climbing in france!!!

Hey guys! I've finally got to do some decent climbing!! wooooo! This is mostly for the climers amongst you, I can only assume the rest of you will find it not so interesting...

Thursday

went climbing at the local wall with an italian I've met, and it was great! the grading is somewhat inconsistent, but it was amazing none the less. It was harder than the uni wall, so was at last able to enjoy a challenge :) though must say, ascending a 6a and finding large blood smeared stains on the wall isn't the most encouraging of things, but got to the top. Only did seconding, and top ropes. It's pretty expensive (like everything else here!), 12 euros after 2pm, n 13.80 euros after 17:30, but well worth it I think. I seconded the route to left of the guy in the white.

In the evening, I went to a spanish party with some spaniards, which was pretty cool. Got to speak spanish for the majority of the night (which was pretty refreshing, given that my spanish is significantly better than my french!) and got the night bus back!! the route 66 here is better than the one at home. There may not be a pole here, but I'm pretty sure there's a poole table...not entirely sure, I was a little tipsy both times I ventured into this club.

Saturday

went climbing about an hour north from Lyon, along the Soane. The crag was called "la grotte au écureuils" which means "squirrels grotto/cave" Got a fair amount of climbs in. Attempted a few 6as, but took AGES to do, lots of rests, and lots of attempts. My arms still ache, my fingers still sting, and my toes hurt; but this is how life should be :) I'm soo happy after spending a day away from the city!!

(It will probably amuse you to know that I was the only person to wear my helmet...again....)

AND, I would like to point out (to those of you that dissed my cardiac arrestor) that in France, it is quite popular to belay with a figure of eight abseiler. So here, my equipment is quite "a la mode" (fashionable)....shame I left it at home really!

It was really nice to be in the countryside, by trees, hills and crags. It was the first time I'd left the city other than to come home, so the break was nice. shame it couldn't have lasted longer.

Sunday

went into vieux lyon again in search for scottish food, but there was a match on and nowhere to sit. So we ended up in a little cafe with crepes, mmmmmm, thankyou jess!! good crepes!! I then thought it a wise idea to overdose on sugar by eating a very large meringue and glucose/fructose infected tart (sugar is very abundant here!). I then burnt it off by going for a walk down to francheville. I'ts really pretty; it's less than an hour from where I live, and you can actually see trees, and a really nice mansion/country house with a FIELD!! yes, grassy area!! I'm going to go there again soon I reckon, perhaps walk a bit further into a really well named place "Craponne"....Indeed, the French do like synonyms for the word "merde". Gota love French.