French Alps 2019 paddling trip
Day 10c The Guil Valley by Nadja Ford
On the 10th day of the Alps tour a group of five people, the three Twingo Boys and two Fords, made a detour from the rivers and went off site seeing. The morning promised us a glorious day so away we went. First on are list was Mont – Dauphin. From the car park hill our eyes opened on a magnificent view of the mountains, waterfall and we looked down at the River Guil, water of which run from the Queyras massif to maintain torrent. It hollowed out a canyon in the morainic sediment, having two plateaux of similar height face to face.
After we indulged ourselves with the view and a bit of history we went further, deeper into the bastion, which looked spectacular from the main road. Skipping down to the bastion, Dom give some guided tour about how it’s built and how people of the bastion defends themselves from the invaders We passed double gates of defence, with some elements still intact. Walking down the street with old buildings, with little shops in it, and some consulting rooms and I believe family homes. Down the alley there was a monument which had been put there in 1921 to commemorate people who defended the bastion numerous times.
Down we go past the old armoury buildings, old arsenal building and a Catholic Chapel. Outside the Chapel a gipsy circus was setting their performance place for later and we are making are way back to beginning of are tour. Passing living area, with old French houses and new twists on living. After short rest in the shade we make are way back to cars with some family stories about WW2. When we get back, we spot some paddlers down on the River Guil, but it wasn’t our group. Because they were making their way down the river middle Guil near the tunnel. We jumped in the vehicles to make our way to meet up with the rest of the paddling group