With only two of us on this trip, we treated it as a recce for a repeat visit in 2019. Lots of you have expressed an interest in going to Font and we certainly saw its potential. The drive down via Eurotunnel was really easy and the campsite at Milly-la-Forêt is a good base for exploration. On our first morning, we walked up to 95.2, named after its height above sea level. This gave us a good introduction to Font bouldering and made us readjust our expectations. It’s not unusual for new visitors to feel sandbagged on the sandstone boulders and we were a bit intimidated by the sharp crimps, rounded tops and some highball finishes. In the end, we settled for the Orange circuits at about grade f3, well below our level indoors. Route-finding is fairly easy as the circuit numbers are painted on at the start of each bloc.
We then headed further into the forest to Col de Chien. This was a real highlight, with its huge desert beach and a mass of very accessible boulders. There was a great atmosphere with families having picnics, cyclists, runners and even a film crew on the sand. The sun shone and we had a lovely afternoon.
On Monday, we drove over to Apremont, which has four separate bouldering areas. We decided to try Apremont Chaos, as the Green Circuit looked amenable, but we hit “chaos” fairly quickly, losing not only the routes but each other in the mass of boulders heaped on top of each other. We walked over to Apremont Bizons Bois which had a really good orange circuit that occupied us for the rest of the day.
Tuesday was a wash-out, with heavy rain from early morning, so we headed home happy with what we’d achieved. Watch out for news of the 2019 trip just before Easter. It’s a great place for a family holiday and the walking is (nearly) as good as the climbing.
