests and all of our warm clothes, BUT we had already spent the whole night awake in Paris and all I wanted was to get to our end destination and have a good night sleep. We rushed up to the bus station and I ran over to the ticket office where I was advised that reservations for our bus were closed! Damn! As I explained that we needed to be on this bus to get to our destination in my bad German, the lady looked something up on her computer and suddenly, somehow, we were allowed on the bus without a reservation! Awesome!!! Lady Luck is certainly on our side! We had an hour to wait before our bus left, and honestly I cant think of anywhere more beautiful to be stuck for an hour.

Hanging out at Chur waiting for the bus

We got off at Andeer and waited for our next bus, the last of our journey, to Schmelzi. The 10 minute bus ride took us into the heart of a snow capped mountain range. As we got off of the bus at Schmelzi and looked around we knew the next chapter of our adventure would be filled with Magic. The sound of the water of the rapid stream below us was only outdone by the booming of the waterfall that fed into the stream directly opposite from where we began pitching our tent. The pine forest was lush and green and there was still enough snow on the ground for a snowball fight. Here we were at our new home, Magic Wood, aptly named actually, and all our sadness about leaving Fontainebleau dissipated instantly.

Unfortunately, we were counting on there being somewhere to buy food at the campground, the website suggested that there was a shop open until 10pm, we have since found out that this is peak season only, and so we had no food with us. We had seen a guest house on the way to camp from Andeer and so we decided to try to walk there, after getting within meters of it (not knowingly, the mountains obstruct your view of what is nearby) we turned around and decided to try to find food in the morning.

The next morning we headed to Andeer to do some grocery shopping and to feed ourselves for the first time in about 36 hours. We had been told that shopping in Switzerland is SUPER expensive, but this is not at all what we found. Certain items, such as instant coffee are extortionately priced but everything else is pretty much the same as Australia...a pleasant surprise.

After something to eat we headed out into the forest to look around, it had rained overnight so it was far too wet to climb but the beauty of the forest was beckoning us, so we decided to get out into it. There are not enough adjectives to describe how wonderfully beautiful the forest is here, not in my vocabulary at least....it is magical, enchanted, vibrant and alive. Walking along the little paths through the lush forest makes you feel as though have been transported into a fairy tale, that any second an elf or talking deer will come around the corner, as though dragons exist and live in the caves in the mountains ahead, as though anything dreamed could also exist here in this place.

I have not yet had the chance to climb here, Josh has managed to get out onto the blocks once, but conscious of not re-injuring myself I am waiting until the rock dries out almost completely so to avoid slipping and potentially hurting myself. We have been here for a week today and though I have not climbed, I have also not been wanting for things to do, the people sharing our camp from all around the world are awesome and card games at the cosy and convenient Edelweiss Gasthaus help pass the rainy times. This place is truly magical and once again I find myself in a state of disbelief at how lucky I am to find myself here!

Sunshine, Cheese and Slabs

The weather in Fontainebleau over the last week has been amazing. The rays of sun that explode in through the window each morning, beckon us from sleep with the promise of another amazing day in Paradise. We have taken advantage of the cool temperatures and our very comfortable Gite, enjoying sleep-ins each morning, hitting the blocks between 11 and 12 most day. Each day in Fontainebleau has been different from those before, new areas present new challenges and sometimes even new successes. As I sit here and begin this update, I am confronted with the knowledge that no combination of words could aptly summaries the beauty and charm of this place, nor the value of the experiences that being here has granted me...despite this I will try, hopefully the photos will say what I cannot.

Last Wednesday we headed to Bas Cuvier with Nick in search of something new, in all honesty, this area was the least impressive of those that we have been to thus far. Despite the lack of inspiring lines and the abundance of used condom packets both Josh and I were able to find boulders that tickled our fancy. Me a beautiful slab, all presses and smears and Josh a cool dyno and a slightly overhung arête. It is in the slabs that I am enjoying climbing that I am able to see the dramatic difference that our time in Fontainebleau has made to my climbing. Not to harp on about the same topics as I wrote about in my last blog, but before I got to Bleau, I would have walked passed the seemingly sheer faces of the slabs that I have so enjoyed here, dismissing them as impossible, 'not my style', or lacking anything that I could possibly hold onto. At home in the Gramps, it was only the climbs with obvious positive edges that I would try, here as I have learnt to trust my feet I have discovered that I really actually enjoy slab climbing.

Thursday, it was time for a rest...First stop Fontainebleau, it was time for new shoes for me, ones that would hurt my toes less. We went into Scape in search of tiny La Sportiva Solutions and to my absolute delight they were in my size and fit amazingly! After buying my new solutions I was a little disappointed that today was a rest day and I would have to wait until tomorrow to try them out! Nick had told us about a beautiful market in Milly-la-Foret that we were interested to see. The market was amazing, unlike anything that I have experienced before. Based in a medieval market hall built in 1479 in the centre of the town, the market sprawled into the street, row upon row of fishmongers, cheese-mongers, sweet stalls, fresh fruits and vegetables, the smells of hot fresh cooked crepes, buckets of olives, pallets of strawberries, chocolate, cheese and other such delights filled the air as the town sprung to life like something out of a storybook. Old women met in the aisles, catching up on the week's news as children brought toy cars and candy and couples chose cheese. Shoe stall after shoe stall, jackets, hats and dresses, it was all there - but if by chance you couldn't find what you were looking for, simply peruse the quaint shops that line the market square - Patisseries, grocery shops, chocolatiers. Josh and I left with bag after bag of treats. Needless to say, dinner that night was amazing!

Snoopy Boulder!

On Friday we met up with Heidi to head out to Cul de Chien. A quick coffee at the station while we waited for Heidi's train to arrive from Paris cost us a little more than expected. We parked in a blue zone you see...up until this point we believed, correctly, that blue zones offer time restricted free parking...what we had failed to realise is that in order to take advantage of this free parking one must first acquire, from where I am unsure, a blue card to sit in the window and on this blue card one must indicate the time that they arrived at the free park. Unfortunately, our lack of blue card caught the attention of the local policeman and the end result was a parking ticket....The system to pay for this ticket was more confusing than the ticket itself, thank goodness we had Heidi and her French speaking skills else we never would have understood that we were to take the ticked to the Tebac and pay the 17Euro fine, they would then give us a stamp indicating that we had paid, next it was over to the post office to buy a postage stamp to mail the proof of payment to the road commission and then into the letterbox it went....time to go climbing! The weather looked amazing, as we walked across the white sandy beach that leads you into the forest towards the boulders of Cul-de-Chien. Cul de Chien is amazing, in addition to having a beautiful mix of sand, forest and boulders there is a boulder in the centre that looks just like SNOOPY! So cool!

Boulders on a beach in the middle of the forest

We made a start, the climbing was great, my new solutions were AWESOME! Though as with all new climbing shoes, the did need breaking in, the hard rubber had soon rubbed the back of my heels raw and so it was time for me to sit back and enjoy taking some pictures. Soon the weather changed and we sought refuge from the hail and rain under an overhung boulder...a couple of damp climbs for Josh and Heidi and it was time to give up our battle against the rain and call it a day...more coffees at the station to finish a wonderful day!

Saturday we headed out to meet Nick at Buthiers, the furthest area from where we are staying. It was a lovely day, the sun was shinning and what this means in Fontainebleau on a weekend is that the crag will be CROWDED! We headed out to Buthiers in a bid to escape the crowds and our gamble paid off, hardly a person in sight! The boulders were MASSIVE! Many had belay bolts at the top! But the lines were inspiring. We were all able to find problems of an appropriate hight and grade that we loved and overall this was my favourite area that we have been to thus far! My shoes, hurt less today and I was able to smear better than before with my new shoes!

On Sunday it was time for another rest day, we lazed around the Gite for the morning and then headed into Fontainebleau for the markets. Unfortunately we were a little late and the stalls were all being packed up. Instead we decided to head to the Chateau and walk around the beautiful sculpted gardens for a couple of hours before we headed back to the main street for the best icecream I have ever eaten from Les Glaces and some people watching! After a bit of a debacle trying to get our car out of the car park when the ticket machine would only take correct change, our complete lack of coins made this a difficult task, we headed home (a quick stop at a closed supermarket on the way haha) for movie and a quiet night in.

Swans in one of the many ponds of the Chateau

Josh on the GIANT slab

Monday began with a familiar routine, we met Heidi again at the station, another morning of beautiful sunshine, another coffee by the train station, though this time we had wised up to the parking system and managed to avoid getting a ticket :). Today it was off to Isatis for us, we had been one time before and Josh and I were both pretty keen to get back. Into the maze of blocks we went, climbing each line we liked, skipping those that we didn't. I repeated the 6c that I had sent last week and Josh and Heidi showed off their cool heads on a VERY high slab, perhaps the highest boulder that either had climbed to date! Very impressive! As the warmth of the sun faded we made our way back to the station for more coffees, a perfect end to a perfect day! If you are ever in Fontainebleau I recommend you spend at least one day at Isatis, it is certainly my favourite area thus far!

Heidi at the top of the massive slab

Yesterday we headed back to Canon again, meeting Heidi in the carpark after a quick stop at our local patisserie. Last time we were there was a Sunday and as such it was very busy, Josh and I were excited to try the lines that we were not able to try the last time due to the crowds. With climbing, as with all things in life, you win some and you loose some...today was not my day! I struggled to find my feet, again concerned with the puf slicked feet and lack of hands. I found myself terrified and incapable of moving upwards many times. My body was tired and my head was not where I needed it to be! Climbing like this is little fun! The sun was shinning and the forest was beautiful, life was not so bad after all! Eventually Heidi had coerced me into trying to climb again and we were able to find a few pretty cool blocks to keep us entertained for a couple of hours....I found my feet again and slowly my head chilled out and I was able to enjoy the movement rather than stressing about the apparent dangers of a misstep. Soon after we set up the Slackline in the bottom of the forest before heading back into town for yet another stop at our local patisserie and another delicious coffee at the station!

As the end of our time here in Fontainebleau approaches I find myself excited for the next stage of our journey, but also quite sad to be leaving this beautiful place that in many ways has become homely. From the lady at the patisserie who remembers our faces, to the man at the coffee shop who speaks english to us because he knows we struggle with french; the familiarity that we have with this area grew quickly and it is easy to see oneself being sucked into this world permanently, but alas it is soon time to move on. Josh and I have one last day of climbing here tomorrow, before the rain will return and it will be time for us to head back to Paris to begin our journey to Magic Wood, Switzerland.

Still pretty happy!

Finding my toes in Bleau

Our first week in Fontainebleau went by really quickly, between my cold and the rain, most of our time was spent in our Gite (which is awesome by the way!). By the time that my cold had started to ease, the rain had really set in and looked to be staying around a while. Instead of staying indoors and dreaming of dry days, Josh and I decided that the dreary days would be better passed with the help of some wine. So with the aid of Tucker, our awesome new TomTom, and his world maps, we jumped in Hugo (our Opel Corsa) in search of wine. We programmed the destination - and in just over an hour of driving through the French countryside we arrived in the town of Chablis. Our first stop was the patisserie, because everyone knows the great wine is amazing, but great wine in conjunction with great food is out of this world.

A little stop at the Patisserie

After a tantalising treat it was time to get serious, we had set ourselves a task, and as burdensome as it was we had to complete it, it was time to get to tasting the wines so that we could select some wines to bring home to help us pass the rainy days. First stop Jean Marc Brocard- we had intended to get to as many houses as possible, but this all changed when we met Sebastian, the enthusiastic and knowledgeable Jean Marc Brocard employee. As we tasted through the range the time passed quickly, about two things we were absolutely certain, it is great to be in France and a trip to Chablis is much better than a day stuck in doors, rain or no rain!

 After Jean Marc Brocard, we only had time for one more house, plus Josh was driving so best not intoxicate him too much, to Laroche it was! Though we were in Chablis, we went to Laroche in search of a South African wine, a wine that I remembered fondly from my time at Malmaison - Vina Punto Alto Sauvignon Blanc - its a fabulous drop! After tasting through some of Laroche's wares, and with goody bags of bottles to take home from our Chablis adventure we made one last stop at the Chablis Bar for a coffee and a hot chocolate and then made our way back home for dinner.

Goody bags for home....

And then something marvellous happened...the rain stopped! It was time climb! On the first day we went to Rocher Saint-Germain in search of some easy circuits to help us get used to the new style of climbing that Bleau offers. I have to admit, this new style did not come easily to me! Having avoided slopers for as long as I have climbed, never climbing slabs and coming from a world in which I called a 1cm positive foot edge "a tiny footer" I had a LOT to learn! The first climb on my circuit completely shut me down - A V0- -, that I couldn't even work out how to get onto. Welcome to Fontainebleau - where if you don't know how to use your feet you don't know how to climb! I came to Font with terrible footwork! My biggest issue in my climbing was to date a lack of trust in my feet...this would need to change.

Starting to get my confidence with the new style

I shook my way up the second problem on my circuit, Elvis legs and sweaty palms, holding my breath all the way to the slopey top out. The third problem, though a little harder in grade, was easier, I was starting to learn to press my hands rather than looking for something to crimp. The fourth problem of the day helped me to locate my big right toe and ensured I wouldn't forget where it was for a few days....having never climbed slabs, nor used smears, I had not yet learned to keep my heels down, so instead I was heels up trying to toe into the smallest of features...needless to say this was not a successful tactic! I pulled onto the scoop at the bottom of the slab, managed to move each of my feet up once and then slipped, big toe first into the scooping rock...ouch! For those of you who haven't stubbed a toe that is crammed into a climbing shoe, let me tell you something...it really hurts! Not only does it hurt when you stub it, it then proceeds to hurt every time you 1. put on your now seemingly tiny shoes, 2. every time you stand on it in your tiny shoes. After a quick shoe break to recover, it was time for a second attempt. I pulled onto the scoop, moved both of my feet up, managed to get my left foot up one step higher and then...bang, again with the bloody right big toe straight into the bottom of the slab...damn it! One final try, this time my toes hurt too much to stand on, so out of self protection I didn't stand "on" them, instead I dropped my heels and used the bottoms of my shoes, and this time....I topped out! After six problems, I had learned to smear, I had learned to mantel, I had learned to trust my feet a little more, I had learned that I don't always need positive hand holds and I had toes that did not want to be jammed back into climbing shoes so I called it a day and settled myself to take photos and watch Josh crush like a champ - topping out more than 15 problems!!!!

Josh showing how its done!

The next day we headed to Rocher Canon. We met Nick in the carpark and then set out in search of awesome lines. Forgetting that I need to warm up before repeatedly throwing myself at three finger quarter pad crimps, I walked away from my first two climbs without topping out and with sore fingers, time for something different. A traversing slab. Again with the stupid right toe. My first try I was heels up, came off and smashed my toe into the wall, by this point my right toe felt like it had been subjected to torture by sledgehammer for the last two days and after a few tries more on the slab I was soooo close to the top out that I could taste it, but if I wanted to climb again that day I would have to find something a little less dependent upon my right big toe! Onto a cool highball it was...heel hooks and mantels... about two minutes was spent at the top having an internal debate about whether it would be safer to try the mantel for the top out, or if I could somehow manage to downclimb...the downclimb looked impossible, the only choice was to throw up a high heel and try somehow to get over it...yay! my first ever highball top out!!! After a couple more climbs I was spent, Josh moved onto an awesome V6 and topped it out in style and then we called it a day, getting back to the car just before the rain set in!

Learning to climb slabs...another stubbed toe on this one!

It was time for a rest day! It rained all night and far into the morning and everything was wet, perfect timing for a day off of the rocks. Josh and I decided to go for a walk around out little town Bois-le-Roi. As we walked the weaving paths along streams and streets with gorgeous homes, we realised how lucky we are to have time to just stop and watch the world, to appreciate how beautiful the little things are, an insect dancing across the petals of a flower, a train coming into a station...all of the things we so often miss or take for granted in our day to day lives. Another stop at a patisserie and it was time for some movies, dinner and a quiet night in.

Bois-le-Roi

Taking it all in...

Yesterday we headed to Franchard Isatis with Nick, James, Claire and Amy. It was a slow start for me, at first I felt very self conscious, being surrounded by so many climbers who are much stronger than me. It took me a few problems to even pull on and then even more to commit to enough moves to say that I honestly had tried. I spent most of the day making progress on climbs, learning to avoid the feet polished by puff and to trust my smears. Another scoopy slap, another stub for my right toe. I like to think that everything in life has a purpose and so after stubbing my toe five times in three days of climbing it was time to test what I had learnt. I found a little line near a problem that Claire, Josh and James were doing. A little slab with some tiny holds and a scary mantel on nothing at the top. It looked easy at first and then I pulled on and it seemed much harder than expected, the holds were tiny and not positive, the feet looked good, but the faced the wrong way forcing you to use the smaller parts of them, then the top....the top had nothing! After a couple of shots, the first two working out how to get to the top, the next deciding that the top was too scary, Josh gave me the encouragement that I needed and so up I went...heels down on the slab, bum out for balance, move your weight over your foot before you try to stand, move slowly - control it, at the top - hold onto whatever you can, throw up a heel, confirm with your spotter that they have you and you wont die if things go badly, and then commit...as my weight passed over my heel and my hands slapped up I knew I had it...this was my proudest send yet! I was stuck on top of a boulder with no idea how to get down and I was over the moon that I had committed to something that had terrified me so much only one try previous to this...when I got down we looked in the guide to see if the problem was in there...it was...and to my absolute astonishment it was graded 6c! I would never have tried it had I known the grade before I pulled on...from now on to hell with the grades, I am just going to climb the lines I like!!!

Life is pretty good :)

Oh yeah...and for those of you who are interested, I have heel hooked, mantelled and high stepped with my right leg and...it feels great!!!!

 

The journey to Fontainebleau

It has been a long time since my last post. I will try to cover all that has happened since; mostly a lot of sitting and (until recently) not very much sleep! Josh and I left the Grampians on Wed 27 Feb and drove back to Adelaide to drop off everything that we would not be taking away with us. Though we were only home for 2 days it was great to have the chance to spend some quality time with my beloved pooch Copper and say au revoir to the family. On Friday mum, Josh and I drove to Melbourne. Travelling from Adelaide to Melbourne on Good Friday was always going to be quite to ordeal, factor in a closure to main highway between the two cities and a stop in the Grampians to pick up Josh's GoPro and soon the nine hour trip became a 13hour journey. Our Easter in Melbourne was lovely, we had amazing food with even more amazing people and our farewell drinks was one of my best nights out in a very long time! On the Monday night Dad took Josh, Addy, Mum and I out for some amazing Indian food and then the countdown to our trip really began....

One last play with my pooch

After playing Yatzee with Josh for an hour or so Mum came to pick me up to take me to the apartment where we were staying (just around the corner from Josh's Granny's house - very convenient - nice find mum!), one last check over my luggage and a last minute decision to pack a beanie and second jumper into my carry on and it was time to call it a night. Off to bed for a good night's sleep before our long journey to London. The sleep I sought was however illusive, and instead of resting  I watched my clock with nervous anticipation for most of the night. At 4:00am the alarm went off, its time to go! Mum and I picked Josh and his Granny up at 5:00am to go to the airport - our plane was set to depart at 10:00am to Beijing via Shanghai. After taking a strange route to the airport courtesy of mum's satnav, we raced to the checkin area to check our flight. What? Its is not on the board?! Hmm...that's strange. But wait, there is a flight at 1:30pm to Beijing with the same flight number, surely that could not be ours? Yes, yes it was ours and so began our 52 hours in transit. We met up with Josh's parents and my Dad for breakfast and the time for farewells was soon upon us, waving off my Mum and Dad and Josh's Granny - a tear free farewell! We were doing well! Josh's parents stayed with us until after we chacked in our bags as both were overweight and we were not sure they would be allowed. Luck was on our side, not only were our heavy bags accepted they also gave us a two $12 meal tokens to spend due to the delay to our flight. Free of our checked luggage we said farewell to Jeanette and Lynton and went through customs. The time until our flight passed quickly - aided by phad thai and sushi courtesy of Air China and we were soon boarding. The first leg of our journey was 11.5hours to Shanghai, during this time Josh and I watched three movies and managed about 2 hours sleep each.

When we arrived in Shanghai it was a bit of shambles, whist the announcements on our flight were in both Mandarin and English, the English was a bit difficult to understand, and by this I mean we couldn't understand anything! All we knew is that we had to pass through security and get to another gate and re-board the same plane and that our plane was set to depart in 30 minutes. Okay so we only have 30 minutes how hard could it be?! Quite! Through customs, hand in your departure card...wait, what? a departure card I wasn't sure that we had actually entered at this point!...somehow we managed to determine that the lady in the corner speaking only Mandarin was handing out new boarding passes which we would need to re-board our flight. Through security again, this time we were following a guy who thought a massive (lets say 80cm) hookah was an acceptable carry on item...apparently it was, with exception to the water inside! Eventually we found our new gate, yet again the flight was delayed and we were among the first there. The flight to Beijing was short, Josh managed to sleep for most of it and soon we were in Beijing.

When we landed in Beijing it was crazy! There was another flight to London Gatwick that connected with our flight that was delayed due to our late departure from Melbourne. Three buses waited for us on the tarmac and again the attendants directed us all in Mandarin only. We jumped on the bus to the right, not sure if it was the bus for the first flight to London, the flight to Frankfurt, or the second flight to London. Once aboard we were relived to hear people talking about London, win, we were on the right bus! We had a 12.5hour lay over in Beijing starting at 12:30am. For the third time we passed through security and customs, this time less seamlessly, Josh with a lighter and a laptop he forgot to get out and me with a full drink bottle. Again with the exit cards...I dont actually think I handed in an entry card while we were in China haha. Forgetting where we were we decided to use the airport wifi to check our emails, facebooks and call home (our cells had no reception in China)...sounds easy right...not in China. Getting internet access involved scanning your passport at a self-serve kiosk, I was WAY too tired to figure out this process! Eventually Josh worked it out and we had internet, YAY! We found a quite place to use the internet and skyped mum (soon after I learnt that Skype is actually illegal in China oops!). Facebook and our blog sites were blocked due to China's internet censorship and so we soon gave up. The airport was freezing overnight, about 3degrees, but we were lucky that we had Josh's sleeping bag in our carry on :) win! I set up camp with Josh's sleeping bag and managed to get another 2hours sleep while Josh watch some movies soon we swapped out and Josh had about 1.5hours sleep. Breakfast time!!! We wandered through the airport exploring the duty free shops and found our departure gate for later on, then we found some breakfast! The food was AMAZING! Josh had a curry set and I had a chilli rice noodle set! We headed back to our departure gate for some Yatzee and people watching. I had another hour or so sleep and soon it was time to board our final flight....

Our final flight would be 11.5hours to London. Once boarded we noticed that this plane did not have individual TV screens, later we would work out that the only movies they would play would be in Mandarin and the tiny subtitles were illegible even for those who had not only had 8 hours sleep in the last three days haha. All was not lost though, we had a row of four seats to ourselves and I managed, thanks to Josh, to get about 3 hours sleep on the flight, Josh got about 1.5 hours. We were soon making our decent into London and our excitement that we would soon be at our destination gave us all the energy we needed. Off to security and customs for the fourth time. Another slight oversight, I had not written Helen's address anywhere and needed to get onto facebook to find it, the flat phone battery did not help either. No problem, I found a power outlet in the bathroom, completed our entry cards and we were on our way. On our way that is to a GIGANTIC line. Thankfully the line through customs moved quickly due to the large number of desks that were open and we soon found ourselves on the other side, in English territories and made our way to the baggage carousel. We were excited that because we had taken so long to get through customs we would not have to wait for our bags as they should have all been unloaded by this stage. We were correct, they had all been unloaded. We were incorrect that this would mean that we would not have to wait long for our bags. We walked up to the baggage carousel, by this point it had stopped moving and all of the remaining bags were on the ground, we searched for ours but could not find them - after a short chat to the baggage handlers we found out that our bags were in Gatwick, they had been sent with the first flight from Beijing to London and we would be without them until tomorrow when their courier dropped them to our chosen location. Thank goodness for the extra jumper and beanie I packed in my carry on at the last minute!

Oh well, we were in London and I was less than an hour away from seeing some of my very best friends, delayed receipt of my luggage would not dull my mood! We made our way into Leicester Sqr to meet Leanne and Helen for a drink! Words can not convey how great it was to see them! Helen being the amazing girl she is greeted us at her bar with food platters and Champagne and suddenly we were no longer tired! After a great couple of hours we called it a night and went back to Helens for a couple of bottles of wine. At 4:00am we turned in, Josh and I both excited by how perfect a start to our trip the night had been.

The next morning we were up at 9:00am to call the courier and arrange to have our bags dropped at Helen's bar so that we didnt need to spend the whole day waiting for our bags at home. While we were getting ready we looked outside the window and were delighted to see that it was snowing! We met up with Leanne early in the afternoon and went to pick up Josh's Moon Saturn crash pad and then headed back into the city to explore.

Josh navigating the London Tube with his crash pad!

After a quick stop at Trafalgar Sqr we decided that 1. It was too cold for sight seeing and 2. The pad was too massive to carry around central London whilst sightseeing haha! Leanne took us to an amazing Mexican restaurant for lunch and the spicy, hot, food was exactly what we needed. After lunch we made our way back to Helen's bar to wait for our packs. A couple of hours later and a small altercation between Josh and the douche courier it was 9:00pm and we had a packs and were making our way back to Helen's. I cooked pasta for Leanne, Helen and Josh and again the hours were passed eating, drinking and enjoying amazing company...ooops it was 3:40am again!!!

With my bestie!!!

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We decided that we would have a quite day at Helen's place on the Friday, our bus to Paris was leaving at 9:30pm. We woke up in time to say bye to Helen and then cooked a tasty breakfast, re-packed our bags ready to carry them around London and Paris and then made our way into the city again. Leanne the absolute legend helped us to carry our bags and MASSIVE pad throughout London and by 6pm we were at the bus station. After a little more time enjoying time together it was time to say c'ya to Leanne. (I cannot wait to get back to England again to spend more time with my fabulous friends there, thank you Leanne and Helen for making our first stop incredible!). We were soon on the bus and I think I was asleep before it left the station. We caught the bus to Dover and then boarded the ferry, it was quite amusing watching other passengers turning varying shades of grey and green from seasickness. Once back on board the bus it was only another 4 hours to Paris, Josh and I slept most of the way, and at 6:00am we arrived in Paris. We collected our bags and made our way to Gare de Lyon station, from where we would collect our hire car. Once we found Hertz we sat down to enjoy a couple of delicious coffees (or in my case hot chocolates).

Gare de Lyon - Paris

Soon, thanks to Josh's French speaking skills, we had the keys to our car and were making our way down to the car park. When we arrived at the car spot written on our Hertz package I had a minor panic attack as I looked upon the tiny, tiny, smart car that was in the spot!!! No surely I hadnt ordered us a SMART CAR!!! Not even one of our packs, let alone the pad will fit in that! With a quick check of the registration number our fears were ended and we found our perfectly sized car in the next spot over. We loaded up the car and Josh took the lead for the next stage of our adventure...driving on the right side of the road, shifting gears with the right hand and driving through Paris!!! Better him than me! He did an AMAZING job and within the hour we arrived at Fontainebleau.

After a quick stop at the grocery store we made our way to Bois-le-Roi, a neighbouring town where we would be staying. Finding our Gite was a little tricky, due to me writing the wrong address on our itinerary. But with the help of a lovely French family and their internet we soon had the right address and were at our beautiful little Gite! A quick call home and some dinner and it was time for bed. By this stage we had been travelling for almost 7 days and had had about 12 hours sleep each, I was full of a cold (that is an understatement for the last few days my body has become a snot factory...pretty gross actually). On our first full day in Fontainebleau, Sunday, Josh went out for a little climb to see the areas and test out his awesome new pad...I don't remember much from this day having slept most of it. For the past three days I have slept and taken cold and flu tablets and today for the first time I woke up feeling human!!! Suffering slight cabin fever we went on a little adventure to town and had a look at Chateau Fontainebleau, ate pastries and had a quick look at one of the climbing areas.

Josh pretty happy to be eating a Pain au Chocolat

Chateau Fontainebleau

Now I am feeling MUCH better and I feel finally that we have ARRIVED!!! Let the holiday begin!!!