Monday, May 29, 2006

Froggatt

Est une falaise de gritstone au Peak District. Pour moi, c'est la falaise mythique de mon echange erasmus avec l'universite de Nottingham il y a bien longtemps. Premiere sortie avec le club d'escalade de l'universite, un weekend de noel ou il faisait tres froid, ma derniere sortie avant le retour en France.


Depuis, je n'y retourne pas tres souvent. Je tiens a preserver mes souvenirs, du temps ou la grimpe, surtout a l'anglaise, etait une decouverte.


Et pourtant j'y suis retourne hiers, avec des copains grimpeurs de Loughborough. Ce fut une belle journee d'escalade, car j'ai fait deux voies qui me rappelent bien des souvenirs. Je les ai faites en bon style, sans me faire peur, en etant bien avec le rocher.


Chequer's buttress est une voie superbe, tout en equilibre, avec ce qu'il faut d'engagement et d'exposition pour oublier qu'on n'est que 10 metres au dessus du sol et se faire des sensations de grandes voies. J'ai ete emerveille la premiere fois, en decembre 92 quand Pete a assure la moitie du club depuis le haut, par un froid de canard. Et c'est encore meilleur quand on la fait en tete. Cliquez sur l'image pour voir la sequence.



Tody's wall est d'un style completement different. Il y a un mechant reta en dessous d'un vilain bombe. Il faut mettre le pied a hauteur de son oreille et faire un "rockover". Pour les mains, une prise fuyante qui ne tient que grace a l'adherance du gritstone. A l'epoque, je ne m'imaginais pas capable de faire un tel mouvement, mais maintenant ca passe.



Un grand merci a Scott et Rayan qui m'ont assure, a Jono pour les photos, et a Sharleen pour le sourire. Le weekend prochain on remet ca!

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

So much to do and so little time...

And i've done quite well since coming back from the Alps. It must be all the extra blood cells...


However, all my non-work computer time has been devoted to processing the Cham-Zermatt pictures. I thought I would have a slide show on line by now. Well, it needs the commentary. In the meantime, here are two of the best pics:





Saturday, May 13, 2006

Failed

Worn off brake disk, faulty exhaust gasket: No car for a while. And i won't be able to afford weekends in the Alps with Oliver, one of the very few things that keep me sane at the moment.


So onto the bike. After messing with it for 20min, i realised that i didn't't have a hope in hell to fix it without a trip to the shop. Borrowed my housemate's car for a quick tour around town, the only bike shop open only sells mountain bike tyres. Stuffed, i won't tackle a 3-4 hours return bike ride to work on less than a perfect bike.


So i sit at home uploading pictures of last week ski expedition, waiting to see if i can get a lift to work. Maybe i should pull a sickie? The way things are, i won't have much choice...

Friday, May 12, 2006

Car Worries

I have neglected my beloved Mystery Machine lately. So it was no surprise that i didn't't realise that the MOT was due during my ski holiday. As you can imagine, planned to rush it through all the checks i can do myself before bringing it to the testing station on my return.


I had not planned on it being so reluctant to run, let alone to start. The fault was traced to worn off plugs, and more worryingly, corroded HT leads. Having replaced them, i am not worried about the emission test. That leaves the old tyres, the brakes, etc...


I'm dropping the car at the testing station on my way to take the train to London. If it fail, i might have to cycle to work tomorrow. wait, the bike has a puncture too!




It's not supposed to look like this




Coming Soon




Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Corinne

I'm an uncle. So far, when she doesn't sleep or eat, she smiles. Isn't she cute!