So far my trip has 'revolved' around climbing - more or less. It was always the plan - to come to Europe to climb. Where possible I have tried to 'indulge' in the culture as much as possible - usually by way of food! I'm now packing up the mountaineering gear, and putting aside the rocklimbing gear, for a bit of good old 'backpacking'.
Last you all heard was my trip up Mont Blanc. It was a huge day and the following day was spent eating a meal every half an hour, feeding my hungry, tired body. After that day of rest I headed up in the Aiguille du Midi cable car with Aidan, early the following morning. We then traversed the route of the Midi - Plan traverse - another Alpes classic. Therefore - plenty of people on route! But it did not detract from it too much - there was some beautiful snow ridges, more of that lovely golden granite to ascend to Aiguille de Plan, and brilliant views down into the Chamonix Valley and back to the '3 monts' - Mont Blanc du Tacul, Mont Maudit and Mont Blanc. It was an enjoyable day out, but by the end of the day, walking back out via the Mer de Glace glacier, I felt completely exhausted.
And thus the decision of how to spend my last week in France (for now) was made. After a couple of days rest I packed my things and headed south - to see stage 16 of Le Tour de France. Not exactly a popular sport in Australia, I've watched it with the family every year for as long as I can remember, and always wondered what it would be like to actually be there. I wasn't sure where to start, but was advised the the last mountain stage up to l'Alpe d'Huez would be good to watch - it is a bit of a classic stage in le tour, one of the most gruelling climbs. As I walked to the route from the car - the excitement in the air was amazing. So many people around, and seeing all the campers and people lined along the winding road below was great - already it was worth the trip for me.
Eventually I met up with some other Aussies and we took our place on the road just above the 5km mark. I then found out that the riders would not be coming in for another 5 hours - luckily there was a beer and sausage stall 200m down the road... Eventually the caravan of sponsors came through, throwing out freebies left right and centre, and then shortly after came the riders. Cadel Evans, an Australian, was in a good position to win the race, and when he came through in the group after the race leader I ran along as well as I could, but fear of knocking a rider over, and the horns of the motorbikes behind me meant I didn't last for long (I couldn't have at that pace anyway...).
The day after I packed my bag and decided to go walking in the National Park des Ecrins. It was good to be in my shoes, rather than my boots, and the walking was great, through an area dotted with high lakes. I enjoyed being by myself actually - putting the ipod on I just kept on walking until I was tired and hungry, and stopped at Lac de Culo for the night. The day after I walked back out to the car via a different route, then drove to Grenoble to stay the night with Federico, an Italian climber.
For the weekend, we picked up a French climber, Sylvain, and headed down to Ceuse. Ceuse is regarded as 'the best sport climbing cliff in the World'. Most of the climbing was too bloody difficult for me - I've been using my legs a whole lot in the last 2 months but not my arms much. It was still great fun though, and awe inspiring to see some of the cliffs there - it really is some of the best rock I've ever seen. It would be great to return to one day, when I'm climbing better!
After the weekend I drove up to Dijon, to drop Chloe's faithful little car back home. It was in the order of 20,000kms I put on the clock - not a bad little trip. So this is where I've been for the last couple of days, sorting through the immense load of stuff I've accumulated in the car (it truly is ridiculous - one bad thing about having a car - you get lazy and just chuck it all in!). Tomorrow morning I fly to Berlin to meet up with my parents - it will be great to see them and share some of the stories I've accumulated over the months and hear some from their own travels through Europe - there's only so much you can convey in emails!
After a few days with them, the vague plan is to make my way south through Germany into the Czech Republic, then make my way down to Vienna. From there I fly to Amsterdam, have a week in Holland, then jump on a train to Paris at the end of August for another week in France. After that - it's 3 weeks in the UK before heading back to Aus! It's nearly 2 months all up - but I think I'll be home before I know it.
Last you all heard was my trip up Mont Blanc. It was a huge day and the following day was spent eating a meal every half an hour, feeding my hungry, tired body. After that day of rest I headed up in the Aiguille du Midi cable car with Aidan, early the following morning. We then traversed the route of the Midi - Plan traverse - another Alpes classic. Therefore - plenty of people on route! But it did not detract from it too much - there was some beautiful snow ridges, more of that lovely golden granite to ascend to Aiguille de Plan, and brilliant views down into the Chamonix Valley and back to the '3 monts' - Mont Blanc du Tacul, Mont Maudit and Mont Blanc. It was an enjoyable day out, but by the end of the day, walking back out via the Mer de Glace glacier, I felt completely exhausted.
And thus the decision of how to spend my last week in France (for now) was made. After a couple of days rest I packed my things and headed south - to see stage 16 of Le Tour de France. Not exactly a popular sport in Australia, I've watched it with the family every year for as long as I can remember, and always wondered what it would be like to actually be there. I wasn't sure where to start, but was advised the the last mountain stage up to l'Alpe d'Huez would be good to watch - it is a bit of a classic stage in le tour, one of the most gruelling climbs. As I walked to the route from the car - the excitement in the air was amazing. So many people around, and seeing all the campers and people lined along the winding road below was great - already it was worth the trip for me.
Eventually I met up with some other Aussies and we took our place on the road just above the 5km mark. I then found out that the riders would not be coming in for another 5 hours - luckily there was a beer and sausage stall 200m down the road... Eventually the caravan of sponsors came through, throwing out freebies left right and centre, and then shortly after came the riders. Cadel Evans, an Australian, was in a good position to win the race, and when he came through in the group after the race leader I ran along as well as I could, but fear of knocking a rider over, and the horns of the motorbikes behind me meant I didn't last for long (I couldn't have at that pace anyway...).
The day after I packed my bag and decided to go walking in the National Park des Ecrins. It was good to be in my shoes, rather than my boots, and the walking was great, through an area dotted with high lakes. I enjoyed being by myself actually - putting the ipod on I just kept on walking until I was tired and hungry, and stopped at Lac de Culo for the night. The day after I walked back out to the car via a different route, then drove to Grenoble to stay the night with Federico, an Italian climber.
For the weekend, we picked up a French climber, Sylvain, and headed down to Ceuse. Ceuse is regarded as 'the best sport climbing cliff in the World'. Most of the climbing was too bloody difficult for me - I've been using my legs a whole lot in the last 2 months but not my arms much. It was still great fun though, and awe inspiring to see some of the cliffs there - it really is some of the best rock I've ever seen. It would be great to return to one day, when I'm climbing better!
After the weekend I drove up to Dijon, to drop Chloe's faithful little car back home. It was in the order of 20,000kms I put on the clock - not a bad little trip. So this is where I've been for the last couple of days, sorting through the immense load of stuff I've accumulated in the car (it truly is ridiculous - one bad thing about having a car - you get lazy and just chuck it all in!). Tomorrow morning I fly to Berlin to meet up with my parents - it will be great to see them and share some of the stories I've accumulated over the months and hear some from their own travels through Europe - there's only so much you can convey in emails!
After a few days with them, the vague plan is to make my way south through Germany into the Czech Republic, then make my way down to Vienna. From there I fly to Amsterdam, have a week in Holland, then jump on a train to Paris at the end of August for another week in France. After that - it's 3 weeks in the UK before heading back to Aus! It's nearly 2 months all up - but I think I'll be home before I know it.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment