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France 2023 Day 8 Sunday 4th June – Spongy misses his day trip to Copenhagen

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Unveiled on 23 August 1913, The Little Mermaid was a gift from Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen to the City of Copenhagen. The sculpture is made of bronze and granite and sits in the water at Langelinie Pier.

France 2023 Day 8 Sunday 4th June – Spongy misses his day trip to Copenhagen

While most enjoyed a day off to wash, tidy up and potter around the campsite, one of the party made their way across country via the TVG to Lyon Airport and then via Copenhagen back to Manchester. [TVG, a double-decker high-speed train is just like boarding an aircraft, with allocated seats, air conditioning and travelling at up to 320kph (199mph).]

Lyon airport is small, and I walked in from the connecting station and after a short wait got on the plane to Copenhagen. I had 5 hrs to kill in Denmark so I paid the 3 Euros for the Metro into the heart of Copenhagen. There were lots of holidaymakers and tourists cycling and walking around the canals and streets. It would certainly make a good 3-to-4-day city break.

2 groups of sea kayaks were observed paddling around the sheltered harbour which goes to the centre of the city. Could this be a venue for cultral sea kayaking.

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Spongy was last seen drinking a beer with his new pals on the campsite.

Unfortunately, Spongy missed his day trip to Copenhagen preferring instead to stay in France and paddle the Allier, apparently the “best open boat river, ever!” He was last seen drinking a beer with his new pals on the campsite.

Click for more photos…………

France 2023 Day 9 – Nearly a paddle and a transfer by Mike A

Waking reasonably handy and breaking camp, the plan was to paddle the Gorges de Chassezac, a tributary of the Ardeche. 

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Alas, it was just too dry, the water was not being released from the dam. So, we decided that rather than ponder what to do whilst stood in the car park of a closed kayak hire location, we would go to a local cafe – where no one was to do an impression of Rene Artois. Allo, Allo!

Suitably refreshed, we headed to the Allier. This meant heading up and over the top of the Central Massif (East to West). 

The roads were great, sometimes single lane with passing track, other times lovely smooth French tarmac at over 4500ft, often fantastic views and sometimes long drops.

The day ended with a steep descent into Prades to find the campsite. Alas, it was shut, so we headed slightly upstream to the brilliant campsite in Monistrol.

Allier Valley on the drive over.