Verdon - Les Calanques - Nice...

Soooooo its been a while since our last post... Lets see whats been happening....

Our epic... We had decided to climb a really easy route out in Verdon, and trust me there are not many easy routes to pick from. I suppose no one actually comes to Verdon to do the easy routes, which probably explains why it seemed like no one had climbed this route for years! The guide book, which is full of mistakes, as I believe we were forwarned, indicated that the route was fully equiped (ie bolted). Turns out it had one piton, and the only bolts available were those that we could "steal" from the surrounding harder climbs - and even then, there werent that many. Luckily David had brought minimal trad gear, and we got out ok ;) Think bushes, trees, dirt and tones of it, scary no pro sections... and harder than expected route - not the 4c we were expecting. Ok, so less epic description of our epic, but it will do ;)

The hike the following day was alot of fun and the gorge is just beautiful. It took us about 4 hours to complete and it ended in this long scary dark tunnel... which David bravely escorted me through. Probably the hardest part of the hike was finding someone that would give us a ride back to the village of La Palaud...as all these older tourist looking cars just ignored us and drove on by.

Deciding that perhaps it was a bit too much for us, we moved on to Les Calanques, stopping briefly in Aix en Provence for a little visit. Soo les Calanques also a really nice area, but the climbs are soooo polished, its obvious people have been climbing here for years and years and...It also included a brief visit to the hospital, where David seemed to have a bad allergic reaction which potentially is due to: the bee sting he got, the terrible rash/allergy he got from tape around his ankles (to prevent a blister during the hike), or the huge plate of sea food he had for dinner, and potentially some sort of poison ivy boils from who knows where?... A bit of a scare when while driving he tells me that he is feeling dizzy and is having difficulty breathing. Luckily we were really close to a "Centre de Secours" where the fireman (they dont actually have paramedics persay) drove us to the next town to the hospital. He is FINE! And was breathing normally shortly after the arrival to the hospital. :))

Tata for now!!