1st river of Ciaron’s last day. The water levels were a little higher than last week with the warmer weather providing some extra melt water. Team bra (Ian + his team of girls – Helen, Hannah, Wendy & Jenny) set off in the fast ferocious flow. Today there seemed to be less eddies and the few we found required positive paddling strokes to catch them. By S-Benders team suspenders only had one set of wet bra straps. The full group reformed before styling the rapid in a forward direction this time. We continued down the river back in our groups. Hannah leading the way we made our way through the villages to the bridge covered in Petunias at the get out. Ian geting a surprise as he rounded a tree lined bend to get an eye full of the local ladies sunbathing topless in an opening. The river will now be known as Booby River, renamed by Helen. We enjoyed some lunch in the sun and had a look at the bio pool still chuckling about the big knocker sighting – a rare experience for us Brits – while Keith peddled off for the van.

Today we took a rest from paddling and journeyed to the Ecrins National Park. Established in 1973, the park covers nearly 200 000 hectares and is home to 1800 plant, 75 mammals, 235 bird, 16 reptile, 10 amphibian and 21 fish species. It also encompasses more than 10 glaciers, and Glacier Blanc was to be our destintion today. The park can only be explored on foot so we set off bright and early, at 6.45 to walk in the cool of the morning, stopping off at the boulengerie for croissants en route. We paid our 2 euros (for the whole bus) to enter the park to be greeted by a group of deer, and set off along the path. We followed the signs up to Glacier Blanc – although some of us made a small detour towards Glacier Noir!-steadily, enjoying the views. The path is well kept, with a combination of strategically placed rocks and hand ropes where the rock is steep (so the group of us who did the via ferrata yesterday were well prepared!). We met our first marmot, sat on an outcropped rock overlooking his territory, about 20 mins in and continued to meet the alpine mammals (a giant, but rather cute, chipmunk come guinea pig) throughout – Keith even charmed one into eating from his hand. About halfway into our walk we crossed the fast flowing river of melt from the gacier and had a group photo on the bridge. We could feel he cold from the water in the air so this is definitely not a river to take a swim in! Our final destination was the ‘refuge Glacier Blanc’, a purpose built, very well equipped mountain hut with picnic benches overlooking the spectacular panoramic view down the valley and up to the Glacier. The […]

Once we were changed from the paddle of the Chateau-Queyras Gorge, 5 of the team decided to take opportunity to via ferrata back into the gorge to take a close inspection of the u-bend. This meant that the rest had the onerous task of siting in the cafe while they waited for us. We started out by going to hire the harness from the raft outfitter, this gave Stuart T an opportunity to demonstrate his french language skills and negotiate us a good deal on the kit hire. Once kited up we set off to the start where Stuart gave us all instruction on how we should clip and un-clipe to the safety line. We then decided on the order Stu agreed to lead with Me and Jen going second and third, Chris fourth and Hanna agreeing to be the back marker. Off we went. The course has been altered since previous years and no longer has the wooden bridges across to the castle side of the gorge. Our course ran down the left hand side as you look down stream and containsed a high wire and a wire bridge as well as the normal mix of metal and nature hand holds. We had ample opportunity to inspect the water and debate the line that we took or did not take. We got to what may be the end of the shore course and an exit we were not sure if carrying on would just take us to one of the old bridges. So while we took a well needed breather Stu did a quick recce for us and then signaled back that it was still part of the course and we then continued to the end of the new section. Thanks to Stu for guiding this another thing ticked on my bucket […]

After the big fast flowing waters of the Durance on Sunday, Monday saw a change of pace as we headed to the shallow, rocky and technical river Guil.  Described in the guide book as “Probably the best class 4 paddle in the Southern Alps” we knew we were in for some fun.  The Guil is a great river for a mixed ability group as it starts easy (ish), and gradually builds the futher down you go.   It runs right next to the main road, so people can paddle as much (or as little) of the river as they want, and then head for the safety of the road when they’ve had enough. The drive out turned out to pretty technical as well as Keith navigated narrow, twisty mountain roads with oncoming coaches and lorries.  We dropped the bike off at the bottom of the river, and as we drove up alongside the river we scouted all the possible get-outs. We started at the top with 12 paddlers, and started navigating (bouncing and scraping) our way down.  When we reached the first get-out option, 2 of us decided they’d had enough and headed up to te road to wait for their pick–up.  The remaining 10 paddled on.  Things got a bit more tricky and after a portage and a swim or 2 (and the not so surprising “surprise drop”) we arrived at the top of the Staircase rapid.  At this point another 3 headed for the road, and the remaing 7 started the long portage round Staircase. Tension was building as we paddled on – with some of us longing for the sight of the tunnel which marked the next get-out.  Keith and Ian (the Jedi paddling masters) ran the final section on their own, then Keith started the mammoth […]

We arrived at Chateau-loo and headed over to look at the gorge. It looked a little different to Helen’s description: quite a fast flow around some rocks, over in 5 mins, easier than the challenging lines of the Middle Guil we’d just conquered. If was actually a torrent of bubbling blue through a gap just wide enough for a paddler to fit through with a technical entry through what is best described as a rock garden. 6 of us headed to the get in. After a deep breath I followed Ian off the bank into the river. I could picture the line in my head, but stared at the rock I wanted to manoeuvre round, hit it and pinged off backwards down the other side of the river than the side I wanted to be on. Some emergency paddling got me facing forwards again as I entered what I’ll call the loo pan and into the V that was the start of the u-bend. From this point on the only option was to go with the flow and ride the wobbles as they came. I had 3 thoughts as I got flushed…. My support strokes seem to be working ok, please don’t give up on me now. I seem to be managing to react with low braces, Keith won’t be able to comment on high paddles today. There’s Keith and Ian, don’t take your eye off them and you’ll be in that eddy in seconds. Stay focused, you can do it, just ignore every rock, boil and bubble that pops up in front of you. Phew into the eddy panting with fear and shaking with relief. I’d been successful flushed! Shortly followed by a boat, body and 3 more kayakers we had moments breath and continued on. Helen said that was the […]

All, there is a Welsh government review into access to water in Wales. It is VITAL that as many paddlers or water users respond to this. For those new to the sport, some context: 1930’s onwards people believed you needed permission to paddle on rivers. Fishermen didn’t like sharing and even managed to persuade some policy makers / judges that this is the case. Access agreements were occasionally formulated, always in favour of fishermen, but many (most) rivers remained off limits. example of an access agreement included the river Dee above llangollen, which allowed about 4 days use per year. Quality agreements were limited. Attempts to make sharing more equal was rebuffed by the fishing lobby. They even managed to have access to water removed from the right to roam act. Late 90’s / Early 00’s – a doctoral thesis suggested that there is a right to navigate all rivers. A seperate government study found that paddlesports do not disturb fish. After more attempts to make access agreements fairer, including a government attempt that actually REDUCED access whilst attempting to improve access, Paddlesport bodies diecided to ignore them. Legal position of access is disputed. Welsh government is reviewing again. So far the well organised committees of Countryside Alliance have made 600 submissions AGAINST access (be careful, their stratergy appears pro access but it is not) Dissorganised paddler who would rather just paddle, have made 12 submissions to improve access. PLEASE help!!!!!!! Respond to the survey below. FURTHER, if possible, please write to the Welsh Assembly to tell them why access matters. A pro forma example letter will be distributed late August. NB – be very careful if liking the the countryside alliance posts / comments re access, they actually want to REDUCE access. Mike (you might have to cut and […]

A very pleasant and easy run, dropping into a flattish section of the Durance that ends at the St. Clément slalom site.  There used to be some intricate navigation to reach the put-in, which was epic with a trailer, but there is a new dirt-track road which makes even a cycle shuttle fairly benign. After a rainy night the sun broke through and we set off to the river with the spikey mountains. The drive down to the get in was a bit scarey as we passed some precariously balanced rocks that were soon to be eroded into the valley below.  We got changed into our storm soaked kit and split into 2 teams to head down the river. We bounced along and played in a few waves as we passed some brave rock climbers and a 100m waterfall. We were all having a lovely time. Soon we reached the cloudy strorm drenched river on the durance and continued our journey of the day. More Photos……

“The Sunshine run” The Durance from St. Clément down to Embrun is a fine introduction to bigger water (especially in the afternoon). You can get off above the Rabioux wave, which is the only serious drop, and either portage it, or finish. Or inspect (or not) and take your chances – but be warned, there are always a lot of spectators to cheer your run, whether it ends in success or a swim! After a relaxing lunch-stop at St Clement’s, the shuttle to Embrun completed (thanks, Marianne), the thirteen of us set out on the yellowy flood water. The swift flowing river meant that gaps between rapids were never too long and the rapids themselves had fewer rocks to scrape over and lots of large wave trains. The high level made for some squirrely water, causing Dom a surprise swim on our fun trip down to the Rabioux wave. Once eddied out above the Rab, we took it one at a time to make the run, Keith signalling from below.   A wide left run-in was favoured by many, resulting in some last minute adjustments and a couple of swims. Kit and kayakers re-united, we wasted no time getting on with the journey; wave trains were now bigger and the water just as squirrelly. Frequent waves, haystacks and small stoppers made for a fast, fun paddle down to the Embrun wave. Hannah was caught out by the increased tow-back from the now swollen stopper, but soon got herself into an eddy to be re-united with her kayak. Various members off the group got themselves back up to the wave for some play-boating. All was going well until Helen took a tumble out of her kayak. Valiantly swimming her kayak into the main flow, Helen began a long swim-cum-group rescue effort. […]

Upstream from Briançon among the ski resorts of Serre Chevalier is a long run on generally easy water which may be too low early in the day. There is one long rapid, S-bend – which is harder (possible portage on the left) and has few break-outs, but is essentially a big bouncy boulder garden when the water is at a reasonable level.  We ran the river in four groups as there are few eddies or stopping places on this fast Alpine toboggan run.  Bertrand, a local French paddler asked to join us in the car park and he joined the first group.  From Lille, where there is a small artificial slalom course, he tried to get every eddy and mostly succeeded. There was enough water in the river to make the run down through the town of Le Monêtier-les-Bains interesting and bouncy.  Next we came to the S-bends just before the village of Les Guibertes.   The level was lower than normal – there  were several hard moves round boulders at the entry to the rapid which required a little concentration.  We ran the rapid and most picked out the right line (further right on entry) and had no mishaps.   We re-grouped at the raft get in at Le Freyssinet and continued on down through the small villages of the valley to meet the minibus at Chantemerle. After lunch most retured to the campsite to paddle on the slalom course while a few paddled on down the Lower Guisane to the pre-positioned car.   Later that day the skies darkened and we were hit by a large thunder and lightening storm.  Pitch one had now had the new addition of a small swimming pool in the middle of it – bonus. More Photos….

Club weekends and major events for the Club 2017 to 2018 – for more detail check the online Club Calendar….. 22 – 24th September 2017 Anglesey Weekend #4 Click for more and to book a place – based at Outdoor Alternative Rhoscolyn  – coordinator Peter Massey. 11th October 2017 Club AGM and paddler of the year Awards (Talk from the Alps trip) 27 – 29th October 2017 Dave Blake 5 O weekend at Anglesey Outdoors 8th November 2017 Real Paddling Film Festival (World Tour of films) More information…….. 29th March to 2nd April 2018 Easter Bank Holiday Scotland Trip based at Blackwater Hostel – Click for more and to book a place…. 31st March – 14th April 2018 Nepal Sun Kosi River Trip – coordinator Keith Steer. 29th April 2018 Club Open Day at the Compound at the Docks.  Try different  disciplines, junior session, come and try it session for non-members, Sunday tour of the docks. Bring and buy sale for any canoe or kayaking gear. 4th – 6th May 2018 Anglesey Weekend #1  Click for more and to book a place – based at Tyn Rhos Trearddur Bay  – coordinator Peter Massey. 25 – 28th May 2018 Pembroke Bank Holiday Weekend Click for more and to book a place – based at Whitesands Camping  – coordinator Jenny Brown. 15 – 17th June 2018 Anglesey Junior Club Weekend #2 Click for more and to book a place – based at Anglesey Outdoors LL65 2LP – coordinator Keith Steer. 29th June – 1 July 2018 Anglesey Weekend #3 Click for more and to book a place – based at Bodfan Farm, Rhosneigr  – coordinator Jenny Brown. 15th July 2018 Hilbre Island Race – Club event for all  More information…….. 20th July to 5th August 2018 Alpine Holiday Alpine Rivers Holiday – Briancon France  Coordinator Keith Steer 16th to 30th August 2018 Sea Kayak Alaska – Coordinator Keith Steer 27th to 30th September 2018 Anglesey Weekend #4 Click for more and to book a place – based at Outdoor Alternative Rhoscolyn  – coordinator Peter Massey.