Day 2 to 3: Everything Is New

It’s the most obvious point of attention, and without doubt, one that piques my interest all the time: The landscapes. As soon as the plane flew over Paris, I couldn’t help but admire the large patches of green punctuating the city. In the train to Valence, I watched open fields and mountain silhouettes on the window. And as we drove to the crags, vineyards and olive tree plantations were as abundant as coconut trees in the Philippines. They were just everywhere.

These two days for me were as much about experiencing the new climbing styles as it was taking in all the new-ness of being in this area of France. The peacefulness and quietness of a small village, the days that start late and end late, the fresh cold air that gets locked inside a stone house.

Driving 5-10km out of Connaux could already take you to your nearest climbing area (La Capelle), through narrow but well-paved, bending roads that let cars run 60-90km per hour. There seems to be dozens of kinds of road signs to remember, and everyone follows them, down to the 50km speed limit when you’re inside a village.

Driving 50km will take you to even more crags (in our case, in Mouries). Going further out boasted more greeneries, wide flowing rivers, and quaint villages that all look like they’re over 300 years old because of all the stone and brick finishes. Hill tops are almost always crowned with a castle, and always made me do a double take.

So it was just to my excitement that we could easily check out one of these ruins, which we did after a day in Mouries. And that’s one of the coolest things, too. Because the sun doesn’t set until 8pm, and there is no traffic to get from Point A to B, we could drive for just 10 minutes, hike for another 10, and be on the very top of some century-old structure. Oh, getting to the top includes some low-ball wall climbing because some part of the stairs have been destroyed.

Ah, but we are here for climbing, right? ;)

Mouries was actually Day 2, and it’s an old limestone crag that sticks out for looking like hardbound books forced to stand on their spines. The faces are flat like a book cover, too, and, as expected from these smooth faces, are favorable to those with strong fingers. The routes were a crimp fest, but because it stays in the shade for the whole day, the tiny features had nice friction.

Another new and interesting thing to see were the old type of hangers on the rock. They were old-style bolts that were hand-drilled! So the protection came slightly fewer in between, because you can imagine how much work would go into drilling in one bolt.

La Capelle was climbing day number three, and to our surprise, it’s a 5-minute drive with excellent sandstone bouldering. Miel and I can’t help but be amazed by how convenient the climbing area is, because you can park right in the middle of the village, by the church, and walk 5 minutes up and be in the middle of 10-15 foot boulders.

The boulders aren’t too high that everything's under the trees (decent shade), the landings are flat, and there’s a good variety of styles to choose from, from slabs and roofs to pinchy and crimpy problems. We tried problems that had slopers and open holds, and they would stick, just because there was enough granules (and possibly, relatively good conditions) that would bite into our skins.

The boulders have interesting names, such as the Elephant Rock and Lion Rock, named so because the rocks really look like faces of the animals. And yes, the rocks are even properly labeled with signs and the trails interspersed with symbol and color-coded markers; so even without a topo or guidebook, we could easily spend days here and not run out of things to do.

We ended Day 3 by visiting Pont du Gard, a historical landmark and apparently a UNESCO heritage site. It’s an ancient masterpiece: An aqueduct built in 50 AD (the 1^st century!!!), built by the Romans at that time to supply water to the city of Nimes. To get an idea of its majesty, the original construction ran 50 km long, and stands 50 m high, built from limestone blocks that is plentiful in the region (no wonder there is so much climbing here, ha!) Or maybe a better scale reference: The biggest arch of the aqueduct stands 25 m high. And that’s just ONE arch!

With our new friend and tour guide for the day,
local climber extraordinaire, Coralie

Safe to say that that’s already a lot to take in for two days, and we’re only getting started.

Day 1: Hello, Connaux!

We have arrived! After three airplanes, one train ride, and one car ride, we’ve hit our final destination.

Spot the (blurred) Eiffel Tower!

3 hour train from CDG to Valence

Our SCNF TGV Train route from Paris CDG to Valence,
and reference to where Connaux is located

We are grateful for a very smooth trip! No delays, no lost luggage, no ticket or transfer errors. And the moment we stepped onto the train station’s waiting area, in walks James to pick us up and take us to Connaux, the small town/municipality where he and Caroline have built their home. Connaux is about 700 km south of Paris, so we are in the south of France, where the current temperature (1^st week of September) is pleasant for our sun-resistant Filipino skins.

The first agenda? Do some climbing, of course! It turns out that Caro was climbing somewhere 15 minutes from Connaux, so we just dumped our luggage in their house to head for our first French rock, in a small crag called Gargantua.

A small crag, but a spicy one! Its arching roof apparently calls for a lot of pulling power, but its flatter, vertical walls have an equal demand for proper body positioning to avoid peeling off the hard-to-find crimps.

It was on these limestone faces that we stretched our travel-laid bones and muscles, before having our first dinner at La Winstub (their home was a former restaurant before they bought it). Caro prepared a dish from her hometown of La Reunion called Rougail Saucisse, a hearty stew of tomatoes, onion, ginger and sausages.

"La Winstub"

Apart from Day 1 of climbing, it was also Day 1 of wine education – a curriculum that one can never expect to complete on a single trip to France, nor even after ten trips, for that matter (there is just FAR too much grape and wine and methods to store in the head)! But we must start somewhere, and tonight, the education began in their living room, with potato chips and the warmest welcome of friends.