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Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

 Page 3 of 7. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 60 | 61 to 80 | 81 to 100 | 101 to 120 | 121 to 138
Author
European Sport Climbing Extravaganza

neats
3-Sep-2004
2:01:37 PM
How Exciting!!!
Onsight
3-Sep-2004
2:19:52 PM
Hey Jac, congrats again for coming second in the Nationals on the weekend!!!

Hope it has set you up for a great trip!

HEX
3-Sep-2004
3:31:48 PM
On 3/09/2004 neats wrote:
>How Exciting!!!

" HOW EXCITEMENT !!! "

Luv HEX & Effie...

climbingjac
3-Sep-2004
4:48:17 PM
Thanks Simon! Huge congrats again to Monique for putting on a spectacular performance to bring home 1st place :-)

Hey JohnK I have global roaming set up on my phone, but suspect if someone rings me from Oz then I pay the diversion fee. Are u able to confirm my suspicions? If I am right, please, noone ring me !!!!!!!!

More news next time we have internet access

jac
jjobrien
3-Sep-2004
5:51:58 PM
You only need to learn one phrase in French, German, Italian, to have a sucsessful trip,
"my friend will pay".
James
3-Sep-2004
8:03:42 PM
yep Jac - you pay. don't do it. jono texts probably cost you also.

how the soft cheese going, being lactose intolerant & all.. ..mmmuuuuhhahahahaha
ness
4-Sep-2004
5:35:57 AM
James - that was a mean-o call about the lactose intolerancy. As a gluten intolerant I was unable to appreciate the excellent baguets and rolls etc that France had to offer (my Italian trips have been a food misery too - no pizza, pasta, or pannini) so I feel for you and the cheese thing Jacquie!

Font will make everything better though - BTW - I'm sorry when it rains on you, but this won't last forever!!

and you have to do La Marie Rose!! - not too hard, but an excellent problem.

I'm so proud of our Aussie team!

(Perhaps I am a little homesick at the moment). As I cant climb I have decided to live through others achievements - so GO YOU GOOD THINGS!!
dalai
5-Sep-2004
8:35:45 PM
La Marie Rose is a must do at Bas Cuvier as Ness says. First official 6A in the forest. FA in 1946 sans sticky rubber!!
climbingjac
6-Sep-2004
6:10:40 AM
Hello Australia!

I am writing to you from a very bizarre internet computer in a caravan, at the campingground in Font. It runs off a phonecard. Very weird.

OK so we finally got out of Paris. What a nightmare. It took us about an hour or so just to get a taxi; We sent Sam to the taxi rank, and she in turn showed up at our hotel with the cab. The driver appeared to be very angry when we started piling in backpack after backpack. Only 2 people could fit in the taxi after all this, so the rest of us took the metro to the car hire place, where we were to pick up 2 Peugots. The lady at the Peugot place was visibly nervous about handing over the keys. Lee and Neil were our allocated drivers. Kathy was in charge of navigation in Neil's car and at one stage was apparently screaming at him to "TURN LEFT HERE!!!!! TURN LEFT HERE!!!" ... while a massive wall of traffic was approaching. Apparently Neil was so stressed out that he almost burst into tears.

An hour or so later we'd finally made it to the town of Fontainebleau, where we had to buy food, cutlery etc. Neil outright refused to do any type of reverse or parallel parking, so we ended up in someone's driveway while our drivers got their nerve back.

It would be fair to say that the French put milk, or sugar, or both, in EVERYTHING. I proudly bought some peach juice for my cereal. I am lactose intolerant... except for chocolate!) only to find part way thru eating breakfast the following morning that I actually had a mouthful of milk. Urgh.

Anyway, the holiday really began when we arrived here. Smaller town, climbing, etc. Neil is getting better with his driving... he approaches all roundabouts by screwing up his face, screaming "F### You!!! Get out of my way!!! And absolutely flooring it while the rest of us say our hail marys.

We are staying at a 'campground' which has hot showers, laundry facilities, pizza, beer, tennis court, mini golf, and a pool. And by the way girls, there are hairdryers in the bathrooms also. Crazy stuff. All this for 5.50 Euros each per night... Which is about AUS$10. Woo hoo! So in the morning we go bouldering till it gets too hot... then go home, have a swim, a glass of vino and a siesta, then head back out for another boulder. Awesome stuff.

Apparently there are a couple of hundred crags or some such thing here at Font. We had time only to visit one, and it was amazing. Walkins are non existent. There are hundreds of people and you are literally lost in a perfect world of boulders featuring perfect flat landings of either lush white sand, or soft pine needles. Woo hoo! I am not brave, and even I was game enough to top out on things that in Victoria would be known as highballs. By the way we have no idea which routes we did as we have no guide. I went for a wander and got completely lost, forcing me to abort my mission and ask directions back to the carpark by saying "Bonjour.... Car?????" This hopefully gives you an idea of the ridiculous number of boulders that are here. Also it is a true family sport if need be. Dad is cranking his way to glory while mum looks after the baguettes, and junior plays in the sand. An awesome scene. And at the end of the day, you are rewarded by the sight of an icream van... AT THE CRAG!!!!!

None of us really speak French, so we just say Bonjour and Merci a whole lot, and smile like idiots when spoken to. Sam and I wanded off to tackle some random boulder problems, when two young Frech Fabios emerged from the distance, hair shoulder length and shiny ala Pantene ad, and greeted us with their best French smiles and a polite "Bonjour..... bla bla bla" of which we understtod nothing. We smiled politely, said "Bonjour... Australien... Englais" and the kind lads offered to demonstrate the problem for us. Very amusing stuff. They were very proud, and then strutted off, hair glistening in the sun.

Tomorrow we leave Font, headed for the Frankenjura in Germany (via some Champagne tasting). We need to do the Frankenjura stint before it gets too cold. So we are leaving a perfectly good climate of 35 degrees, probably going somewhere that is quite cold. But it will be GREAT!! I'm busting out of my skin to get there. Ahhh Frankenjura. Land of steep pocket pulling. Yay!!!!

Well, I have to sign of now, my phonecard has just runout... it seems that this broadcast just cost about AUS$14... so cherish every word, kiddies!!!

Hope all is well back home, and we'll send you more news next time we are able.

Hugs and kisses (you get two kisses.... it is the European way)

Jac, Sam, Lee, Marty, Neil and Kathy

Richard
6-Sep-2004
1:25:41 PM
>the rest of us took the metro
>to the car hire place, where we were to pick up 2 Peugots. The lady at
>the Peugot place was visibly nervous about handing over the keys. Lee
>and Neil were our allocated drivers.

>Neil ....... approaches all roundabouts by screwing up his face, screaming "F### You!!! Get out of my way!!! And absolutely flooring it while the rest of us say our hail
>marys.

Either their reputations are wide spread, or the car hire lady's intuition is very well placed !!

Another awesome report Jacqui...thanks !!

Megan
6-Sep-2004
1:33:19 PM
So jealous, this trip is sounding awesome!

phil box
6-Sep-2004
3:40:16 PM
The hire car lady musta just watched Jackass. Neil is a dead ringer for one of those guys.

tepas
6-Sep-2004
4:40:14 PM
On 6/09/2004 climbingjac wrote:
>It would be fair to say that the French put milk, or sugar, or both, in
>EVERYTHING. I proudly bought some peach juice for my cereal. I am lactose
>intolerant... except for chocolate!) only to find part way thru eating
>breakfast the following morning that I actually had a mouthful of milk.

As a fellow anti-lactite who's just visited Europe, I suggest looking out in bigger
supermarkets for 'soja'. You'll recognise it as soy milk when you see it - I
found it in several places in Paris and France in general, as well as in Italy.
You might also find almond 'milk' around - but I'm not sure I would recommend it.
It's hard enough to get a decent breakfast in Europe (coffee and cigarettes don't
count, thank you very much), let alone a cereal style one without moo juice...
James
6-Sep-2004
7:24:40 PM
com'on ness, that was meant as a harmless joke. surely (hopefully?) jac knows how much attention my flippant comments deserve...

IdratherbeclimbingM9
6-Sep-2004
9:30:22 PM
On 6/09/2004 James wrote:
>com'on ness, that was meant as a harmless joke.
Must be the season for being misconstrued, or putting ones foot in it depending where you are coming from, (blowing a hold during the crux sequence?) ...
Lot of it going about lately.

Sounds like the adventure is just starting re the climbing. You had us lol with your description of nmonteiths driving prowess.
We look forward to your next update climbingjac, & thanks for keeping us informed (esp. since it costs mega$).
gfdonc
6-Sep-2004
10:02:04 PM
Hey, cool! I just chanced across this while looking for something unrelated ..
http://www.drtopo.com/flash/font.html
Warning: big download.

WM
6-Sep-2004
10:44:21 PM
On 6/09/2004 phil box wrote:
>The hire car lady musta just watched Jackass. Neil is a dead ringer for
>one of those guys.

Gees Phil go easy on him, he's not that short....

Richard
7-Sep-2004
1:13:26 PM
Hey, anyone got proof these guys are actually OS, and this is not one big hoax??

I want pictures !! Surely if Neil's involved, we'd have seen some fang-dangaled multimedia presentation with sound track by now...

I reckon they're all hiding in a cave somewhere in the grampians....(maybe with Hex!!)

phil box
8-Sep-2004
12:07:39 PM
On 6/09/2004 WM wrote:
>On 6/09/2004 phil box wrote:
>>The hire car lady musta just watched Jackass. Neil is a dead ringer for
>>one of those guys.
>
>Gees Phil go easy on him, he's not that short....

Ahahahaha. Maybe the giant shopping trolley they had the packs in was a give away.

Pei
8-Sep-2004
7:15:14 PM
Sounds like a great trip so far! Have a ball in the Frankenjura - and touch wood no injuries on all those pockets... Crank hard!

 Page 3 of 7. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 60 | 61 to 80 | 81 to 100 | 101 to 120 | 121 to 138
There are 138 messages in this topic.

 

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