[countyyoungin]

I’m heading to Annott in France today, going to do some bouldering, anyone got any good knowledge?

[i.munro]

Been a few times now. What do you need to know?

[countyyoungin]

Few things really, are guides available there? How’s does their B system work? And can you walk to the boulders straight from the town? Cheers can’t find any info on the interweb

[Serpico]

http://abloc.org/index.php?type=2
Their B system is based on the old Peak district B grades.
I wouldn't recommend walking, from memory the better areas are further up the hill.

[countyyoungin]

Brilliant thanks, I heard you can rent pads from a tabacco shop?

[i.munro]

There is a series of well-documented areas up a gravel track see http://abloc.org/   you can walk up from town but it was taking us ~ 2 hours  (we're slowish )once we'd got the route sorted & it's all uphill. I wouldn't take the driving route though, as there's a footpath from almost opposite the campsite  Watch out though it's really easy to get lost. You can also walk via a  spectacular old Roman road  although it "may" be slightly further, Some of those areas have been battered by the usual mix of chalk and carelessness to such a state that I'd avoid though - scary movie IIRC.

Topos are available at the tourist info, I think, or we left printouts at the campsite that they may still have.

I think there's a conversion chart for B grades on that site.

There is also some bouldering areas left from the annual festival http://annotabloc.com/ We found 2 of these areas (we think). The walk is better but prob ably still 1-1.5 hours  and the rock seemed much better as well. No chalk , no wear at all. OTOH it was pretty "wild" no other climbers and no way of getting a car in if you get injured. A v.long brush would also have been useful as there was a lot of topping out into dead leaves. I did say that if I went back I was going to take a thin rope as well . I bottled out of several things as it wasn't obvious how I'd get down afterwards. There seem to be topos for the areas on the web site but we couldn't work out which ones we'd managed to find from that.

[countyyoungin]

That’s brilliant, thanks for that man it’ll be really useful!

[i.munro]

If you need more detail just yell.

[Ged]

So is it a good area then? Worth part of a trip with wife and baby? Nice area?

[i.munro]

The mediaeval vilage is impressively well-preserved if you like that sort of thing but it's a tiny place.
Once you've seen that, outside of walking or climbing the only rest-day option is sunbathing on the pebbles by the river.

The walking in the surrounding forests is stunning! The forest even makes Bleau look a bit ho-hum but there's a lot of steepness involved not sure how that'd be with a baby.

As for the climbing,  I enjoyed it, but don't expect a 2nd Fontainebleau (  nowhere is sadly)  it's nothing like as "convenient" each secteur is pretty small and the style is a lot closer to an indoor wall. There's some good stuff but also a lot that isn't. Particularly , as someone said the in the lower areas on the gravel track ("Piste de Argenton") where the usual combo of not cleaning feet, chalk and brushing  has already wrecked some areas.

[countyyoungin]

It’s a really cool area, we boulderd today after a couple of days of sport and I think bar a few gems in the forest the short sport routes might be the main attraction, mind I’m sure there’s still a lot to develop in the area.

We didn’t see too much bad ticking or non brushing but the scoops in the feet reminded me of Bowden doors, it could do with some TLC. It’s worth a visit, although with a child the walk up may be a bit much

[ghisino]

imho the (trad) crack climbs are the main attraction in annot!

many of the pocketed sport routes are chipped even though it isn't obvious to tell which pockets are artificial.
Nice limestone sport not far away (st jean)

[countyyoungin]

Yeah we wandered up and had a look at the trad, the cracks are amazing. Yes some of the “pockets” are definitely  drilled which feels a bit naff to be fair. Think we’ll be going to the verdon for a few days now, do some multi pitchin’. It’s still a great area though, just a shame about the drilling