On our trip south for the Marmotte we decided to break up the journey… This had several benefits –
- We visited Belgium and saw the Atomium in Brussels,
- We visited Luxembourg City,
- We saved a massive amount of money on tolls by not using French motorways, and
- We happened across the Vosges Mountains…
Stumbling across the Vosges Mountains was a great surprise! They are a really exciting area of France – great granite sport climbing with routes from grade 4 to 8 and up to 3 pitches long; there’s a whole bunch of brilliant cycle routes; and they are just generally a really beautiful area to be in. We stayed at a nice campsite right in Munster, a lovely little town.
I went out for a ride early the next morning up the closest of the big hills, the Petit Ballon, an “Hors Category” climb. It was a good 1000m climb to remind my leg muscles what they were in France for. 😉
When I got back to the campsite we decided to also sample the climbing, but we missed out on our opportunity in Munster to buy a local guidebook. However, luckily as we arrived at the car parking for the climbing (just by following our noses) there was a guy there who was clearly a climber with climbing shoes hanging from his rucksack. So I asked if the crag was easy to find and if the routes were identifiable. He was Swiss and spoke good English, so he understood me! Then explained that the previous day they’d hunted for the crag – even with the guidebook – for over an hour, even though it was only a ten minute walk from the car park. So they invited us to come with them to the cliff. We agreed, packed our sacks ultra quick, and joined them. We also took a few photos of topos in their book to help us find a few routes to enjoy before getting on with our journey to Bourg d’Oisans and my appointment with the Marmotte…
