Time in Reconnaissance - Burgoyne Rock Climbing

I was in Paris for work and Kate and the girls joined me for the Easter break.  We planned some French language and history tutoring and Kate was happy to hang out and hit the galleries and Ada was happy to go along.

Beautifully presented fresh radishes at Beaune markets

“Time in reconnaissance is seldom wasted” so said my instructors at Royal Military College and I have said it often enough in the last 28 years that Kate has taken to using the phrase. It was the Easter long weekend or Paques as it is known in France which gave us the opportunity to head out of the City and explore the countryside.  

The market square in Beaune, everthing you could imagine
including fresh gluten free bread

A climbing partner of mine, Brian (Henry), was very partial to long sports climbing trips to France.  I often recalled him recounting stories of climbing life in Beaune, the main wine town in the Burgoyne or Burgundy as it is known to the Brits. So Kate and I decided that a reconnaissance to Beaune over the long weekend was a good idea.

Nothing like a fresh sandwich after a French market trip

Beaune is a picturesque tourist town with dozens of “cave de vin”, restaurants, charcuteries, boulangeries and patisseries set on cobblestone streets inside old city walls. We travelled down on a regional train from Paris and hire a Fiat Panda locally.  Our three nights were spent at Pat and Co a well renovated and nicely decorated two bedroom apartment we found on Air BnB. It was very close to the market centre where most of the restaurants, bars and shops are located.

The standard of restaurants in Beaune was very high if you were a non-vegetarian but in some instances, in true French style, the service was a little patchy.  Kate and I can thoroughly recommend  Le Popiettes, where the food was excellent and had some good vegitarian options and Les part de Anges which had great food and excellent service.  All restaurants had expansive wine lists but you had little change from 50 euro when ordering at the lower price point for wine. For a great little wine bar with a wonderful host and beautiful charcuterie and cheese platters try Le Bistrot du Coin.

Our favourite spot for a drink with an excellent host and great bar food

The chilly Mount Rome, lucky we were in the morning sun! 
Ada was the photograher and she takes interesting shots, 
often of her own body parts

In addition to the vineyards of the Cote de Beaune and Cote de Nuits, above the Premium and Grand Cru, the hills are lined with predominantly single pitch limestone crags with thousands of well developed routes.  One of the best parts was the foliage around the crags which was soft and fragrent, much different to Australia and the Middle East

The historic centre of Dijon

I was desperate to get out for a climb but the first day was lost to rain so we visited the regional capital of Dijon and sampled some of the local produce and wandered around the historic city centre.  

At this point all feeling in my fingers had been lost

Easter Sunday broke fine, cold and clear and Ada, Kate and I set off to explore the cliffs. I decided on Mount Rome as it was close and would catch the morning sun.  Kate did not dress well for the cold and looked something like an itinerant Roma with a pashmina wrapped around her thin yoga pants.  At least Ada and I were more suitably attired for the conditions.

Kate using Ada to stay warm

We geared up and roped up on a 5C “warm up” route for the 5 deg C day.  Unfortunately, within a few metres of the ground I could no longer feel my fingers because of the cold limestone and by the top of the route I had no idea what I was gripping at all.  It was a bit of a rude reminder of the challenges to cold weather rock climbing. Like many French crags, the route was well equipped with glue in bolts and the limestone was rough and far from polished.

Burgoyne or as the Brits prefer, Burgandy, from the summit of Mount Rome

Egg hunting at Chateau de Sully

Ada then set off on the easy lower section and showed great determination in battling the cold to the mid-point of the route. By the time Ada lowered off you could see the cyanosis on Kate’s lips and we had an Easter egg hunt awaiting so it was time to leave.  I declared the climbing trip a reconnaissance and we called it quits with an intention to try to get back to the area in summer.

The green house at Chateau de Sully

The rest of the day was spent on an Easter egg hunt at the grand Chateau de Sully before returning for a pleasant evening in Beaune.  The next day it was a three hour trip on a busy train back to Paris.  I hope to get back there in summer and I am sure that our time in reconnaissance would not have been wasted!