UKC

Hey guys,

Me and my boyfriend went climbing in the peaks back in Jan and have fallen in love with it! We are still a little unconfident with setting up kit and climbs without instruction, so want to give bouldering a go.

I'm looking to book him a surprise trip to Fontainebleau, this would be ideal for us as we would be flying from the UK to Paris, then cycling on our tread irons to Fontainebleau itself.

The place I'm looking at to stay has crash mats we can hire, which is fab as don't want to be cycling from Paris with them! We both have shoes, chalk bags etc (all the gear no idea??)

But before I book our flights I have a few questions which I hope you can help me with:

Is it suitable for novices? We are both fit and athletes in different sports (cyclist and a showjumper) but we would like to have a place to start not just super hard ones!

Are the pitches miles apart from each other, no biggie is so as on bikes, but would rather not be travelling for days and days to get to good spots.

Is there any books or maps you can recommend that would help?

Will it be crazy busy in May?

Thanks so much guys

Mia x

Very suitable for novices, there's even circuits for children. 

Some areas are pretty close to each other e.g. in the trois pignon region (look up 91.1, 95.2, Roche aux Sabot, all friendly and near to each other)

Fun bloc by Jongo Wobbly is a good general guide.

Shouldn't be too bad, it can soak up a lot of people anyway as the areas are huge.

Where is that? I'm wondering if it's close enough to climbing to sack taking the bike at all. Presumably it costs a bit to take the bikes on the plane. You might be better off with train and taxi to your base.

The bike/plane thing sounds a pain in the... but I guess you've done it before and know the drill.

Most places are within a five mile radius so in that sence the bike thing kinda make sense but carrying a pad on a bike, even a short distance, I'd still be worried about being blown off the bike in front of a vehicle...

As previous replies Font is ideal for anyone. At the weekends you’ll see whole families there. Don’t worry about there being too many people. There are thousands of boulders spread around the forest.  Jingo Wobbly guide is a good first time in Font guidebook and will point you in the right direction of easier problems and circuits if you want them. A particular favourite of mine is La Canche aux Mercier. 

La Canche aux Merciers

Enjoy the trip  

Thank you very much for all your help, excited to get there now!

It is an Air B n B, think we will take the bikes as theres a few days will want to not boulder and do some cycling around the area, from what I can see and what the lady has said from the Air B n B is that the chateau is surrounded by forest and boulders for climbing which is great  

Thanks  

Thank you Andy that is very helpful, I will have to check out your favourite spot!

Good luck. Have a good time.

The French equivalent of our 1/25,000 OS map is the IGN  and the one covering Fontainebleau Forest is 2417 OT. 

I'm pretty sure that Stanfords, in Covent Garden, stock it. Tel 020 7836 1321. I'm pretty certain that thy give a discount to BMC members.