Catalan Granite

It takes an office Christmas party to get some outdoor bouldering done. Although I heard last weekend's conditions were pretty good, there was not many weekend opportunities for a good bouldering session lately. Since I was going to spend the weekend in Barcelona with my workmates, I thought I might as well bring my climbing gear in case I would get a chance to try some of the already renowned Catalan granite. It is not very close to the city but I only had to carry my Mythos and a bottle of water so it was easy enough to go around.

The transport in Barcelona is clearly well developed. They have an equivalent of the Dart which leaves from the city centre (Plaza de Catalunya) every hour and follows the coast to the north. For approximately 4 euro you get a return train ticket to Vilassar de mar the closest place to the main area: Can Boquet. From the train station you must walk west towards the hills. It takes approximately 30mn by train and another 45mn on foot. Can Boquet is definitely the main spot but there are also a few other areas closer and further and the locals seem to be very busy developing the whole area:

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So as Arnie puts it: I’ll be back.

Epic spelling!

We all know that the French are "arrogant cheese eating surrender monkeys", and since they do not speak English, one should not take any interest in their language. Besides, le francais looks like a proto-logos directly coming from the world music section when you compare it with the internationally renown complexity of the English language.
This was the attitude adopted by the editors of the latest issue of the Irish Mountain Log who manage the impressive achievement of placing 3 different spelling of the word "Fontainebleau " within a square inch of paper: page 42 of the Winter 2007 edition. This has to be a record.
Maybe it is not fair to say that Fontainebleau is more famous than Fairy Head, Glendolugh or the Boren (annoying isn't it ?). After all, only a couple of thousand people climb there every weekend. Probably a little more if you include the Cuvier.
Still, such a clear lack of effort could lead to a very tricky diplomatic situation. After all Fontainebleau is still owned by the French, a alien concept to all these populations still ruled by such a great personality as Her Majesty the Queen of England, known to the French as "la reine des rosbiffs ". They could well decide to forbid the access to all non-french speakers, including some Belgian, Canadian, Swiss, Senegalese and so on.
So the following are a few tips for the Editors of the Irish Mountain Log (although they would be very useful to the editors of the Irish Times too):
1) Accents are like garlic , you only need a hint, not the whole bleeding bulb! Adding accents everywhere does not make it look " more French ". It just kills the taste.
2) Get yourself a computer with an Internet connection: this 21st century technology will give you access to an activity widely known as surfing the web. It incorporates online spelling tools such as the excellent http://www.wordreference.com/.
3) If you decide to misspell, be at least consistent. One can forgive your lack of interest, but it is harder to forget your lack of common sense.

PS: Anyone who finds a mispell in this post, please refrain being too critical: French people are at least as touchy as they are arrogant.