High Adventure at the Bastille

When we first arrived in Grenoble, Ella and Katy spied the 'Acrobastille' - and adventure activity around the walls of the Bastille castle above our flat. But, like many of the outdoor activities, the Acrobastille was closed for the winter, and we have been gazing at it longingly every time we pass the Bastille for the last 3 months. Finally our patience has paid off - it re-opened yesterday, and so off we went. Wanting to conserve our energy for the activities, we caught the baubles (cable car) up to the top of the Bastille. Our timing, though, was poor - as we discovered the Acrobastille office had just closed for a one hour lunch break. Lazing around in the sun waiting tested the girls patience to the limit.

Finally, we bought our tickets. A variety of activities were on offer, but are restrictions applied. Unfortunately this meant that Katy was too young and small for the large ropes course. Instead, the girls started with Mission Bastille. The objective was to complete a challenge or solve a problem that unlocked the door to the next room. We stood outside watching their progress thanks to a series of cameras. Carefully avoiding stepping on the crocodiles the girls went only to retrace their steps a few times. Looking like they were stuck, Andy disappeared inside to help them. Turns out that they had crossed the room successfully, pushed the button but the door wouldn't open! The simple explanation - they were trying to pull the door when they should have pushed it! Andy was now committed to continuing on with them although apparently he was a bit hopeless setting off lasers (his bum was too big) and generally finding the tight spaces a challenge! Eventually the three successfully emerged.

 

The next activity was the Speleobox described as a real caving simulator offering 120m of tunnel in the dark. A one way route that had the girls twisting and contorting themselves in all different positions as they negotiated the various obstacles all in the dark. As you can see they found this fun too!

 

Next the ropes course. I followed Katy on the La galerie des sorcières (Gallery of the Witches), a rope course designed for the little ones. It is set within two arches of the Bastille and finished with a small zip line. It was all over before the others had started. Katy was pretty disappointed that the course was so easy and that she wasn't able to join the others on the much more exciting course. Ah c'est la vie Katy.

 

 

Meanwhile, Ella and Andy signed up the for the Acrobatic Course described as

• The Great Divide - Discover the fort on a route between ziplines, walkways and thwarting the pitfalls of different balance games.
• Airbastille - Two 300m zip lines have you flying over the glacier of the Bastille while enjoying panoramic views
• Via Acrobatica - An aerial journey that takes you along the wall of the fort 20+m above the ground.

Katy and I watched and encouraged them from below! The course scaled the side of the building before numerous crossings of the moat including a zip line or two! Unfortunately Airbastille, the very long zip lines were on wind hold. They continued on to Via Acrobatica, hoping to come back to the Airbastille later.

  

 

 

As you can see, the ropes course involves lots of interesting manoeuvres as well as a dash of courage! Ella nearly didn't make it across the hanging boulders (see below photo) as she struggled to reach the monkey bars!

 

Just around the corner from the above photos and out of our sight, the course traversed the side wall of the fort with a 20+m drop. With each challenge becoming slightly more difficult, Ella reached her limit at station #16/19 where you held on to a trapeze that was secured onto the end of a long wooden pole which then swung in an 180º arc. Andy was secretly pleased they turned back as he said he was getting close to his limits too! Luckily they only had to retreat two stations to an escape route. An adventure never to be forgotten!