Dads like Jim Herson and his daughter Kara are a source of inspiration to Lula and me – after reading Jim's Half Dome TR I promised Lula we could camp on a wall one day and she asks me "when daddy" almost every day.
A couple of years ago Andy Kirkpatrick took his 12 year old daughter Ella up Tangerine Trip and Ella did a fantastic video blog on CBBC – the uk's biggest children's TV channel. So big thanks to Andy and Ella too.
So here goes, 3 days in the magical forest of Fontainebleau last week with Lula – aged 8. Rocks not quite as high as Half Dome or The Captain but just as much fun!
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 Breakfst when you intend to do 50 boulder problems. Credit: Enty |
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 On the way to Canche aux Merciers day 1 Credit: Enty |
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 Typical white problem on the kids circuit at Canche aux Merciers. Credit: Enty |
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 Credit: Enty |
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Day 1 at Canche aux Merciers. There's two kid's circuits here and all the boulders are marked up with white arrows. One circuit has 32 problems, the other has 36 problems. We got round to number 26 on the second circuit before tiredness crept in and we bailed to the campsite swimming pool.
Not bad though with 58 problems done. Dad even did half a dozen blue problems and a red one!
That's not to mention the tunnels and tubes which make these kid's circuits even more interesting.
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 Great Blue problem at Canche. Credit: Enty |
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 Practice for the Texas Flake in 4 years time :-) Credit: Enty |
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 Credit: Enty |
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 Credit: Enty |
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 Credit: Enty |
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Day 2 we went to see The Elephant. The idea was to tackle the kid's white circuit and the yellow circuit with 49 problems. In the end a combination of the heat and tiredness from yesterday forced us to just chill on the sandy beach below the rocks and scramble about on the boulders near the Elephant.
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 Credit: Enty |
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Day 3 – Rocher Sabots. Just round the corner from the campsite there's an excellent white kid's circuit with 49 problems. We started these and Lula bagged a few of them before tired arms and feet took over. Then I wandered off to try the best looking problems on the excellent blue circuit but once again the heat made things much harder than they really were.
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 White problem 39 at Sabots. Credit: Enty |
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An awesome few days in the magical forest of fontainebleau. Can't wait to get back in the autumn.
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 Back soon! Credit: Enty |
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