Day 14, Friday, Isere by Stuart T

Having arrived at the Bourg St Maurice campsite the previous evening, we had unpacked and set up the LCC campsite.

The campsite is fantastic, based next to the river.  Featuring its immaculate shower block and bistro.

All for the sum of 3 euros each per night, brilliant.

The river is dam-fed, with one am and one pm release (all at no cost). Today’s release was to be around 30 Cumec`s.

Following our breakfast, Roy, Keith, Nicky, Martin, Sarah, and Stuart made their way to the get in, 30 meters from the tents.

The river is classed grade 4, so the water gradually builds in intensity, it is big volume, with lots of stoppers, pour-overs and boulders to avoid.

Having paddled together for two weeks, we worked well as a team, taking frequent stops in the not-so-frequent eddies.

Those paddling low-volume boats were having more of a view of the sky at times.

After the Aimes rapid, named after the nearby town, we met up with lots of rafts and their supporting safety kayakers.

We then arrived at the gorge section, where the currents formed a huge recirculating eddy that was difficult to escape.

At this point, the rafts all stopped and allowed their clients to climb the high walls and jump into the deep water.

With one last tough wake-up rapid, we made it to the get-out, 20 kilometres and 2 and a half hours later.

Some of the team went for ice cream to celebrate, while Steve had kindly agreed to pick us up.

One of my favourite rivers. 

More photos……