We disembarked from the ferry at 04:30 in Dieppe and drove to Gisors - I had got the timings wrong , assuming woe would arrive in time for breakfast, but we were very early .. so the three cars in convoy parked up outside the cafe and we had a snooze .. After Jean had opened up and we all partaken of coffee and croissants we left for Paris and the perierique ... scary at the best of times, but in convoy with people who had not been before was worse.
We all survived and got around tot the A6 exit heading for Fontainebleau. Stopping for lunch to put up the tents and check into the campsite then we all drove around to one of the nearby areas - Canache aux merciers, and parked in the nearby sandy car park.
I had a guidebook .. albeit in french, which made reading it difficult for most of the party, but it had some topos of some of the best routes, and at Canache aux Merciers the Yellow was a good starting point.
Climbing at Fontainebleau is a mixture of problems and following a trail. Each problem has a number and you move around the boulders following coloured markers, from a start point (Depart) to a finish point (arrivee).
The problems vary in degree and type .. but as it is sandstone there are lots of mantelshelf moves. The routes are all designed to keep the interest going.
The yellow took us 3 hours to get around
Then before heading back for tea we tried some of the next level up problems - blue .. and came to the conclusion this was a large step up .. these problems needed much more thought and several attempts.
We all survived and got around tot the A6 exit heading for Fontainebleau. Stopping for lunch to put up the tents and check into the campsite then we all drove around to one of the nearby areas - Canache aux merciers, and parked in the nearby sandy car park.
