Its hardly started snowing but already are already thinking about the sun. So we are planning a wee spring diversion, a rock-climbing camp and coaching holiday in the Var region of the south of France....
if you like the sound of warm rock, rose' wines, lavender fields, and the sun of you back drop us a note.
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Spring Kick Start.
Rock Climbing lead and coaching camp
La Source, goes climbing in the green РCh̢teauvert (Var) Provence, France.
Who is it for…
For anyone climbing indoor or outdoors 5a (fr) and above
Where…
A week long lead and coaching camp held in the heart of French rock climbing, Provence. Chateauvert is one of the most beautiful climbing venues in the Var region of France.
When…
Sunday 18th fly in to Nice – leave from Nice, Sunday 25th
What…
With 200 routes to choose from it’s a chance to kick start your season with a week in the sun. The crag offers a wide range of routes suitable for all levels of climber, and is equally suitable for those with little outdoors experience as for those with a fairly high level.
In keeping with our philosophy we have selected this region and nearby town Correns as it was the first eco-or green village in France.
This will be a self catering week. We are going to be staying in fab Provencal Gite close to the crag and the villages of Bargiols and Correns, so we can each take turns at trying to outdo each other in the kitchen or slope out into the nearby villages to taste the deilights of French regional cooking.
How much…
€775 for the week, this includes transport from Nice Airport (1 Hour away) coaching, breakfasts and accommodation, and all gear except rock shoes.
Does not include
Crag food, dinners, flights, and extras such as postcards to jealous mates
Who with......
With Easyjet and host of other low-cost carriers
The article below prompted some thoughts
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/science/earth/18offset.html
The big question facing anyone traveling for a holiday that is "aware", is the carbon footprint of your travel. The argument for carbon offsetting i.e. paying into a fund which then invests in green solutions to limit emissions though promoting or developing green/eco technologies or initiatives as simple as planting trees which then in turn absorb CO2 is fraught with questions of effectiveness and accountability.
The arguments for offsetting are complex and confusing; is offsetting an emotional panacea providing guilt free travel or actually an effective solution for travelers. The answer seems to be somewhere in the middle.
Offsetting a flight will not immediately cancel out your emissions as the technology or incentives you are investing in, are often very long term projects, some 10-20 years away from producing tangible reduction or absorption results. Having said that it can be viewed as investment in a future greener world. But then it may well be too late.
So what do you do.
Firstly the numbers… according to
http://www.jpmorganclimatecare.com/
If you fly as a single person by car from London to Geneva you produce 0.19 to 0.26 tons of carbon depending on the efficiency and age of the aircraft
If you drive a 40mpg diesel car you produce roughly 0.28 tons of carbon.
Four people in the car produce 0.07 per person.
Taking the Train produces 0.07- 0.09 tons per person
So is fairly obvious. If you are travelling alone the train produces less carbon.
Practical advise…..
If you are you are on own and you have time, take the train.
If you have loads of friends, consider filling a well-serviced car
If you are flying, book a flight with a carrier who fly’s new planes with modern engines and who fly full aircraft.
If you feel that offsetting is a good solution for you, use a program verified by the approved by a United Nations certification program for reducing emissions, as Easyjet do.
The biggest point is, be aware and make lifestyle choices
ScienceDaily (Nov. 25, 2009) — Heart rate variability, a sign of a healthy heart, has been shown to be higher in yoga practitioners than in non-practitioners, according to research to be published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics.
Winter Prologue
A tremor of winter
heaving from the mountainside,
pushing eel fingers along the valley.
Skies smoking their shroud to grey.
Water moves, darkening. Trees downing
their ornaments. Bolets blackening
at the feet of great oaks, melding
with leaves heavying together, holding
the last liquid, a preface
to the rivers’ thickening.
All yellows and reds driven deep
into peat soft earth to sleep.
A buzzard, sky shark, sea-less,
lowers to the fields - stillness,
a quiet presence, layering the air.
Silence, the bridge tendered by autumn.
All wild things going to ground.
A season drawing down its brood -
shedding itself of all the year’s colour,
emitting a black echo
ahead of its soft white song.
Copyright 2009 Lisa Storm-Olsen
It's a 6b although it looks like 8b!
Sick of just arriving in a new place with a bump I decided to take the train from London to Cluses. And a good decision it turned out to be. Taking the 09.01 Eurostar from St Pancras took me to Paris Nord for 12.20. The 2hr20min journey was a pleasant one and flew by. To pick up the train to Annecy I had to change to Paris Gare Lyon station. This could be done by Metro or a 20 minute taxi ride, and feeling indulgent, this is what I did. My train to Annecy left at 13.50 so I had time to have coffee and a baguette and enjoy bustling Paris and the introduction to France.
The train to Annecy was luxurious in comparison with Eurostar (sorry!). The 3hr40min journey was a pleasure. The landscape changed from town to village to fields to rivers, streams and then the hills emerged. I had never been to the Alps, so creeping closer and the anticipation growing was exciting. Arriving at Annecy at 17.30 meant waiting an hour to catch the 18.26 to Cluses. Arriving at Cluses at 19.39 I was met by Saskia and my adventure begun. By now I was surrounded by beauty – the mountains, lush grass, flowers, trees, pretty chalets…it was endless. And the best part was that I felt as if I had savoured every moment. The drive to La Combe with the sun setting seemed to end the perfect day of travelling. By 20.00 I was seated at a dining table with a roomful of expectant strangers and feast before me. A fabulous welcome.
No words can do justice to the experience of the week. Everyone comes with their own motivations and looking to take something. It takes time to sink into the place and begin to absorb the energy that surrounds you. The moments that will stay with me are the yoga sessions outside where you can feel the sun on your skin and he grass beneath your feet. The walks that take you to beautiful places that change with every twist and turn of the path. And the food. The sumptious meals prepared every night were a joy to see and eat.
So taking the train home seems the ideal way to ease back into city life. Meandering past the villages and towns. The lakes and rocks will decrease, and be replaced by concrete and congestion. Home.
If there ever was a person so who was put on this earth with a clear path then it is Saskia – she just does what she does and it works. So I leave behind people with vision and clarity that is openly shared with others, should they choose to see it. J
Rita 23rd September 2009
This article about La Source was written by Amanda Astill
The House That Friendship Built
Ripped off by French builders Saskia Anley-McCallum refused to say goodbye to her dream of a home in the Alps. Instead she came up with a unique solution - relying on the kindness of strangers to help them build it…
With the French Alps sparkling against the crisp backdrop of blue skies, Saskia Anley-McCallum, 39, should have been enjoying the peaceful life she had craved. But work on the stunning Alpine farm she and her husband, Duncan McCallum, 48, were renovating had ground to a halt. Months ago, a digger had hacked a vast crater outside the farm, where beautiful meadows should be. The hole was still there. The toilet was no longer working, and whilst Saskia had come up with an innovative, if not basic, bin bag system, it was a nightmare. Her two children, Miki Bee, 8, and Jay, 6, viewed their new life as one big adventure, but the roller coaster ride had finally derailed. Speaking to lawyers, the reality finally sunk in. The building company they’d put all their faith in had gone bust – taking a big chunk of their budget. It looked like their dream of a new life was over. Unless Saskia could come up with a radical solution…
Facing a bleak winter, it was a far cry from the glittering city life she’d enjoyed the previous year in 2006. With homes in London and Edinburgh, Saskia enjoyed a jet setting lifestyle as a film director. Happily married with two beautiful children, from the outside life looked perfect. But behind the closed doors of her five-bedroom house she felt worn out from juggling motherhood and a hectic career. She says, “I went back to work three months after having my first baby. I’d take a breast pump on shoots and even courier milk home from the set.”
Deep down she knew she wanted a different life. “I yearned for the simplicity of the family life I had enjoyed as a child,” she says. “My father finished work at 3pm, and we’d walk into the village together to buy vegetables.”
At breaking point, during a skiing holiday in the Alps at the end of 2006 Saskia made a decision. She had to quit the rat race. Despite her husband’s misgivings, he agreed to move to the Alps for a year. Renting their house out, he could run his successful adventure sports design company remotely – and Saskia could finally spend quality time with the kids.
Overshadowed by Mont Blanc, with vivid green meadows that appeared to be in high definition colour, Saskia and her family felt like they’d landed in paradise. Samoens, the small village they’d settled in was like stepping back in time. “I’d walk into the village and everyone would smile at me and strike up conversation – unlike London. After picking the kids up from school, we’d go apple picking in nearby orchards. Every day I had a different invitation to pop in for a coffee or have a glass of wine. The sense of community was incredible, and a world away from the isolation of city life.”
After three months, the family decided to stay for good.
Now all they had to do was find their dream home. They’d already seen a perfect place - a massive 400 square metre alpine farm on the sunny side of the mountain, but unfortunately it had recently been sold. So when they discovered the sale had fallen through, they leapt at the chance to buy it. Friends, however, thought they were crazy to take the project on. Especially as they had decided to make the renovations eco friendly, making the cost of the building work e400,000 on top of the e530,000 purchase price. “I didn’t have a clue about renovating a farm,” Saskia admits. “And Duncan was virtually allergic to DIY. But I’d already fallen in love with the place; Built in 1865, the vast space of the barn, with its curving beams and shafts of clear mountain sunlight streaming in, felt like the perfect antidote to the claustrophobia of city homes I’d lived in before.”
On a recommendation, they hired a French building company to take care of everything. All Saskia had to do was sit back and watch her dream home be built. But right from the start, the French firm appeared suspiciously inept. “There was no project manager, just a bunch of itinerant builders on site, mooching in through our kitchen with dirty boots. With no health and safety regulations in place, the site had become a death trap,” says Saskia. In desperation, she spent hours researching eco renovations and trying to account for the e180,000 they had already paid in advance. By the winter of 2007, the situation became critical when she discovered the shocking news that the firm had gone bust. “I put the phone down and sat sobbing,” she recalls. “There was nothing we could do. The manager had run off leaving his wife and six children behind. Our money was gone.”
Without enough cash to complete the renovations, their dream was in tatters. But despite these setbacks, there was one ray of light. During all the chaos, Saskia had put an ad on community website Gumtree.com to find an au pair. A gorgeous Kiwi called David had replied, turning up wearing a rock t shirt. But he was more than a handsome face - he was also a Godsend to the family. In the evenings, he’d strum Tender is The Night by Blur as he sat underneath the canopy of mountain stars, making Duncan and Saskia feel like the life they’d dreamed of wasn’t quite lost. He even decided to take on the garden, turning the mud bath back into its beautiful natural glory. Through the website Saskia found a replacement au pair, Petra, who also felt more like a member of the family, than staff. It gave Saskia a radical idea.
She decided to start a commune – advertising for members on Gumtree. The plan was to offer people the chance to experience community life in exchange for helping build the house. It sounded like a crazy idea, but an experience from her youth inspired her. “After university, I’d worked as an Outward Bound instructor in America, where we taught people to live in the woods with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” she remembers.
This simple life, where people pulled together to survive, had struck a chord with her. But in the consumer-driven world of London she’d forgotten about these ideals. Could her Alpine farm be the place to resurrect them? “If I was so desperate to escape city life I reasoned there must be others who felt the same – even builders!” Saskia says.
“Come and live in an adventure sports paradise, work hard and play hard on an eco renovation of an old farm in the Alps,” the ad read, as Saskia pinged it into cyberspace, wondering if she’d get any replies. Within minutes the responses flooded in, and over the next few weeks hundreds of people replied, desperate for the chance of adventure and to swap their settled life for a new experience.
Instinctively, Saskia knew the people who would fit in with the family. “We were looking for people drawn to the adventure sports and the challenge of an eco build,” she says.
By April 2007, ten people from all around the world were travelling to join them.
Some of the recruits were surprising. When Chris, 27, the owner of a plastering company in Yorkshire arrived, after driving the entire distance in his white van, he looked every inch like a typical Brit builder. Short, but stocky, with cropped blonde hair and a vivid scar on his face, he usually spent his evenings down the pub having a pint. How would he cope living in a ‘hippy commune’? But he had hidden depths. “You wouldn’t expect to find a vegetarian builder from Scarborough, but we did,” Saskia laughs. “He’d been glassed in the pub, and it had been the final straw for him – he wanted a new life.”
Having left school at fifteen with dyslexia and no qualifications he’d never read a book before. Within days, he was devouring Autobiography of a Yogi.
Right from the beginning, everyone instantly bonded. The family stayed in their cramped quarters in the habitable rooms of the farmhouse, and the rest of the commune slept in the open space of the barn, with only sleeping bags for beds. But no one complained – instead they were excited by the adventure they had embarked on.
“I wanted to fulfil my promise and make it a life-changing experience,” says Saskia, “Every morning we all woke up at seven, walking through the dew of the early morning meadows until we got to the nearby lake – where I would teach an outdoor yoga class. I’d taken classes in London, but no one else had done yoga before - they loved it though.”
After a breakfast of homemade bread and local fruit, work would begin at eight with everyone throwing themselves into the challenge. Two local builders, Pierrick and Victor, had also joined the commune, and they passed their expertise onto those who weren’t builders by trade. But the fun began when the commune workers knocked off at five. “We had a big wooden farmhouse table in the kitchen, and everyone would gather round in the evening to eat dinner, which we would all take it in turns to cook. Sharing simple meals like pesto pasta, under the glow of candlelight was magical,” says Saskia. “Afterwards, we’d gather round and tell stories, strumming guitars and singing songs. It felt like travelling in your own home. I couldn’t believe how lonely and stressed out my life had once been.”
As the house progressed, life became easier. Soon the commune workers had walls to sleep within, and when David built a sixty metre decked area, it became an impromptu outdoor dance floor for the commune. “We’d have BBQ’s outside, and afterwards it would became a disco, with everyone dancing like crazy under starlight. Neighbours and locals often popped by to join in with the festivities,” says Saskia. “Everyone was on an amazing journey together. Travellers such as Paul, 28, – who’d come from Australia to join us – said they’d never felt such a community spirit in their lives. No one was motivated by money, which felt liberating.”
At weekends Duncan would take everyone biking and climbing, making the most of the incredible landscape around them. “The kids were in their element too, and they loved being surrounded by people giving them attention. They were also very independent,” says Saskia. “It wasn’t like living in a city where you had to keep them close. They were free to run about and play. At six-years-old, Miki Bee would walk quarter of a mile through fields to visit her little friend at a neighbouring farm.”
Of course, not everything went smoothly. “Mostly everyone got on, but there could be arguments. One of the guys slept with a local girl another commune member had his eye on. They didn’t talk to each other for a week, which was awkward. But they soon made it up, and it was never mentioned again. Some disagreements are only to be expected.”
By November 2008 the house was complete – built with an invisible framework of friendship. It was a beautiful five-bedroom conversion with a mezzanine area, which meant it could sleep twelve. It felt like their extended family home. Ricky and Andy, from the UK, decided to stay with the family. But one by one the other commune members had to return back to their lives, bidding each other sad goodbyes. Some returned back home and set up their own businesses, whilst others, like Chris, were inspired to live differently. “With long sun-kissed blonde hair and a healthy tan, you would hardly recognise the person who arrived,” says Saskia. “Instead of returning to Yorkshire, along with another commune member, he headed for India.”
Life for Saskia and her family had irrevocably changed too. Afterwards she took five weeks off – the first time she had ever been apart from her kids – to train as a yoga teacher. Now, the farm is an eco retreat where people can take yoga classes and head off on rock climbing and skiing expeditions to renew themselves. It’s still run by the principles of the commune – shared meals and the soothing sound of sinagalongs drifting through the alpine valleys, bringing strangers together. “I’m happier than I could have ever imagined,” admits Saskia. “I don’t miss my successful city career for one minute. There’s more to life than money – and this beautiful farmhouse proves it.”
www.sourcealps.com
www.adventureconcepts.net
Another special week of Yoga at La Source… We had 4 wonderful Irish women across 2 generations, and a lovely American traveller. Back at base, there was also a group doing rock climbing, hiking, a journalist from The Guardian (so look out for us in the Travel Section) and a journalist from Adventure Travel Magazine. From the first night, everyone was excitedly chatting as though they had known each other for weeks!
Rain was forecast for 3 days, but every morning, we woke up and the sun peeped through the clouds until (at least) after our morning yoga practice by the lake. We were only forced indoors one morning and the dojo is so calming that it was hardly a sacrifice!
So, as always at La Source, the weeks are spontaneous and adventurous. We skipped the overnight in a refuge due to the impending storm, but the girls did a day hike up instead. It was only the promise of hot lemon tart and Gina’s Reike that got everyone to the top and it was well worth it for the views and satisfaction. It was also good training for Sarah and Miriam’s little involuntary adventure… They ended up getting lost one afternoon and hiking miles up a dead end canyon.
By the end of the week it was close to 30 degrees in the sunshine. The Irish gals were in bliss and could not get enough warm rays.
My cousin John – mountain legend and free spirit was here leading the rock climbing. He spent 10 years studying White Crane – a gentle form of martial art so we did a White Crane yoga session by the Lake one morning. A lovely ancient French woman passing on her bicycle stopped and started to mimic our actions. We invited her into our circle and she practiced with us for a little white. We had other guests, like the neighbors cows, and a few goats. Of course Java, our dog showed us all up doing downward dog.
Everyone made great progress with the yoga. The grass really helped give confidence to those a little anxious about headstand. The group were experienced yogi’s and we managed to get quite experimental with postures and in meditation. We drew upon Deepak Chopra’s 7 daily spiritual laws of Yoga.
After some serious hikes and 3 hours of yoga a day, the girls decided to have an afternoon treating themselves to Shiatsu massages by our local Tai Chi master. He describes where one holds tension and the emotional aspects of physical tension which ties in well with the yoga. He kindly offered to lead us in an interesting Dance of Shiva – a sort of a meditative Tai Chi Dance which was a novel experience. It is amazing what you come across deep in the countryside!
