Good Times, Bad Times

Ok, so it has been a while since our last post and for that I apologise as a LOT has happened since Verdon. First of all, we realised I had misunderstood my rights in Europe and I had to be out in a month or risk deportation. So we promptly headed back to Font to tick some ‘unfinished business’. On the way we got got robbed. The single most violating experience of my life. Luckily, Rich happens to be a ninja mastermind and he managed to scare the living heck out of the guy and leave him with a very sore head and all he scored out of it was an iPod shuffle. Lesson here was no matter how full the truck stop is and how brightly lit, you can still become a target. Consequently, we now have a van that is rigged up like Fort Knox... No one is getting and no one is getting out. (Thus no more bedtime tea for me...ha ha) We were just very lucky he didn’t find our wallets or phones before Rich found him. 

We met some great new mates back in Font. Our last couple of weeks were spent ticking problems, slacklining, talking until midnight, chasing wild boars, sipping on wine and just having a generally rad time. We headed to Germany. We drove to a picturesque little winery town. We showered for the first time in weeks. We got engaged. Happiest day of my life. Headed to Amsterdam and got nailed by seriously bad weather. Such a shame as all I wanted to do was ride my bike everywhere in this famously flat country. We hung out for 3 days then decided to head to Belgium. Arrived in Brugge and the weather was not too different to Holland. Had a great day walking the small town, hindered only by the masses of British footballers who thought it imperative to chant in chorus everywhere they went. Funny for all of 2 seconds then just down right annoying. We shared mussels “Brugge Style” and then had possibly the most amazing desserts of all time. We walked past a random patisserie school that sold their daily masterpieces very cheap so decided to try something each. I don’t even know what Rich had and to be honest I didn’t even care, as I was in a sugar trance from my own delectable treat. A chocolate and pear torte that surpassed any dessert I have ever had, flavours that will stay with me forever. I know I sound like the biggest fatty right now but I don’t even care. This thing was ridiculous, nothing will compare and I no longer need to try any other dessert. Ha, until I walk past my next patisserie! 

We headed for the border and got stopped in Calais as it is apparently unbelievable that two people could have travelled without working for 4 months. Confused yet happy to finally have my stamp we dove onto the ferry and headed back to Wales. It was so nice to come back to a lovely clean house and have long hot shower that I didn’t have to wear thongs in for fear of some mad bacterial infection. We popped a bottle of Verve with La and Carl to officially celebrate our engagement. Now it is time to try and get some work and extra qualifications to better prepare ourselves for our next european stint. Oh, and I have a wedding to plan...... :) 

Font Castle

Getting my Crush On!

Rich pulling on.... tiny.

Paul getting his slab on

Heel hook

Getting too cold for the 'Aire Shower"

Crushing... monkey style!

little bit of slacklining

My favourite jeweller....

At a local winery in Bernkastel 

Yay to us!

I look slightly 'special' here but you get the picture....

Pretty flower, gorgeous ring :)

Mussels 'Brugge Style'

The only way to celebrate....

Sanctuary

Ceuse. Two words. HOLY CRAP! Quite possibly the most intimidating place I’ve ever been. The walk in is a complete mission. One hour of straight up, mostly on shale. No breaks in the rise, no rest stops to catch your breath, just straight up a massive hill to the sensational crag above. Upon catching your breath at the top it is instantly taken away from you again by the sheer awesomeness of the crag and then again by the view below as you turn around. It was a truly surreal moment. 

The level of climbing there is beyond anything we have experienced at home. Random dudes everywhere just jumping on 8b’s and 8c’s like they are nothing. Young and old, men and women; all projecting things that look impossible. We found some of the world’s hardest and most famous climbs and were left in awe of their lines. As it was already almost dark, we headed back down the mountain, excited to get an early start the next morning. 

Happy Birthday to me! Birthday in Ceuse - Yewwww! We started with the hike in again, it didn’t get any easier but I figured I was earning my wine later that afternoon. We had breakfast and coffee at the crag, again, just an epic view. Excited, I jumped on a 5 as a warm up. HA. Warm UP!!! I couldn’t get past the third bolt and that was after falling off the first about 7 times. It was so polished it was crazy. When you climb at world class crags you have to expect there has been a super amount of traffic and this was very evident here. I was in tears and scared to death. Rich knocked a 6a+ just to get a feel for the rock but I had already pulled birthday rank and we headed down to the base so I could start my birthday picnic by the lake. 

Officially my best birthday ever. We spent the afternoon swimming in the lake with Ceuse as our backdrop. We had decided that today was going to be our ‘When in Rome’ (or France) day and have fondue for dinner. I had googled the recipe and we bought some fondue forks and had home made gas stove fondue by the lake and a beautiful bottle of white wine. It was epic. Two hours later however it was not so epic. Perhaps we should have weened ourselves onto the cheese before going the whole hog. It had been 3 years since I’d eaten cheese and I can happily say I’ll wait another 3 to try it again but regardless, it was an awesome evening and watching the sun go down behind the mountain was breath taking. 

We headed to Orpierre so I could get a better grasp on some of the less intimidating climbs. Did some awesome climbs and felt like I got my groove back but after a few days of sun stroke (you get beaten by the sun there) and sleepless nights due to the world’s loudest church bell that goes off not only on the hour but every half, we had only one thing on our minds.... Gorge Du Verdon! 

As a self confessed water child, I was so excited to see the green water created by the limestone cliffs. As a climber, the grandeur of those cliffs is mind blowing. It was a visual explosion of epicness and I felt as if we were driving into a painting. The colours so bright and vivid I felt it couldn’t actually be real. We had bought bikes in Orpierre and decided to get a lay of the land. 11km’s up hill (everything seems to be up hill). It was a great view from the top and a very fun ride back down. We hired kayaks and took the scenic route up the Gorge. There was a million other people on the river but we didn’t even care as the sights are just spectacular. We found the cave where we had seen a bunch of youtube videos posted about the climbs, we swam through the little rapids and I got to dance in a waterfall.  The water that flows through the waterfall comes from the mountain and is much cooler than the river. It was amazing. 

Our first climb was epic. A steady first pitch followed by the scariest traverse we’ve ever done. I don’t think I’ve ever breathed so heavily in my life but again, the view made it all worthwhile. All you can see and hear for miles is the river running through the Gorge and the cliffs that surround it. I was devastated to have forgotten my camera but it is an image that will never leave me. Unfortunately, we had to bail off the route due to an incoming storm. An impromptu wrap of a tree but we weren’t quick enough. We hiked out in the rain, our gear sopping but our spirits high. This is what we live for. We had to have a rest day as all the gear needed time to dry so did the famous Belvedere Drive and the tunnel walk we had also seen in many a video. This was an amazing day. We jumped off the track, hiked down as far as you can then scurried along the edge of the gorge until we found a nice private little nook to go for a nudie swim. The water was freezing. Like snatch your breath away, instantly cold to your bones freezing! Luckily the sun was beating down so we layed on the rocks like lizards trying to get some feeling back. Clearly though, we didn’t scurry far enough off track as not long after a canyoning guide came around the corner with his client and we had to make a quick exit.

We spent the next couple of days doing hectic walks ins and climbing. One track (albeit the wrong one we soon discovered) had us tumbling down a dry river bed and carving our way through the forest trees. A super fun adventure as we had just read about the vipers and adders in the region at the time it was also quite a cautious one! Wrecked, it as time to move on but Verdon is definitely a place we will be returning to next year and I can not wait! 

Misty Mountain Hop

So we up and bailed to Chamonix a few weeks back in search of work. An absolutely beautiful drive that was only slightly tainted by the 100 Euro’s in tolls it cost us to get there. (The tolls in France are ludicrous however one may question if it is worthwhile taking the non toll roads to save some cash as you generally end up losing a good few hours in time. I’ll come back to that later.) Once we hit the Alps though, we found ourselves driving in complete silence, jaws dropped open, eyes wide and just grinning in astonishment. We drove through a series of tunnels and as we exited each one, the views just got better and better. Our silence was momentarily broken by random shouts of cursive disbelief and the smiles just got bigger and bigger.

We had been told by some British guys we met that Lac des Galliands had a pretty nice view, was safe to crash a night or two and was close to the main sport crag; so that is where we were heading. Pulling up next to the lake and stepping out to the site of Mont Blanc standing proudly before us is a moment I will not soon forget. We just sat and stared at it for an hour or so until it got dark then went to bed, still smiling. 

Next day we hit the town in search of gear and guide books and to talk to some of the locals about work. The gear stores are insane. Every manufacturer you could think of in one street plus a couple of giant superstores. I wanted everything! Surprisingly, it wasn’t too expensive either. Due to the fact that ‘End of Season’ was in 3 weeks, there was sales in every store. I could have spent a fortune but definitely would have been worth it. End of Season however, also means end of work. Add to that the fact that we haven’t been skiing since before we could walk, nor are we perfectly fluent in French yet and our search for work came to an abrupt halt. It’s a shame as we had heard so many good things about the work there but alas it is just not our time. 

So we decided to at least climb whilst we were there. One of the main sport crags was right across from the lake which was awesome for accessibility but also meant that it was super crowded. I’ve never had to ‘line up’ before to climb outdoors. We did a couple of climbs at the quieter walls but were super keen for an epic multi. Excited we scoured the guide book only to discover that every big multi had to be accessed by cable car plus an approach. And the cable cars are not cheap, especially for two people and we’d most likely pay almost double as chances are we couldn’t fit the in climb in one day and would have to bivvy it and finish the following day. We looked at hiking out which would have been epic but my ankle was still too swollen and tender from my 2 rolling incidents to attempt it. We did a mini hike to see how I’d go on the terrain. We hit about 2000mtrs elevation and the views were awesome, totally rad experience but man was I hobbling on the return. I was devastated and feeling a little deflated so we decided to continue our adventure further south. 

Back to the tolls. We decided to try and skip the 100 Euro’s to get us back out and put ‘no tolls’ into the GPS. The first bit of the drive was great. We went through a bunch of the smaller more boutique ski towns which were just beautiful and the wooden houses that dot the rolling hills were just like out of the movies. It was so pretty. Then we had to haul the van over 3 km’s uphill. Winding and winding and winding on a tiny narrow little road. I honestly didn’t think we would make it. We hit the top with a sigh of relief and drove for about a km when we read a sign saying the next 9 km were downhill. ARE YOU KIDDING ME, we just got up here? So down and down and down we went again on a super windy road, so constantly having to brake and you could feel the air getting colder and colder and colder. It was actually a very cool drive and the valley was beautiful, just a shame it was so taxing on the car. For that reason, we now pay the just pay the tolls instead. 

Life Lessons

Life is full of lessons. They are everywhere, sometimes you look for them, sometimes you don’t but whether you learn from them or not is completely up to you. This last week or so, we’ve learnt a lot. 

Lesson 1 - When someone invites you to their house around 2pm, don’t assume it’s for a traditional late french lunch and a light hearted-chat about climbing in Europe. We arrived at our new friend’s house after having done a bunch of errands that morning not necessarily sure what to expect but had stayed light on food in case they laid out a big spread. Luckily I had the foresight to feed both of us 4 dates before we left, just in case. Four hours of disjointed french/english conversation later we found ourselves walking back to our camp dazed and in complete silence. The first two hours had flown by as we were jacked up on the 3 coffees they provided and the sugar from these weird nutmeg biscuits that were the size of my thumb nail but delicious all the same. The next two however, seemed to take forever. The conversation was very interesting but at times, neither of us really had a clue what was going on and why we were still there. I like to think of everything as an experience and in this case was excited to gain some local and cultural knowledge. As we walked away though, we were dead. Mentally and physically drained to the point of almost being angry. After some food and a run through the peaks we were feeling a bit better, and nothing a glass of wine didn’t fix later on. 

Lesson 2 - After living in a forest for close to a month, the thought of a trip to Paris is wonderful - in theory. If you find yourself in a like situation, I suggest you steer clear of places like the metro or major tourist attractions as there is chance you may feel the urge to cause people harm. Seriously, I thought I hated crowds before we started this trip. I can not begin to tell you how much they frustrate me now. But in saying all that, we ha a lovely day Paris. My first cappucino in close to 2 months was awesome. We did some shopping and then I saw a traditional street crepe stall, which brings me to lesson 3.

Lesson 3 - When feeling the urge to release your inner fat kid and get super excited over the sight of nutella and banana crepes being made freshly in front of you, try to hold back your enthusism until you’ve at least crossed the street in order to not stack it and re-roll your already weak ankle. Yep, it was like train wreck in slow motion. “Rich, look they do crepes with nutella and banannnnnnn-ahhhhhhhh!” Whhhhooooossssahhhh, deep breaths, any breath at all. Don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry! The pain almost made me spew a little and the only thing that stopped me from crying was a little old man that came running up and talking in the most concerned little old man voice but I couldn’t answer him as all I could hear in my head was my silent screaming. More than anything, I was angry at myself for being so silly. Add to that, it was only about 1pm and we hadn’t even started sightseeing yet. It was a long, long day of walking that ended with Pig Beer. And it was awesome.

Lesson 4 - Taking your children camping is a wonderful way to spend a family vacation. Children and wild camping however do not mix. France is one of the most camp friendly places I’ve been to and there are awesome campsites everywhere. Waking up to the blood curdling shriek of your 2 year old because you are bathing it in freezing cold water is not a pleasant way for one to rise. Perhaps you should have stayed at a campsite where they offer showers and warm water! Allowing your dirty, pantless toddler to do a bum slide over our boulder mat and yoga mat may have been forgivable, even funny if he was wearing pants. And not dirty. Cramming 2 adults and 2 children into a T4 along with all your gear is going to be a tight fit and clearly a recipe for a some tension between your 5 and 8 year olds. Just because you can turn that parent switch and tune out their constant bitching, whining and 6am bickering doesn’t mean the rest of us aren’t planning their gruesome murders. Maybe something to think about. 

All in all, it has been a funny week. Fontainebleau is still amazing and as the temperature gets cooler it’s making for some awesome climbing conditions. Feet are getting itchy though, maybe time to plan our next adventure. 

Ramble On

I can not even try to put into words how much we are loving life right now. This last week has been amazing! Fontainebleau just keeps getting better. Every passing day we meet new people, climb new areas and are left feeling totally stoked with life. Rich is starting to crush his projects. It’s amazing how much strength a person can build in just 2 weeks of solid climbing. I have topped out on 2 more techy slabs which I have been super stoked on, today’s being a proper highball too. Just loving being able to eat, climb, sleep - repeat!

One of my slabs

Rich crushing!

Just about every morning, an older gentleman comes jogging past our van as we are eating breakfast. One day he stopped for a quick chat and seemed to be pretty impressed with our set up and our plans in general. The next day he stopped again, this time explaining that he had been climbing here since he was 16, training for Alpine climbing but now enjoys running the circuits of the forest. He went on to tell us about all the epic climbing throughout France, different rocks and gave us some awesome Alpine areas to check out. 

On his next stop by, he showed us on the map where he runs everyday and suggested we should try one of the circuits as you get to 1000m in elevation overall and therefore it gives you a completely different view of Font as you are above the forest. The circuits are anywhere from 15km to about 26kms and can take from 2 to 6 hours. Now when I say gentleman, I mean that he must be pushing 70 if not older. Being that he runs everyday, we knew he must have been crazy fit but for some reason still went into the whole thing quite confident that it would be a pleasant day walking and jogging through the forest. A great way to spend our rest day. I even suggested we do it as morning cardio before breakfast. Thankfully Rich said that was a silly idea as four and half hours later we arrived back at the van completely wrecked. Quite possibly the most tired I have been in my entire life. 

This was no skip through the forest. It was all out carnage. We ran as much of the circuit as we could, stopping only for the wilderness style parkour and to momentarily pause in order to not vomit. It was running over and under boulders, crawling through caves, scrambling up sandy peaks and then all of a sudden pelting downhill through a sea of purple flowers. We found and ate wild apples, mmmmm so crunchy! Saw these crazy bright green lizards that looked like they should have been in a rain forest. It was the one of the most amazingly random and satisfying things we have done. Patrick was not kidding when he said it was breathtaking! 

We have decided that the first 1/4 of the circuit will be our daily cardio. After a 4 hour boulder session today, we fueled up on coffee and date loaf (this amazing brick of blended dates we have found at the super market for 2 euro a kilo - winning!) and headed out. We were setting a mean pace but after crushing 4 of the peaks then I came sliding off a rock and thought for sure I heard my ankle snap. After much sobbing, covered in dirt and sand, I brushed off and tried to weight it. Seemed ok so we continued on, albeit at a much slower pace. It seems ok now, a little bruised but think it should be fine. A nip of whiskey and off to bed!  

We are both feeling pretty great at the moment. The ridiculous amount of weight we both stacked on in Wales (thank you curry and cider) is starting to fall off and we are really enjoying being as healthy as we can be. The food you can get from the super markets here is amazing! Walking into the health food section for me was like a fat kid walking into Wonka Land! You can get every type of organic nut milk possible. All our favourite berries in fresh, dried or liquid form. Different sorts of seeded crackers, dehydrated bananas - you name it! And it’s all relatively cheap. Our breakfast is currently - pea protein, oats, bee pollen, flaxseeds, fresh dates, a mixed fruit and nut muesli and either rice, coconut or hazelnut milk. How do you not go out and crush with an uber food combo like that fueling you. Add to that seriously great coffee and I am one super happy girl! Yep, this is the life we were born to live, so darn happy we chose to live it! 

There is a quote by Will Gadd that sums up how we have been feeling this week:

“We all try to be busy instead of being alive, busy instead of getting out and breathing.

Busy sending useless texts instead of walking in the woods with our kids or introducing them to life’s joys. We move information instead of simply moving. I understand the ease, the convenience of it all, it’s tempting. But I’m way more proud of every single day I’ve spent outside, with my lungs burning, chest heaving, sucking for oxygen in life than I am of the times I drank too much, slept in, squandered time sending useless but somehow important emails, or whatever.”

http://vimeo.com/62101215

Still full of energy in our run

Fresh wild apples :)

Needing a refuel... date loaf!

Part of the track

My legs at the half way mark..

Rich's dirt socks at the end!!!

Welcome the Forest!!

France is rad. Just saying. We were so excited driving off the ferry and ready for some crazy adventures! Roundabouts are the weirdest thing to go around the other way and I am not even the one doing the driving. Rich was awesome though, he totally bossed it. The streets here can be even smaller than those in the UK, which freaks me the heck out as we are in a right hand drive van, but Rich has it dialed. 

We got to Font on Sunday afternoon and our first mission was to find croissants! We navigated through the tiny streets of the town and were lucky enough to find a park big enough for the van at the very top of town. As we pulled up an older gentleman came up talking french ‘at us’  and we both just looked at him quite stunned and said, “Je ne parle pas francais”. He nodded and walked away and as I ran over to the parking meter he was again yelling from the other side of the street. I was pretty stoked to have my first french conversation and realise he was just wanting to let us know that parking was free on Sundays and Mondays. Sweet. We found a little patisserie down the road and got croissants and a pan au chocolat. It was pretty epic. Next we found a campsite right on the Seine. It was a super hot day so we set up camp, put on our togs on and had a swim. There was guy in the water who seemed slightly crazy as he just laughed at everyone continuously and blew bubbles in the water. We stayed away from him. 

First day at Font bouldering was an absolute trip. The first problem we tried was a slab with a pocket and one tiny crimper and the most marbled tiny footers we’ve seen due to the use of Pof (what some of the locals use instead of chalk, a pine resin that becomes very slick over time). We had had a couple of attempts each when an older local climber came up trying to explain the beta to us in French, most of which we understood which was great, and also informed us that it is called “La Sans les Mains” - without hands. Our tiny crimper was out and we were left with just the glass like footholds. Welcome to Font. 

That pretty much set the tone for this trip so far. The grades are much harder than anything we’ve climbed back home but it has been such an awesome learning curve this first week. Gradually, the glass like slab is becoming less glassy, and the more burly walls and overhangs are getting sent by Rich and I am getting stronger everyday, sending some of the lighter grades and becoming a mantle boss!

We have found an awesome campground that has a mix of rad climbers, yoga pro’s and outdoor crushers from all around. Everyone is super friendly, never shy to offer tips about the local surroundings as well as the climbing. It is in the middle of the Fontainebleau Forest and amazingly green and serene. A much more pleasant experience than our second night here in France where we thought we might just sneakily sleep at the crag to be ready for an early start in the morning. We were woken at midnight to the sounds of people circling the van, Rich got up to check it out and as he pulled back the curtain, it was literally like a scene out of movie. We had been told that this particular crag was known to be popular with the local gay scene after dark, but didn’t really think much of it. This however, was unbelievable. There were men everywhere. Rich just turned me and said “Stay in bed, don’t come up the front. I’ll drive slow but we are leaving now!” Needless to say we didn’t stay there again. 

Feeling very blessed with the area we have found now, I feel like we could stay here forever. The climbing is phenomenal and the atmosphere is super chill and relaxing. Today was our 6th day climbing and we are desperate for a rest day. By the time we finished our session this afternoon the finger tips on both our hands were weeping and I was in tears at the top out of a climb as I just had nothing left to finish it! It has only been a week and we are finding our groove more and more everyday. I cannot wait to see where we are in a month not only with the climbing, but with the French language and just life itself. 

Run to the Hills

Leaving South Wales, we were full of emotion. Sad to be leaving La, she had been so patient and generous during our time there and it is always hard to say goodbye to family. Relieved to finally have the van finished yet anxious to see how well it will actually hold up. But most of all, just super excited to be on our way. 

The drive to North Wales was really pretty. We went via Hereford so that we could stop at Banana Fingers, a totally rad climbing store, where we picked up new boulder pads, a new rope and some clothing that you just can’t get in Australia. Totally stoked, we continued our journey to North Wales. We were headed for Plas y Brenin, a mountain training school near Snowden where green summer mountains roll as far as the eye can see and streams and rivers flow out of little valleys in the woodland. A truly picturesque place and one the most beautiful places I’ve been. 

The training centre was insane. I don’t actually know what I was expecting but it exceeded everything! It was mind blowing. Smack bang in the middle of the mountains on a gorgeous lake with bar that over looked it all! I couldn’t believe how amazing it was and how lucky we were to be able to train there. We signed up, then walked into town and bought a new pair of trail shoes each in an outlet mountain gear store just down the road. How convenient. We wanted  to try them out straight away so went for a hike in the hills behind the centre which was a great way to explore the surroundings a little before the course started the following day. We finished off the day with a cider in the bar that night and were feeling pretty chuffed. 

Next day we met our group and instructor Dino. He was a boss. Hill walker, mountain leader, rock climber, ice climber... the works. We were so stoked to have someone taking the course that had so much experience. For the entire 3 days, Rich picked his brain, borrowed all the local climbing guides and got as much info as he possibly could. Our group was very diverse in age, sex, occupation, experience and agenda but pretty cool all round. Having never even looked at a map, let alone navigated a hill walk, I felt quite out of my league but let everyone know from the get go and they were all very helpful and understanding of my continuous questions. Day two was my favourite day of the course. We navigated through thick woodlands and then out onto an expanse of hills. I never understood why so many air fresheners were scented ‘Pine Fresh’ until then. Standing deep in the middle of a pine woodland and taking a massive breath in was just amazing! The moss looked so thick at times that it seemed you could have peeled it back and lay down to use it as a blanket. I was sure that I would see a little forest faery at any moment. 

By the end of the course I felt pretty comfortable with what we had learnt and I am very keen to staring consolidating everything. We have to log 40 days before we can sit the assessment and move onto mountain leader. I’m super excited to move forward and so is Rich. We were extremely impressed with the training centre, its course, the instructors and all the facilities. They offer a four month intensive training package where you train to be an instructor in everything they offer which includes climbing, mountain leading, mountain biking, kayaking; pretty much everything outdoors as well becoming an International Mountain Leader. If it wasn’t £10K we would both do it in a heartbeat but unfortunately that is totally out of our budget.

Now though, our journey continues to France to get spanked in Fontainebleau. So excited to be back on the rock and ready to build some serious strength. 

Patience

People say that nothing good comes easy. I now believe this statement entirely. Getting our van together has been a test of patience to say the least. After waiting almost 3 weeks to have it delivered, we cracked it and Rich caught the train up to Derby and drove it back himself to make sure we had it a day early and could begin working on it immediately. He got it back to Porthcawl and picked me up so we could go a for drive before it got dark. As we pulled away, we were engulfed by a massive cloud of white smoke... You have got to be kidding! Next day we took it to a reputable Mercedes service centre and found out it needed a new exhaust! But the piece was being couriered and it would only be an hour job so we shouldn’t be held up too much. That was Thursday. By Friday afternoon, we’d still not heard a thing. We phoned and were told to call the people we bought it from as they were handling it as it was under insurance. We phoned, no answer. Saturday we phone again and to be told it was booked in for 12pm on Monday as they still did not have the part. “I’m sorry, what?” 

Fuming, we decided to just get away as we were going stir crazy being in the house and took the train to Cardiff. We walked around the city and lay in the park for a while as the weather was really nice. It was so great to be able to lay on grass and not be attacked by green ants!!! We went to dinner at one of Rich’s parents’ favourite restaurants, “Giovanni’s”. A truly sensational meal and the portions were huge so we were very happy. A bottle of wine to top it off, happy days.

Monday finally arrived and we received a call from our sales guy only to be told that the part was sitting next to him in the office and he would send it off today. Again, “I’m sorry, what?” He told us that they had had to take one off another vehicle in order to send down to us. So we were essentially looking at yet another day waiting until the part had been shipped, then the service time to fit it. Rich was ready to explode. We spoke to Chris, Rich’s Dad on Skype as he had helped us find the vehicle in the first place and, who having dealt with many a commercial dealer knew that something was not right. Within 5 minutes he had spoken not only to the head of the dealership but to Mercedes UK and about 5 minutes after that we had a phone call from the head sales rep explaining that we would have a brand new part installed that day and if we had any further problems to contact him directly. Thanks Chris :) At 4pm on Monday, we finally had our van! 

Fitting out the van was an experience. Rich had done countless hours of research and reading but we were still going into the whole thing quite blindly and were just hoping for the best. Rich had bought a drill but we managed to borrowed as many tools as we could which we were so grateful for as it saved us a lot in rental costs. So in two days, with limited tools and very limited space we insulated, ply lined and carpeted the van. We were pretty stoked. Then with an afternoon to spare, we ‘nipped’ to IKEA to get the furniture to fit it out. Why I thought we could ‘nip’ to IKEA is beyond me. To be honest, I thought I had everything perfectly planned out so that we could literally walk through and go “We want that, that and that,” and be done. Yeah..... I thought.....

Three and half hours later we finally got through the gauntlet of furniture and made it to the check out. There we were told that some of the stuff we had purchased needed to be picked up from the customer service section down the corridor. People who know me well know how pleasant I can be when I’ve not eaten for a few hours and don’t get my way. Imagine that that amount of irritability in the form of Rich and add to it 3 jaw gritting hours of maze tracing and you can picture how much enthusiasm we had when giving our order sheet to the chick in the customer service section. Lets just say she’s had better afternoons. 

Next morning we were up early and excited to just get everything built and in the van. Rich said he’d be happy with just the bed so we could at least sleep in it that night. I was confident we’d have it all done by dinner. So we started with the bed. For starters, it had an uneven amount of non-matching screws. That’s ok, we can still make it work. Then when trying to fix the main screws into the fittings which were pre-sunk, we realised that those fittings had been fit in such a dodgy manor that they were spinning in place and therefore not catching at all. Another trip the hardware store and Rich solved it by filling everything with wood-glue and fitting these massive screws that were in no way going to budge. Bed done! It was 2:30pm. Seriously, IKEA furniture is the bane of my life! Thankfully we whipped through the cupboard and kitchen worktop and by 7pm we had all our bags in the van. It had been yet another long and stressful day but it was finally done. 

In the years we have been together, Rich and I have moved way too many times, I started 2 businesses, he started 1 which moved premises 3 times. In all of these ‘new beginnings’ we have said that to celebrate we would sit on the floor of our new place, eat chinese and cheers with a drink. We never actually did it. So it seemed all too fitting that this would be the one that we did properly. So we got chinese takeaway and a few bevies, drove to the waterfront and cheered our new home while eating chinese sitting on the van steps. It was a pretty rad feeling and one I wont forget anytime soon. From there we headed to Ogmore, an amazing expanse of South Wales coastline, parked up and watched the sun go down before passing out and having an extremely well deserved first sleep in the home we built with our hands. 

The Wait.

It has been two weeks since we bought the van and yet we are still waiting for delivery. It has also been two weeks since we gave back the rental car and thus our independence. Being without a car in a country that is rarely without rain and excessive wind is hard. We have done everything that we can think of that we can get to by foot. We have walked the coastline just about every day and while it is very beautiful it is starting to get mildly monotonous. We have been making the most of it of though and I must say that I am becoming quite the avid rock hopper! 

Rock hopping is rad. Rich is a rad rock hopper, he just flies across the rocks like he’s running on a path. Lowen is not. If I look up or pause for 2 seconds Rich is all of a sudden about 50 meters ahead of me, but I’m getting there. Obviously, the tide comes in and goes out here every day, but I’ve never actually been so affected by tides. We’ve not been able to climb yet as the crag here gets almost completely submerged at high tide so you not only have to wait for the tide to drop, but for the rock to dry, and ‘dry’ also happens to depend on if it’s raining or not. Unfortunately for us, we’ve not yet been able to catch it dry. 

So we have been rock hopping. The tides just make this fun. Some days we can run low, others we have to stick to the top. Sometimes we just go as fast as we can, others we take our time and forage in the rock pools and zawns. There is so much seaweed of so many different shades of green. I swear one of them is wakame and I really want to eat it but I’m too scared! I don’t think it helps that you literally can not get sushi anywhere here so I am totally craving it, but I’m very very tempted to eat it straight from the water. It would be just my luck though that I would get some hectic bacterial infection and that would be the end of my great adventure. 

Our rock hopping missions have been a great way to pass the time, overcome boredom and provide a little bit of time to reflect on life back in Oz. When I was a child, my dad used to always have a smooth rock with him that he called a rest rock. We were exploring the other day and came across this little bay area that was literally all rest rocks. Thousands and thousands of small, super smooth rocks and handfuls of bright green sea glass. It was so beautiful, like a playground of rest rocks. Funnily enough, it was called Rest Bay. 

We have been having fun and enjoying our time here with Lara, Rich’s sister. We went to Nash Point the other day to do the lighthouse walk and visit a traditional pub that brews it own cider. Having become quite the cider addict, I was very excited. Typically, as we had planned to do something outdoors, it was raining and super windy and very cold. So the walk got cut short which was a shame as it was a very pretty area and would have been lovely to walk down the hillside to the shore below. So, off to the Plough and Harrow we went. I had ask La where we could go to have a real ‘pub experience’ and this certainly didn’t disappoint. Made completely of stone, with all wooden interior, it had low set ceilings and a fireplace just as I had hope. Add to that home brewed cider on tap and Lowen is one happy girl! La order the Welsh Warrior, a traditional apple cider of 6.0%. I got the Perry which was a pear and apple mix and was 6.5%. Both were super yummy but all agreed that the Welsh Warrior was the better of the two. Rich got an ale, the Gower Gold, also very impressive. All the drinks were still which was weird I thought but they were still really good. Already a little tipsy, Rich and I decided to try a pint of the 7.2% Black Dragon. It was so good, but needless to say, dinner couldn’t come quick enough! It was a great night, heaps of fun and I think I may have made the waiter giggle as I was pretty much talking gibberish by the time we ordered! 

Hopefully our van will be here by Wednesday so then it is heads down bums up. We will be working around the clock to get it insulated and fitted out so we can be on our way.