Leaving the flatness of the Netherlands behind, I was excited to get vertical with some famous French bouldering. Our destination: Fontainebleau, the magical forest that could be the perfect setting for the next Grimm fairy tale. I can't emphasize enough how remote some of these climbing locations have been: It's funny when the common response of locals when asked directions to our climbing destinations is "Why would you want to go there? There's nothing around." So that's where we headed...to the middle of Nowhere, France via train, bus, and foot....and sure enough, a camping community of hundreds of climbers awaited us upon arrival. Of course they had the foresight to do the research and learn that the easy way to get there is by rental car, but we were there none the less. So guidebook in hand and about a month since our last climbing spree in Siurana, Spain...we set out for the magical forest in search of a couple good boulders to wrestle with. Well, we found we had more than a couple boulders, and actually a couple boulders would be a drastic understatement.
Picture if you will: After a 2 km hike through a dense forest of conifer and birch, you arrive at a hill...but instead of a stony or wooded path, you take the soft sandy trail...and as you take the time to look around, most of the hill is covered in sand as well...and this beautiful sandy hill is studded with dozens of mammoth sized boulders (sandstone) each 2-8 meters tall. Now the best advantage for the bare essential travelling climber (ie. Jake and myself) is the soft, sandy landing under each boulder. Without a crashpad (usually what you would boulder with if you wanted a functional tailbone at the end of the week) we could still climb as hard as possible without the fear of falling and coming home 10 months early to see the doctor. In summary, we were climbing on a beautiful sandy beach in the middle of the forest hundreds of miles away from the ocean...a truly special place. Once again we had our daily scheduled prepared for us without even planning it: climb from breakfast (which has been anywhere from 7-11 AM) until dinner (7-11 PM)...repeat. The only frustrating aspect of Fontainebleau was the 4 mile roundtrip hike to the nearest grocery store (although at one point I seriously contemplated whether or not I could live on the fresh baguettes and chocolate croissants delivered fresh to the campground every morning). A big shout out and thanks to Rhett back home for the ingenious idea to double a sleeping pad as a chessboard with permanent marker. Jake and I have had many heated chess battles over a campstove dinner. We even have custom seashell chess pieces hand picked from the Texel seashore.
So we fried our fingertips in Fontainebleau and retreated to Paris for a soft bed and restaurant meal...except the cheapest food in Paris is about a US$10 tuna sandwich, and I found myself eating on average one whole tuna fish per day in France. But the baguettes the tuna came on were no joke, so I was happy. I felt just like a regular tourist in Paris...one day we go to the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame...the next dame the Eifel Tower and the Louvre. But it's fun sometimes to be a tourist, and it's a lot easier to find the Eifel Tower than a specific boulder problem in the Fontainebleau forest. The sights are amazing to see firsthand...you can see the Arc a hundred times on TV or internet, but its the complete package of becoming dizzy almost to nausea to stare out at the continuous circle of cars around the sight...or to witness the intracacies of the gargoyles and saints that keep watch over Notre Dame. We've met some really cool people along the way too...like Ajaz, from Pakistan, who was travelling his dream of Europe for three months by the kindness of his German host, Uri. And Guy, from Quebec, who showed me a true schooling in chess after beating me in less than 15 moves. So the journey continues...new friendships made, new lessons learned...and every day I wake up so excited for the infinite potential the new day brings!
