UKH

In reply to Doug:

I first went to Cham in 1981 and the Biolay was oficially shut, but not for long. Some of my pals remembered it nostalgically. So when you went was probably during the transition when the Gendarmes were "discouraging" people from camping there (as they were later to do at Snell's, pushing everyone onto Pier d'Ortage (spelling?).

I remember sporadically seeing tents in the woods directly under the Midi cablecar, near the station, which folk told me was the Biolay, presumably with people trying to reclaim it.

In reply to Doug:

I camped for the last time there in 1975 so if it had gone by 76 there's your answer.

I went to have a walk down memory lane in 2002 and most of the lower parts of the Biolay had been replaced by a car park but up in the top parts in the pine trees where we used to camp I found the old familiar boulders and clearings, (where the big parachute was rigged in the trees some years) but no one was there.... and the familiar fetid smell in the woods above had gone too, which was a distinct improvement

In reply to Gavin Taylor: The Gendarmerie moved everyone from Snell's for a short period in 1976 & suggested we went to the area under the Midi - that wasn't the old Biolay site according to some 'veterans'(it was in the woods somewhere). Most folk moved back to Snell's after a week or so.

Bruce - the photo I linked to at the top was taken during my 'stroll down memory lane' in 2007 (see http://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/t.php?t=259502 )

In reply to Doug:

The Biolay was raided by the police in early July 1978 and everyone driven out. I arrived with Aberdeen Uni climbing (Lairig) Club 3 days later. We went to the police station and asked them about it. We much have hit a rare moment of weakness because they told us (strictly unofficially) that they weren't planning to raid it again that summer. So we camped there. I think after that year camping was only intermittent.

In reply to Andy Nisbet:

The Biolay was also raided in July 1976. We moved up to Argentiere, in the woods near the Montets 'phrique... site now built over.

In reply to Doug:

I think that Snell's field was used at the same time as the Biolay, at least we'd heard about it, but it didn't appeal because it was said to be crowded and without shade. The Biolay was actually very pleasant, nice little nooks and crannies with seat sized boulders, trees and such like. There was no water on the site but a tap not far away. Before being a "free" site I think it was a proper one and at the entrance there was a sort of bunk house or hotel that had shut down by the time I started going there, in 69.

We used to hide in the woods when the police came round, but they never seemed all that determined when I was staying there, just going through the motions.

In reply to Doug:Na, na, na, Doug ... in 1976 the place to be was the Biolay. Only wimps like Aid and Al Burgess camped at Snells! Even the Poles and Slovaks camped at the Biolay ... and they were the toughest of the tough!! It was most interesting and entertaining watching Andrej Zawada lurking about in the tree tops thumping his chest and pretending to be a gorilla ....We were also much tidier than those Snell's Slobs, what with our cute little plastic kitchens. At least we didn't poop in the forest - we had the station bog just down the path.

In reply to Bruce Hooker: The retaurant/hotel at the foot of the Biolay was operating in 1975 for sure ... Kingy and I used to eat our 'steak frites salads victory meals' there - cheaper than the Nash. Folk were camping in the vicinity of the biolay in 1978, but not at the original spot - closer to the 'frique lines I think. I remember hanging out with 'wee Kenny' and wee 'Dave' (and possibly Cubby??) there that year - together with 'Ping' (my chinese girlfrend Cheryl who was studying at Grenoble Uni).

So sounds like both the Biolay & Snell's were in use in the mid 70s, odddly I don't remember anyone talking about the Biolay still being used but do remember what's probably the same 'restaurant', with steak frites, plus wine for less than most places in the town centre (the only meal out we had during our stay)

In reply to Andy Nisbet:
last camped at the Biolay in 1980 with Strathclyde Uni

In reply to Andy Nisbet:

Hi Andy i was there when they raided it and have jsut written a story for Scotland on Sunday to celebrate the demise of the Snells Field days. It should be out by the end of the summer

Yours Duncan McCallum

In reply to duncan.mccallum@adventureconcept:

Duncan,

Let me know when it appears - I don't buy newspapers normally

In reply to duncan.mccallum@adventureconcept:
Would also like to know when its published, and to try & get a copy if its not on the webs ite (based in France so its impossible to buy Scottish papers)

Doug

ps is that the same Duncan McCallum I climbed the Frendo spur with in 1980 ?