UKC

Seeking general advice...

I have the possibility of a trip to Font in October (up to a week, school half-term) and am after a whole bunch of logistical advice.  I'll be taking my son (age 16).  No logistics are yet decided, so we have;

• Travel;
  • Drive from Sheff?  (pros: easy to transport all the kit, cons: a lot of driving for me, cost of fuel)  Any issues with driving UK car in France in these Brexit days?
  • Train and car hire?
  • Fly and car hire?
• Accom;
  • Camping?
  • Hire gite?
  • Other suggestions?

What other logistical decisions will I need to make?  Any thoughts welcomely received!  Thanks

I know someone who camped in November and spent all his evenings in bars to keep warm and thus spent more money. He said he'd get a gite next time.

I drove at Easter, pretty straightforward. Standard roadside kit for France + new UK badge (replaces old GB badge). Need to have ownership docs with the vehicle.

Lots of camping, Airbnb options. We stayed at an Airbnb which was reasonable last time, but have camped previously (La Musardiere), both are good options.

We drove then, next time I would fly and hire pads + a car, it was lots of driving (easy on the French side) and expensive. 

I have camped that time of year and it was pretty cold (and wet). Probably just unlucky on the wet, but it will be a tad cold. 

If the budget stretches I would go for a small gite, or even a static caravan/cabin (nice site at Ile de Boulancourt. Although they don't actually work out that much cheaper than gites. 

If you can get a few more people along then larger gites are much better value. Also generally more fun with a group. 

I think from Shef driving is the done thing.

For a week a Gite is the way to go.

Here’s a link to Stef’s Gite…

https://www.gites-de-france.com/en/ile-de-france/seine-et-marne/le-clos-du-...

The budget IBIS Hotel near the station in font is an option if you just want a bed and plan to eat out but that would be more expensive than a self catering Gite.

Gites are great and worth renting. If you’re coming from Sheffield then it’s only a couple of hours to London and you’re right at the Eurostar, which is a lovely way to travel and fast. Good to show the next generation that non-airline travel in Europe is feasible! Not flying also makes bringing back wine easier, 16 is a good age to be gradually introduced to decent wine under parental supervision

Paris is amazing and surely worth a visit if your son hasn’t seen it before? 

I hate the Jingo Wobbly Font guide with a passion but maybe that’s just me. Get the Montchaussé one and a decent map. 

Yes. Me too. But get the bart van raaij ones and you won't need the extra map

The Jingo Wobbly circuit guide certainly has it’s detractors, I thought it was all right but defending that is not a hill I’d die on.

I would however argue that their Fun Bloc guide is very good…

Massive thanks to all the advice so far...keep it coming, it's really helpful!

Based on what's been written so far I'm tempted by the 'drive / gite' option.  But this is early days, I'm open to other suggestions.  Also, thanks for the advice on guidebooks, not something I'd yet considered.

Where's a good area(s) to look for accom?  Trip planned for a week(ish) between 22nd and 30th Oct.

I’ve always tended to stay near Mily-la-Foret as it’s both a very nice town and handy for climbing, but I often go in summer and like to go out for early morning/late evening hits. If it were cooler and I was planning on being out all day then I wouldn’t mind being based a bit further away. 

We tend to drive/gite. The cost difference isn't as much as you think (the campsites aren't cheap) and having your own car and filling it to the roof with stuff makes everything loads easier. 

Have a look at http://bleau.info to get a feel for where you want to be. Around Milly/Noisy is where you probably want to base if it's your first-ish trip out.

Second the recommendation for Stefs place. He also lends e-bikes for free... which makes all the Larchant and Trois Pignons stuff easily availlable. Great way to explore the forest. 

Thanks - the place looks great, but (if I've understood the booking system) it's not available on the dates that I need.  Looks like it's already booked.

The JW circuit guide is the most confusing book ever written. He's made up his own circuits that don't bear any resemblance to the painted ones. Why the f&£! do that??

The only ok one he's done is the off piste or secret one or whatever it's called. Just because in that he listened to feedback and wrote a guide that just tells you what's there. Still has insane amounts of bizarre hieroglyphs that allegedly convey some sort of meaning if you study his made up language.

The montchausse guide is ok but the topo maps are horse shit. You can waste hours trying to find out of the way boulders from those guides. 

Tl;dr buy Bart's books, the 5+6 / 7+8 ones. And cross reference to bleau.info.

We rent an Airbnb usually, somewhere around Milly la Foret or Noisy sur Ecole area. There’s a big hyper market the other side of Milly, and Milly is a nice place to go for a beer and eat. Most places have had bouldering mats to use for free, but tend to take our own. It’s possible to rent places where you can just walk into the forest to climb.

Jingo Wobbly guide looks like someone just threw handfuls of fridge magnets at a whiteboard on every page. A bit too much OCD and too little editor. The other circuit guides are great though.

If you're driving, consider booking a travelodge right by the tunnel or ferry. It means you can get the UK leg of your journey done the evening before with no worries about missing your slot. It also gets you the right side of the "Operation Brock" M20 contraflow which causes carnage in even moderate traffic.

Also, use your satnav or google maps to take you through Paris. The road system through there defies human understanding and its very easy to get horribly lost in an instant, satnav can save a lot of upset here (worth paying for data roaming for that alone).

If you're looking for something different for a day, look at the Sentier 25 Bosses, a 10 mile marked trail around the hills of the 3 pignons (900m total ascent!). It takes you through natural obstacle courses over/through/under boulders at every opportunity and has great views across the forest.

The reason the JW (and every other) guide has the odd different circuit to those on the ground is that circuits are periodically repainted and changed. JW guides are a bit bonkers, but they have by far the best coverage in the easier grades.

Font is amazing, have fun.

Tom

Driving from Sheffield is likely to be the cheapest/easiest option, especially with the current issues at airports and hire car costs. Then you can bring everything you need, and have room to bring back some wine.

We've usually stayed at gites, but have also used cheap hotels (F1/Premier Classe in Nemours). Book the gites through https://www.gites-de-france.com/fr - probably your best option if you're bringing your son. Airbnb is also an option.

Driving is not really any different to pre-Brexit for tourists, but you'll need to prove you are vaccinated (or have a -ve PCR test) to get in.

Don’t buy a guidebook. Get 27 crags on your phone, and use that instead. 

For that time of year i'd stay in a gite, we had a trip in early november and had 1 day of climbing in 7 because of the rain. we killed time playing games in the gite and going for exploratory walks in the forest between rain.

looked at a campsite for easter this year and for two of us, we got a gite that cost maybe £150 more than a campsite for the two weeks which felt worth it tbh.

I worried about missing the Eurotunnel train slot, but it's very lax, you can be pretty much 24 hours late and still get on with a normal ticket. I think they realise that M20 chaos+ wacky races would be an unfortunate combination.