Multiday Open Canoe Trip to Massif Central – France 2023
Le LCC Grand Tour of the Gorges of France (AKA – Herg’s Adventures of Spongy)
The plan was born, Liverpool Canoe Club open boaters were going to France to paddle the Grand Tour of French gorges – the Gorge du Tarn, the Ardèche Gorge and the Allier Gorge. These are all fantastic rivers in the Central Massif and are described in the fluffy guide.
Ahead of the trip, we booked the first night’s campsite and the campsite in the Ardèche Gorge. Everything else would-be ad-hoc – exciting!
8 boaters, in 3 cars and one trailer set off for the long drive south. Some decided to do the run in one go (swapping drivers), and others decided to take longer and stop en route.
Towing the trailer, we opted for the motorway route – driving through Paris at about 3 am we had the fun of swerving around the pedestrians on the motorway, later we passed the Eiffel Bridge and marvelled at the scenery we passed through.
We arrived at the first campsite (Camping Le Pont du Tarn) which was our launch spot and began setting up camp for the night / ordering the pain au chocolate for the morning – French campsites are so much more civilised, even if they don’t always have toilet seats or toilet paper. This was a good campsite, it had both!
Once everyone had arrived, we began the shuttle. Perhaps I should have looked at the route before blindly following the sat nav, but what a route as we went up onto the plateau, across the top and then,……. followed the narrow road as it went over the cliff edge into a series of very tight switchbacks down 600m of the cliff to the river. I must admit that given I was in an 11m long car and canoe trailer combo, I had a slight hesitation as I passed the signs saying no trucks over 6m long and no car & caravans (hey, I was towing a canoe trailer) that perhaps that this wasn’t the best vehicle to be driving down said road. But what a road!
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Once in the gorge, we followed the river to camping Huttopia at the Pas de Soucy river constriction (not paddleable). In our best schoolboy French, we asked if we could leave our cars and trailer here whilst we paddled the river and that we would then stay the night once we arrived in 2 or 3 days. Luckily, they agreed!
Then it was back via the valley route to the start – time for food and bed!
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Multiday Open Canoe Trip to Massif Central – France 2023
France 2023 Tarn Day 1 – Le Pont du Tarn down to Montbrun and then Castelbouc Campsite. Grade 2(3) by Nikki
Having all arrived at the Le Pont du Tarn campsite within an hour or so of each other the day before and shuttled the cars to the get-out at Pas de Souci, we woke up on Sunday morning refreshed and raring to go.
After some discussion (while eating pain au chocolat) about how much walking we’d be doing as the river levels were low, we launched from the campsite for day 1 of a 3-day expedition, sorry “exploration”. Following last summer’s use of a secret code word on the Farndon Canoe Trip. When one of the party uttered it, all those who heard were required to jump overboard to cool off. Nikki had decided to set the secret code word for this trip to “cliff”. This was to be a tour of some of the best gorges in France – not much chance of spotting many craggy outcrops!
The river was shallow and shingly in places but never too low.
The section from Le Pont du Tarn down to Montbrun is described as a grade 2(3) and was easy paddling with a few pool easy rapids; just enough to keep it interesting. The sun was shining, and the scenery was beautiful, although nothing compared to what was to follow.
There is only one rapid that gets a specific mention on this section of the river and I found it. Everyone in the vicinity heard the bang as I hit the big rock on the river’s left.
From Montbrun, we continued down to Castelbouc (approx 21km total).
Shortly before Castelbouc we saw a rope swing hanging from a bridge with a ladder to climb out. I climbed up the ladder only to discover the rope wouldn’t reach, so I climbed back down and as I swam to my canoe, I mentioned a “cliff” and triggered an all-in swim… or not, as only Keith joined me in the water!
After dinner, we headed across the river to explore the small and very quaint village of Castelbouc, where the houses are built into the rock and a castle sits high above the village and river.
Paddlers: Keith, Ian, Mike, Ruth, Martin, Nikki, Andy, Graham & Spongy
An excellent write up thanks