French Alps 2019 paddling trip Day 07 The Lower Durance by Ian Bell After the late finish yesterday on the Ubaye we had a lazy start today. The plan being to have some time on the campsite and then leave late morning to do the Sunshine run later in the day even though the weather forecast was suggesting that it would be in the rain rather than the sun. The morning was spent on the campsite, for some this was a chance to rest whilst others visited local shops for supplies. More importantly there was a significant amount of time spent repairing boats. The most serious being Martin`s which required a major weld to the hull. Fortunately, Dom had all the required equipment to do the job. This was also a useful opportunity for others to learn how to do these types of repairs. They will be examined on this later in week to see if they hold. As we approached departure time, an amendment was made to have lunch on the campsite and then paddle. This gave some members opportunity to play a rather competitive game of Pictionary, which was won by Keith and Hannah. At 12:30 the bus and cars finally left for the river with 14 potential paddlers. Only 13 finally paddled as one member who shall remain nameless forgot some key items of his kit. He went on to spend the afternoon in Embrun sightseeing. We finally got started paddling around 2pm with a warmup on the slalom course at St Clement. This was at a good level and more and more of the team were starting to get more adventurous on the play waves. After the slalom course we set off down the main river towards the Rabioux Wave. On arrival at the “Rab wave” […]

French Alps 2019 paddling trip Day 6b The Ubaye Racecourse by Ron Wood After lunch we headed over to the racecourse section of the Ubaye, an exciting and technical river which today was a series of pretty constant grade 3-4 rapids. Overnight rain must have churned up the silt turning it to a mushroom grey colour to give it an uninviting look and covered the rocks just enough to catch-out even the best of kayakers. After a nervous wee and an eiree silence in the eddy under the bridge. Groups of 4 set off down the first drop in sight of the get in – John did a speedy self rescue, putting the rest of the groups at ease of not being the first swimmer of the day and helping to focus the mind on the task ahead. The next victim of the grey mushroom soup was Sarah who had had a flash back to being back on the minibus and had fallen asleep. Another broken go-pro to add to her list!! We took the rapids one at a time, regrouping at the bottom of each. Suddenly in front Helen seemed to succumb to river leaders curse. She had dropped sideways off a rock and ended lay flat on her back deck with her face grating against the hard river bed. Safe out of the water we realised her paddle was missing. Strong and hard as nails as usual and with a bleeding lip Helen was composed enough to indicate where her paddle was left. With luck after a few minutes it popped out and was quickly recovered by Nikki, and we were on our way again. Stuart found some cracking lines at the infamous “sharks tooth”, running one rapid masquerading as a submarine and later on he managed to […]

French Alps 2019 paddling trip Day 6a The Upper Ubaye by Ron Wood On Friday we had an early start, setting off at 8 am to take the very scenic route to the Ubaye valley, stopping en-route for some geological sightseeing. There was a rather disgruntled fisherman at the get in, but he soon headed home when he realised that it was past 10am and time for the kayakers to take to the river. The morning saw us take a pleasant bimble along the Upper Ubaye to warm up for the afternoon. It was a bit on the low side, grade 3-, with some waves where the group attempted some surfing high fives but it looked more like they were doing a poor rendition of the chicken dance. Too many boulders over many seasons resulted in a split in Martins boat. This was in the same place as for all Pyranha kayaks, under the seat. A quick repair at lunchtime with Denso tape was good enough so that he could carry on for the racecourse run in the afternoon (ish). More photographs……….

French Alps 2019 paddling trip Day 5 Glacier Blanc and Tour de France by John Rasquinha Today was a day for something different from paddling after most people had spent 4 days on the water, though still with an early start, setting off from the campsite at 7am. The plan was to do the traditional annual walk up to the Glacier Blanc situated within the Ecrins national park. The huge glacier runs down from an altitude of 4015 metres and can be up to 250 metres deep in parts. We began our walk up the path with glacier meltwater forming fast flowing streams and rivers coming down the mountainside alongside us. Starting early meant most of the way up was in shade and the cool morning air. We stopped for the traditional group photo on the bridge halfway and then proceeded up to the refuge at a height of 2550m and once there enjoyed some nice cool drinks and more fruity French tarts. Unfortunately, by the time we were heading back down to sun was high in the sky and we had a very, very hot walk back down, requiring another drink stop at the bottom. Whilst most of us had gently been working our way up and down, Michael and Hannah had decided to jog instead in very impressive times, looking well rested by the time the rest of us caught up! After finishing the walk, we were able to time a visit to Briancon where the Tour De France was scheduled to pass through for stage 18 which was an exciting experience! After navigating to a hill climb viewing point, we managed to see the competitors powering up along with their entourage of support vehicles, and even got to see one of the swiftly executed bike-swaps right in […]

French Alps 2019 paddling trip Day 4 Slalom Course and Upper Guisane by Nikki Aldridge The morning started with some people playing on the slalom course and others playing on SUPs on the lake… success stories all around. After a fairly relaxed morning and lunch at the campsite, we headed off to find a river… the Upper “Insane” Guisane. It started from a precarious launch spot and we were soon on our way, dodging rocks and following the water. In no time at all, we reached ‘S-Bend’. After some jungle bashing we eventually found our way to the top of the rapid and went to inspect. A few sensible people portaged while the less sensible people tackled the (quite long) rapid in small groups. It was big and fast with lots of rocks to dodge and smiles all around at the bottom. We regrouped in slightly calmer water and carried on, only to find out shortly after that Neil had disappeared… he’d apparently stopped to take photos and missed the brief on where to get back on the river with the rest of us! He was eventually rescued by Kirk and Aaron, who found him sat on the river bank staring blankly at his phone and contemplating his lack of friends and how long his water would keep him alive! Meanwhile, on the river, one of the leaders who shall remain unnamed decided to go for a swim at the first of two weirs! Just to make sure the group were paying attention, obviously! The rest of the river was a relaxed and pretty paddle, with a few bits to keep us entertained and tourists squirting us with water pistols, before reaching the get out. It was then back to camp to celebrate Ian’s **th birthday with chocolate cake and […]

French Alps 2019 paddling trip Day 3b The Lower Durance by Stuart Conway We entered the Durance from the Lower Guil, with some confusing eddy lines but everyone managed to get safely across and when we reached the undercut everyone got through it safely! We then dropped down to the slalom course where everyone surfed on the waves. Unfortunately, Aleksander capsized, and the wave gripped his paddle out of his hands, but with some great teamwork he was safely returned to his boat, which included Neil chasing down his paddle and helping with the rescue, a first! After a leisurely lunch, and once the shuttle was completed, with the van going down to Embrun, we set off down the Durance heading towards the Rab wave, encountering loads of big bouncy wave trains, Choo Choo! On arriving at the Rab wave, we pulled over to an eddy to analyse the wave and determine the line that we were to take. Mr Steer gave us a long briefing through the perfect line, avoiding the rocks and passing through the left of the main wave and then he proceeded to go straight down the centre, resulting in an unfortunate backflip and a mediocre roll. The 4 river leaders followed on to ensure there was safety at the bottom of the Rab wave in case anyone got into any difficulties. As it happened, we all got through safely, not relying on Keith’s line. Even Aleksander, who capsized but demonstrated the perfect textbook roll within the big white stuff, unlike someone else… Some of the adventurous members of the group then went back and swam the Rab wave, all went well except for two who went to the wrong bank! We then pushed on down the Durance, heading for Embrun. On the way we stopped […]

French Alps 2019 paddling trip Day 3a The Lower Guil by Sarah Gille After waiting patiently on the bus for mark to get ready the convoy set off for another day on the river. We made it down the rickety road to the get in and had a few practice rolls in the clear blue water before we set off. A few of us where starting to get a bit weary so the pleasant flow carried us down with a bimbly bounce to view the beautiful scenery that surrounded us. Strange rock formations in the shape of a hand and a large cascading waterfall. A few stop offs where made and we played on the waves and practiced our break ins. Next a bit of eddy hopping practice where I heard that a member of the less experienced and professional group in front had unfortunately taken a swim. From far far far far far far far far away it looked like a huge pour over with a massive stopper behind it. But from close up it was a tiny rock. The swimmer???? Captain Kirk. We descended to the Durance and slalom course where we practiced our surfing. Aaron was getting the hang of the big surf waves and so too was Alexander. A few of us had a play on the slide and had another run, while others sunbathed and had lunch. What fun!! More photographs……….

French Alps 2019 paddling trip Day 2b The River Onde by Craig Ford The vehicle shuttling for the afternoons paddle, The Onde, seemed to a precursor to the afternoon’s paddle. Winding narrow streets with jutting out houses designed to wreck our passing vehicles, and only one apparent line to follow. However, on to the paddle itself, four groups set off, spaced out as there would be little opportunity for finding an eddy for anything bigger than a playboat. It was a case of follow the leader, who sometimes became the sacrificial paddler sat on a rock allowing the following group to avoid the obstacle. Leaders swapped regularly as rocks and different lines caused paddlers to progress at different speeds down the Onde, which had more than good line. A combination of good paddle line choices, fortuitous boofing and overhanging trees being dodged saw the group arrive safely at the get out. The Onde even claims to have caused a hand roll, aka pushing off the bottom, but without the aid of a paddle. A river that was great fun trying to avoid being pinned against a rock with the exhilaration of getting it right and flowing down river facing the right way. More photographs……….

French Alps 2019 paddling trip Day 2a The Upper Durance by Helen Siertsema The Upper Durance is a good little warm-up river and confidence builder for the less experienced at paddling white water. Lots of easy bouncy rapids with more quieter stretches on which to take in the spectacular scenery. Today, was particularly enjoyable as the sun was out and the water blue. We split into smaller groups of four to make our large mob of paddlers more manageable thus avoiding any unruly behaviour and the flouting of white water river protocol. It was noticed that Kirk’s group were taking their time and faffing about on the river. However, Kirk was putting his group through the rigours of Line of Sight coaching which is essential when leading groups down white water. Nice one Kirkage! The last third of this section is more interesting and presents us with more bouncy rapids and opportunities to do some eddy hopping in readiness for the afternoon’s paddle. The get out is a steep boat carry before the barrage where the Durance slackens off before being sucked out by the energy companies. In previous years, my Burn was relatively easy to carry up the steep narrow path, but now I have a heavy Machno, forget it, pffffffft! More photographs……….

French Alps 2019 paddling trip Day 1 The Durance from the campsite to St Clement by Aaron Jackson After our eventful 23-hour journey on the minibus we finally arrived at the camp site, everyone exhausted we decided to have a nice chilled night. As this was my first-time out to the Alps, my excitement and anxiety started to kick in. We started our two-week journey on the Durance which was flowing very quickly. I was very nervous as this was the fastest river I have ever done. As we drifted down the flowing river the scenery surrounding us was fantastic. About halfway down we approached a rock cliff on a sweeping bend with a low overhang. Craig used the branch in the overhang to assist himself to get around, but Stuart decided to “get up and personal” with the gigantic overhang. This resulted in Stuart becoming upside down with a gentle bump from Neil and then a half-hearted attempt at helping him up resulted in a swim for Stuart. Sarah came to Stuart’s rescue by getting out of her boat to assist emptying Stuart’s. Sarah gained 2 gold stars off Keith for her heroic effort of saving Stuarts life. Soon we made it down to St Clement Slalom Course where we played on the waves and paddled the rapids. We then returned to the top wave where we practiced throw lines rescues and defensive swimming. Ron had a nice swim past the practice area as Aleksander decided to let go of his throw line. Most managed to perfect their throws and pendulum the victims (casualties) into the eddy below. Then back to the campsite where everyone relaxed and made food. Eager to get going for the next day. More photographs……….