Switzerland and Sun

Ok so it’s been a while since I last wrote, to be honest I have struggled to pull myself away from sunbathing at the riverside 😛 It’s a hard life! so as mentioned before we were escaping the sweltering heat of Val Masino and heading for slightly higher ground in Val Daone.

Val Di Fumo / Val Daone

The valley has climbing at all altitudes, the highest being 1500m, and the conditions were notably cooler. Down jacket came straight out of storage! We spent a week in this valley having a look at a couple of different areas, but our motivation was running low and we spent most days dodging unexpected mountain rain showers, eating copious amounts of food and searching for dry wood to have evening campfires/BBQ’s. The weekend brought lots of boulderers and the campfire was a little busier with a couple of friendly Austrian climbers joining in with the hunt for dry wood.

Arrivederci Val Masino

Balancing Act – Preda Rosso

Well it’s that time already, and it has been a week of goodbyes. Having waved Hannah and Andy off on a one way trip to England (for now), we are now moving on from this beautiful place too. We have spent the last three weeks climbing, lazing in the sun and socialising, and we will definitely miss some of our new friends. The weather has just become too hot to climb, so we are heading for higher ground at Val Daone.

Party Italian Style

Bagni di Masino

I can do a pull up! Only one though so I can’t get too excited yet; I have become so obsessed with trying that I stop at every overhanging ledge to practice, I must look ridiculous to passers-by.

Val Masino Round Two

Veiw from the Van

After chilling out in Ceriola (mainly in the rain) we sadly ended our two week road trip with the Sinclairs and they returned to ‘sunny’ England. The day they left we also left Ceriola and returned to Val Masino for round two of granite climbing in the beautiful valley…. or as it turns out the wet valley.

The first 8 or 9 days in the valley we became hermits hiding from the torrential rain in Ivan and constantly checking forecasts for a dryer hotter place to be, but the weather seemed dull everywhere so we stuck it out. Eventually the weather started to ease and we jumped on the first chance to climb for half an hour before the rain started again.

Gap in the Rain.

Donkey Spotter

Mini Road Trip

We have been very busy since I last posted, Melloblocco was brilliant, such a good atmosphere. By the time Andrea and Steven arrived, the

A classy Swig

Val di Mello

weather was on the mend, we walked up to Val de Mello

Andrea’s mean side

and explored the next valley over Val Malenco, enjoyed the thickest hot chocolates known and had more than one too many drinks at the local Kundaluna bar. Never thought a Mojito could get any better, and then boom! bagged ourselves a free black diamond headtorch, by being within the 1^st 100 to purchase drinks that evening. We finished Melloblocco in style/drunken blur at the La Sportiva party. It started with a treat meal courtesy of Andrea and Steven and ending with exhausted/badly bruised legs from dancing/bench climbing, a bust lip from the formation of an unexpected reggae mosh pit and four bad heads the morning after.

We will be heading back to Mello to meet more friends at the end of May, more climbing, less drinking next time round.

Let the Games Begin…

The Valley

We arrived at Val Masino the same day Paul’s parents left, the plan was to get in some  climbing before the bouldering festival Melloblocco kicked off at the weekend. We took a wet walk from San Martino to Val Di Mello, scouting out the climbing and taking in the scenery. Looking up from the valley you can see hundreds of water falls leading from the snow topped mountains and they all lead into the crystal clear river that runs down the centre of the valley.  We spent the next few days lounging in the van and most of the wet evenings in a local bar wasting time on the internet. On Wednesday the rain stopped and the rock dried, and we were up and ready to climb.

Climbing in the Streets

Huge boulders

As we made our way through San Martino a woman sitting in a local bar looked like she was trying to take a sneaky picture of us. After pointing this out to Paul we agreed it was strange and quickened our pace crossing behind a car to evade her. Only when we popped out the other side of the car she was stood waiting with her phone at the ready.  After a quick explanation we ‘posed’ for a photo and it made its way onto facebook with the tag line.. “The first boulderers to arrive in the valley.”

Lake Como and Company

As promised we have tagged the photo’s from the Camargue into this post, I wish we had captured Paul’s bail from his horse on camera!

Sunset on the Camargue

The Famous White Horses

Riding across the Camargue

Breakfast Time

So after our little disaster in France we arrived in Italy, Lake Como and headed straight to Bellagio, a little village on the fork of Lake Como. Here we eagerly awaited the arrival of Paul’s Mam and Dad. This had been planned for a long time, and it would be an understatement to say we were excited to see them. In a twisted way the robbery had happened with just enough time for replacements and supply’s to be bought by both our extremely helpful parents back in England, and then shipped out with Anne and Eric. After initial hugs and welcomes we found ourselves checked into a lovely little hotel in Bellagio, with suitcases of goodies being emptied onto our bed. It was like christmas all over again.

Rollercoaster France

Our friends said it best when they posted a blog titled The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, nothing could be more apt for this post, and strangely enough we are speaking about the same country!

Millau 2013 – Bouldering WorldCup

So last week when we were wasting a rainy day on the internet in Targasonne, when we realised the next round of the bouldering world cup was to be in Millau, France. This fit perfectly with our timetable to leave for Lodeve and was only 1hr more up the road! It would have been silly not to go and show our support.

The Bouldering WorldCup 2013

Our route out of Spain

We have travelled some miles and visited some great places in the last couple of weeks, so I will get the apology in now for the length of this post..

A night at the Ermita in Cervia…

Ivan and the Ermita

Sunset at the church

Woke up on the outskirts of cervia’s town after arriving late the day before when we opened the curtains we were surrounded by the po po! With ninja like reflexes we battened down the hatches and sat still and quiet hoping we weren’t in trouble. Turns out it was every officer’s coffee break and they soon dispersed leaving us alone. We parked Ivan next to a quaint little church right next to the boulders. It was creepy in the daylight with a heavy set wooden door which creaked every time the wind caught it. We walked the circuit of the boulders through the hill top and olive trees, and had a peak in every abandoned stone building on the way! We picked out a few to try the next day then enjoyed tea and the sunset by the church in some real Spanish weather. However when the sun went down we quickly retreated to the van the church was much more eerie in the dark!