The Ubaye Racecourse – Martinet to Le Lauzet The Ubaye Racecourse is the classic Ubaye run. A consistent stretch of class 3+ to 4 whitewater with fun big and bouncy rapids and surprisingly warm water. 15 rapids in quick succession, including named rapids like Dent de Requin (Shark’s Tooth) and Rouleau de Printemps (Spring Roll) make this section a must for your kayaking bucket list. The scenery is outstanding with views over the wooded valley, and at the end of the descent the river narrows through a sheer sided gorge. Put-in at the rafting base just past Le Martinet. Take out below Le Lauzet at La Source campsite. Class: IV. Gradient: 15 m/km. Flow: 30 m³/s. Paddling time: 2 hours. Distance: 8 km. Best months: May to July. The best way to describe this river is big boulders and bouncy all the way. The team split into 4 groups and set off down the pinball course. The views were stunning, the rapids fairly continuous and the rafts were numerous. One raft guide flaunting pink bikini bottoms over his wetsuit shorts seemed to be more than happy to help empty boats for the girls. This was the first day without a chilly breeze making every wave train a refreshing splash. We got to the Roman Bridge for a group photo with 1 more rapid to go. Or so Ian said! There were at least 3 more rapids with a tricky bend alongside the gorge that caught us off guard. Gibbo thought we’d lost Hannah to Narnia as she went onto the wall and temporarily disappeared. While waiting for the shuttle we were impressed by the ‘French approach’. Leaving the van and trailer at the get out and whipping out a mini-motorbike to shoot back to the get in. I guess this is only one step up from Keith on a bike and a motorbike would never make it in […]

St Clement to Embrun 20km What an experience, my first river in France! It was certainly one I’ll never forget. After an early morning wake up, we had a quick shuttle to St Clement. While the bus shuttle was happening myself and many others took on the rapids before preparing ourselves for the river ahead (Lower Durance). The shuttle back finally arrived and we all headed off; some headed to the slalom course and others headed straight down towards the Rabioux wave. After a long paddle and many play waves the group finally assembled at the Rabioux wave. First time for many, all the LCC group took on the challenge… it was certainly the hardest I have paddled. After the safety team had set up, the whole team made their way to the wave. A few swims later, (many less than previous years , I believe) we all came out full of confidence and ready to continue.  A few memorable moments from the Rabioux that may be shown via GoPro from Sarah Gille. We decided to have a lunch stop at the side of the wave which quickly turned into a WWSRT, with some throwline coaching from the professionals, we all felt confident at the end. A huge lesson learnt for me… pack my own throwline before hitting the wave (I had a small telling off). Anyway, after waiting for Graeme and Mark, we finally continued to make our way down the river, a large group but a very organised and well trained group. Some very good waves and many more rolls followed before finally hitting the Embrun wave. It was another challening wave that many member of the group played and surfed. After playing for a good 30 minutes we decided to head down to the get out. At […]

On Tuesday we set of on a two day adventure to the Verdon Gorge. After doing a supermarket shop the day before, we packed up the minibus and set of bright an early for the four hour drive. We arrived about midday, unfortuntately to find that the river that usually releases on a Tuesday wasn’t to release because of the drought. This didnt dampen our spirits though, as the Verdon Gorge is one of the world’s greatest areas of ourstandng natural beauty and it was definitely worth going just to see it! We found a little stoney beach (which we marked as a good place for our wild camp that night) and settled down for lunch and a relaxing afternoon in the sunshine, swimming an reading. Later that afternoon we headed off to swim a popular part of the gorge. Dressed in our paddling kit, we floated down rapids (feet up, bums high to miss the rocks!), swam though syphons and even jumped off rocks into the deeper water below. After a climb up the gorge and through the mountain tunnels, we set off on a scenic drive to the highest viewpoint of the Gorge, to see Europe’s Grand Canyon-an abslutely stunning spectacle. The Gorges Du Verdon (in French: Les Gorges du Verdon or Grand canyon du Verdon), in south-eastern France (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), is a river canyon that is often considered to be one of Europe’s most beautiful. It is about 25 kilometres long and up to 700 meters deep. It was formed by the Verdon River, which is named for its startling turquoise-green colour, one of the location’s distinguishing characteristics. The most impressive part lies between the towns of Castellane and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, where the river has cut a ravine to a depth of 700 metres through the limestone mass. At the end of the canyon, the Verdon River flows into the artificial lake of Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon (in French: Lac de […]

After lunch we set off in the van round the twisty roads with great views into the gorge below. The drop below was just a little wooden fence away. The bike was dropped at the get out and we were off to the get in for the 2nd paddle of the day. A fast safe flow with lots of eddies to hop and waves to play in. Then there was the Keith v tree challenge – the tree won and Kieth rolled. He was just remindng us to avoid trees. Dom practised his technique of barging people out of eddies and team mamba started a tag team hi-fiving as they weaved in and out of the eaddies together. It was then back to camp via the supermarket to stock up for the 2 day adventure to follow. More Photos……..

1st river of the day…. Low water levels made a challenging paddle round rocks and little drops. We split into 3 groups, the average weight seemed to set the paddling rate of each team of pddlers as we scraped over some gravely sections. There were a couple of swims, but smiles all round. Off at the rickety bridge for lunch in the sun after Keith had cycled to retrieve the van. The plans for the next couple of days were discussed in detail and a plan was formulated for the afternoon paddle and for the next 2 days. More photos….

With calm conditions forecast and HW just before 11am, I launched from the Old Coastguard Station at 0840 for a scenic outing to Hilbre.  After crossing the shipping channel as “Kayak Robin”, I headed for Leasowe Lighthouse which is as far as I’d previously explored along the North Wirral Coast.  Wirral Lifeguards were patrolling the shore in a landrover type vehicle.  After hearing them sign on with Holyhead Coastguard, I called than up on Channel 16 to let them know of my presence.  They said they were already keeping an eye on me. I soon reached Hoylake slipway which presented a tranquil scene with quaint old boats moored nearby.  Despite it being around HW, water then started to become in short supply.  For next half mile or so, I splodged along in ankle deep water with the kayak following along behind.  [DSCN0530.jpg]  I eventually found some deeper water with Red Rocks to my left and Hilbre straight ahead.  While making that final crossing there were seals everywhere, too many to count. With the tide now ebbing, I didn’t want to risk the normal beach landing on Hilbre so continued around to the NW corner where there are some deep channels that are more suitable for latecomers. After a welcome break, I first headed NW, then N and NE so as to skirt around the end of the Wirral Peninsular.  A little way out, I could see two prominent green buoys which I though might mark the Rock Channel back to Liverpool.  Designated HE3 and HE2, I’ve since found that they mark the “Hilbre Swash”. With super calm conditions and the windfarm seemingly not far away, I decided to return to Crosby via a northerly route rather than staying close to the shore.  With the outgoing tide, I was drifting north […]

We unloaded all our kit and had set up camp at L` Argentiere La Bessee the night before.  After a lazy start and a food run the first paddle of the holiday was the Middle Durance. The brave got on at the campsite slalom course, picking up the less stupid at the bottom to set off down stream in the fast silty white/blue flow for 19km. Extra sun screen was applied part way down and the trees on the bends were mostly were avoided. The wind in our faces kept us cool in the hot sun. After no swims Keith got everyone in for throw line practise. The initial swim was a chilly wake-up. Although Keiran seemed to enjoy it as he went a few eddies lower than planned. We might need some more practise to improve our aim or less slalom poles to get in the way. After lunch in the sun the big kids went down the slide at the rolling pool to do another lap of the lower slalom course. Some of the others went to check out the canoe shop and Mark sampled the local blackcurrent crumble. It was then back to camp for dinner and BA sewing! More photos….

We are proposing to run a trip to Alaska in August 2018.  Provisional dates are 16th to 30 August but final dates will be determined by the cheapest days for flights.  The plan is to paddle a 12 day self-supported sea kayaking trip from Whittier.   We intend to visit a number of large tide water glaciers and several islands in Prince William Sound.  You must be prepared to camp from your boats for the whole of the trip and therefore you do need good camping skills. Approximate costs will be £500 + flights which were £900 in 2016. Provisional expressions of interest from current club members are requested by email.  Please include a very short summary of your experience if I have not paddled with you before.  Once I have this list of names more details will be circulated along with a chance to book. Keith Steer website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk

We are proposing to run a trip to Nepal in April 2018.  Provisional dates are 31st March to 13 April but final dates will be determined by the cheapest days for flights.  The plan is to paddle the relatively easy Sun Koshi with a 9 day raft supported trip camping on the sandy beaches along the river. (No need to carry anything in the boats). Approximate costs will be £500 + flights which were £450 in 2016. Provisional expressions of interest from current club members are requested by email.  Please include a very short summary of your experience if I have not paddled with you before.  Once I have this list of names more details will be circulated along with a chance to book. Keith Steer website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk