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.