After Holland I made my way to France, where I spent a week in Dijon with Chloe. It was my third time there but the first time I'd seen her there! She was back from 6 months in Chile, and had reposessed Nik and I's road trip car. It was a good, relaxing week - a nice change to all the sightseeing I had been doing over the previous weeks. Amongst the lazy afternoons in the sun, by the pool, we got out climbing a couple of times (felt a little 'foreign' after so long off the rock), and did a wine tasting course at Beune - heart of French Burgundy wine. In general, a week punctuated by excellent French food and wine. And packing...
Leaving Dijon we spent a day at Fontainbleu - a veritable bouldering mecca (known as 'Font' to English speaking climbers, and as I found out 'Bleu' to the French!). I felt a little rusty starting off, but got into the swing of things and really enjoyed myself. One day there just isn't enough - there is SO much rock, and its all very very nice. A beautiful place.
We got into Paris that night, where I stayed for 2 days. My one whole day there, I spent the day walking around with Chloe and Audrey (they'd both been working in Armidale when I was living there) - great fun catching up on the other side of the world, we had plenty of stories to share. And Paris was pretty nice too!
I then flew out to Edinburgh, where I spent about a week with Nathan - ironically another friend from Armidale. I was met by cold, miserable weather - but warm hospitality and some very friendly Scots. I spent a bit of time looking Edinburgh, including a 'literary pub tour' - very entertaining but the old bars were the nicest I've ever been in! We jumped in the car to head up to the highlands for the weekend, where we spent a day climbing at Glen Coe. The weather was good by Scottish standards, and the rock very compact and a pleasure to climb. The grading system is a little convoluted there - the grade of the two climbs we did was 'Severe', which is more difficult than 'Very Difficult', and a few grades easier than 'Hard Very Severe'!
Continuing our little loop around Scotland, we visited a distillery in Speyside next. The tour guide was great fun, and I left more than a little tipsy. Part of the tour included a tasting - of no less than SIX samples! Three of which were over 60% !! I really enjoyed the Scottish food as well - who can beat haggis and black pudding? In truth, I missed the French cheese, and in general the French 'lifestyle' and ritual of eating, but to be in a country with good, hearty meals was a real pleasure.
Leaving Dijon we spent a day at Fontainbleu - a veritable bouldering mecca (known as 'Font' to English speaking climbers, and as I found out 'Bleu' to the French!). I felt a little rusty starting off, but got into the swing of things and really enjoyed myself. One day there just isn't enough - there is SO much rock, and its all very very nice. A beautiful place.
We got into Paris that night, where I stayed for 2 days. My one whole day there, I spent the day walking around with Chloe and Audrey (they'd both been working in Armidale when I was living there) - great fun catching up on the other side of the world, we had plenty of stories to share. And Paris was pretty nice too!
I then flew out to Edinburgh, where I spent about a week with Nathan - ironically another friend from Armidale. I was met by cold, miserable weather - but warm hospitality and some very friendly Scots. I spent a bit of time looking Edinburgh, including a 'literary pub tour' - very entertaining but the old bars were the nicest I've ever been in! We jumped in the car to head up to the highlands for the weekend, where we spent a day climbing at Glen Coe. The weather was good by Scottish standards, and the rock very compact and a pleasure to climb. The grading system is a little convoluted there - the grade of the two climbs we did was 'Severe', which is more difficult than 'Very Difficult', and a few grades easier than 'Hard Very Severe'!
Continuing our little loop around Scotland, we visited a distillery in Speyside next. The tour guide was great fun, and I left more than a little tipsy. Part of the tour included a tasting - of no less than SIX samples! Three of which were over 60% !! I really enjoyed the Scottish food as well - who can beat haggis and black pudding? In truth, I missed the French cheese, and in general the French 'lifestyle' and ritual of eating, but to be in a country with good, hearty meals was a real pleasure.
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