After a late night ferry crossing, 1 car, 2 people, 2 bikes and 2 boats arrived in Calais ready for an adventure. Dropping by Paris (only 300km away) seemed like a good idea, so we spent the early hours driving round the empty city. By the time we arrived at the Eiffel Tower it was dawn and we made our way south just as the morning traffic started.
2 hours of sleep later and several more hours of driving we hit the alps! A glass of wine or two before putting up the tents and we had arrived.
The next day more happy campers came and we tested our boats out on the nearby lake, before taking on our first Alpine river – the Durance – the day after. The Durance was great – turquoise blue waters, birds of prey wheeling overhead and Big and Bouncy Wave Trains the whole way down! In fact it was so good that we did it again on the Tuesday!
On Wednesday people went their separate ways: Some of the crazier paddlers headed off to tackle the Guil gorge section (one part of which Andy apparently decided to do on his head). Other (perhaps even crazier) people flung themselves and their bikes down the mountain in full body armour. Sarah and I decided to go to Italy for an icecream. It seemed like the safer option, but rally car driving skills were required to negotiate the narrow winding mountain passes. We climbed to over 2800 metres, saw 10 marmots and a camel, and sampled 3 flavours of icecream! Success!
Back on the water for the next couple of days, we were joined by Niki and Bill from York Canoe Club. On the Thursday we did the Upper Guil – with lots of eddy hopping and fantastic views of Chateaux Queryas as we neared the get out.
On Friday we headed for the Ubaye, where we pretty much all practiced our swimming and boat retrieval skills! But any nominations for swimmer of the year were more than compensated for by the surrounding mountains, non-stop rapids and paddling (or swimming) through the gorge and under the Roman bridge.
We headed to Embrun that evening for Mussels night and stumbled on some traditional French dancing. The rather heighty Duncan dancing with the rather less tall 6 year old was quite a sight to behold.
Saturday there was still time for some more downhill mountain biking and walking before Martina and I set off back on the long road to Calais. It was hard to leave the Alps and all the others still having fun.
All in all, spectacular scenery, fabulous company and great paddling!
Highlights:
Andy (said casually) ‘Sanne, is that your table on fire?’
Sarah being picked up by her BA by a French raft guy and then, realising it wasn’t one of his rafters, cast like a sack of potatoes into the eddy
Waking up to coffee and fresh pain au chocolat every morning (even when we were sleeping on the side of the motorway) – thanks Martina!
So… Same time, same place, next year, anyone?
