The 2012 Wild Swim France guide is one of the most well thumbed books on our shelves. It's been with us to France at least once every year that we’ve had it and provided us with countless memorable experiences that we'd not otherwise have had. But one thing was always clear when using it - France is a massive place and there were clearly plenty of spots that didn't appear in the book. This was clearly evident by a complete absence of any spots in the north of the country. Given that we travel to Fontainebleau for the bouldering at least once a year it was always a nagging irritation that there were no spots within a 3 hour drive of the area to aim for. We've explored over the years and found a few spots to cool off in around the town and forest, but this is where the power of a good guidebook is really very evident - we'd not found a great deal. The very first thing I did when the guide arrived this morning was to check the contents to see whether there were any spots in the north of the country. I am soooo excited that there are, with a whole cluster of them around Fontainebleau, some of those which we had already found, but others that look amazing which had been hidden pretty much under our noses!

 
As soon as we are allowed back into France this guide will be accompanying us!
 
For those not familiar with the Wild Swim guides produced by Wild Things Publishing they are brilliant. Somewhere between a pocket guide and a coffee table book they span both, with a wealth of maps, descriptions, geo-references and most importantly, stunning photographs of many of the spots. This is a second edition so includes many new spots, new photographs, and I am pleased to say, better, more detailed maps.
 
The guide retails at £18.99 and is arguably worth that price on the basis of a single swim in most of the spots described. Available from Wild Things Publishing

Other Wild Swim guides available from the ShAFF Bookshop

Ans lastly, here's the original review of the 2012 guide.