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In October 2022, I had the pleasure of welcoming Loïc and Charlotte (Charlie to their friends) at BLOASIS, a couple coming from Lyon to discover Font without a car - 4 busy days and a victory for eco-friendly climbing trips!

We climbed for the first time outdoors at the end of October, my partner and I, after about 6 months of practice. These few days were very important for us, so we really wanted to find a nice place to stay, close to the area, and not too expensive. After spending a lot of time on Air Bnb and not being too convinced, I put the accommodation aside a bit. I started to find out about the best practices to have on the spot, about the areas, the boulders etc. I went through a lot of information about the city and its history. I went through a lot of websites and Youtube channels. And then I discovered the Bloasis eco-house on Boulderfont.info ...

It's always cool when you feel like you've found something that's totally what you're looking for... I have to say that it doesn't happen often, but the effect felt in these cases is really great. That was the case with Bloasis.

Coming from Lyon, we took the train to Paris first, then to Maisse. There, you have to know that we're not very far from home, so it's either a taxi, a bus or the TAD. What are the TADs? I asked some Parisians to be sure, but I didn't find many who knew... TAD stands for Transports À la Demande in Paris Region. It's FREE. I invite you to find out more about it. It took us to Oncy-sur-Ecole, we just had to walk 20min to the house (we could have stopped even closer by asking the driver).

And it's very well placed, very close to the Roche aux Sabots for example, or the western sectors of Les Trois Pignons. In any case, everything can be done very well by car, there are plenty of areas nearby. I'll come back to the " means of transport " point later...

The house is great, all in wood, it's very nice, the bedrooms and bathrooms are clean, Fabien is very nice, nothing to complain about. I won't go into too much detail on this subject as you can find a lot of information on the website, but basically, Fabien, the owner, has done everything possible to ensure that the house has the least impact on the environment: straw and hemp insulation, renewable energy, etc. This was a very important point in the choice of the house. It was a very important point in our choice, to be able to stay in a place made by someone who shares our values, and who is especially inspiring.

It was also galvanising to spend our mornings and evenings surrounded by climbers, including Fabien who has been climbing for 20 years, which is really priceless. We made some nice encounters in only 4 days.

I come back to the means of transport... We came a bit on the run, with just our climbing shoes and that's all. We knew that Fabien rented crash pads for the day, and to participate a little more, we had planned to buy him some chalk and above all a pretty pyrographed brush as a souvenir. But we hadn't planned a vehicle! So yes, the sectors are close, but there are still at least 4 or 5 kilometres, it's not much but in the morning and evening with the crash pads... Fabien was cool enough (or had a bit of pity I guess!) to take us by car the first morning. We still wanted to try the walk back. I can confirm: it was a bit painful! 

This is where it gets interesting because the Parc Naturel Régional du Gâtinais lent Fabien 4 electrically assisted bicycles. So, it was two bikes that we used the other three days. Always with a view to eco-responsibility, it's nice to be able to stick to our values, and to say that in the end the car is not at all indispensable. We pushed on to more remote areas (Gorge aux Châts, La canche aux Merciers) without any problem. It was even very nice to be able to visit the surrounding area, there are some really nice places. It was the first time we rode an e-bike and frankly the kilometres went by effortlessly. What could have been seen as an organisational problem at first turned out to be a good thing. No problem with the crash pad on the back because it is on the luggage rack.

On the climbing side, Charlie is a real beginner, so she navigated between the 3rd and 4th grades. For my part, I'm more into the 6th grades, even if in the end there are also some nice boulders in the lower levels :)

As for the feeling of our first outdoor climb, we really loved it, there were a lot of discoveries, successes (footwork for me) and failures, that's normal. There is a little time to adapt, but it's quite incredible to climb in Fontainebleau. It's super inspiring, and it confirmed our desire to climb as much as possible outdoors.

So I have nothing to say about Bloasis, except that it's a really great place that really deserves to be better known. I now understand why the people we met there were not on their first visit! No reason to change when you have found the perfect place... 

We are about to organise our second trip for March and we hope that a room will be available at Bloasis! 

Loïc & Charlotte, Lyon, January 2023

#Climbing, #Bouldering, #Fontainebleau, #Cycling, #Car-free, #Sustainable

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