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Alpine
Paddling Holiday 2019 |
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News items or reports on club activities should be sent to website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk |
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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.
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!
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.
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!!
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 and Neil and Kirk (who’d had a refreshing liquid lunch) seal-launched off a 15-foot cliff face whilst myself, Sarah and Hannah jumped off (Sarah choosing the shallow end of the dive pool).
We carried on down more wave trains, and Choo Choo’d our way to the get out at Embrun and the end of another fantastic day on the river!
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 “a Fruity French one”.
More
photographs – the Upper Guisane……….
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 front of us. By then the weather had really heated up so we had to have yet another drinks break!
Meanwhile, the rest of the group had stayed around the campsite for a more leisurely day, with Ron completing a successful slalom course run, and other swimming in the lake (with questionable tactics by Stuart), or taking out mountain bikes to do some local exploring. (La Roche-de-Rame)
We also welcomed our new arrival in the form of Dom who had enjoyed a brief flight and drive from Lyon rather than the 23-hour minibus option!
After a busy day away from the water, it will be early to bed tonight for everyone in preparation for a trip to the River Ubaye in the morning!
Glacier Blanc is on the east side of Barre Des Ecrins the southernmost of the 4000 m peaks in the Alps. It is the largest glacier on the peak. The glacier began a sustained retreat after 1870, that ceased in 1895-1900 , 1915-1920, 1935-1940 and 1980-1990 (Cossart et al, 2006). The glacier had a mass loss of 11 m from 1981-2005 (Rabatel et al, 2008), which is 5-10% of the total glacier volume. The series of images below are used to examine the retreat over the last 11 years of Glacier Blanc. The first image is a 2008
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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).
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 squeeze through a small gap between two rocks like ‘The Knight Bus’ on Harry Potter.
It was a long, but really enjoyable day and we finished off with food and drink at the café by the lake.
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”
Keith tried to test some of the group on the line to take and then informed us
that we would go on the right of the island for a change this time. All 13
paddlers successful negotiated the Wave. Sarah added to the entertainment by
side stuffing the wave. John and Ron both cleared the wave but rolled after,
keeping potential rescuers alert.
Once we left the “Rab” the lower river was entertaining with a
number of large wave trains and bouncy rapids to keep us on our toes. A couple
of people decide to practice their rolls 
which the resulted
in some rescue practices for some of us.
We arrived at the final feature of the river, the Embrun Wave. Again some of the group became adventurous with their playing. Neil unfortunately took a swim but failed to beat Helen Siertsema’s long swim record from a couple of years ago; although it was at same point of river. Just after that, we reached the get out to find Stuart had returned from his sightseeing and very kindly lead the loading of boats while most of group got changed. An obligatory supermarket stop on the way back to the campsite for what is likely to be a damp evening under the tarp; as thunder is forecast for this evening.
Day 08a
Middle Durance 2019 by
Mark Benson
After a full day
and night of rain and the prospect of a chilly wait for some, the group decided
that discretion was the better part of valour and the Middle Guil was left for
one of the warmer days expected for the rest of the trip. Instead, we reverted
to that old standard, campsite to St Clement, starting on top of the slalom
course.
It
was a late, relaxed start, so plenty of time for the customary leaving of kit
behind in the tent. This time it was Ron’s honour but luckily,
chauffeur-driven transport was on hand to help and, in the time it takes for a
chrysalis to transform into a river-butterfly, Ron and the rest of the
rear-guard were bouncing down the slalom course to join the rest of the group.
The
river was a little higher thanks to the aforementioned rainfall. The
Fressinières rapid did not disappoint and, making the most of the revised
itinerary, some put in eddy practice, whilst others let the river take the
strain. So, we continued in like manner, on a pleasant paddle to the top of the
St Clements slalom course. There Keith encouraged us to venture into the top
wave, some meeting with more success than others.
All
in all, not the drama of the Middle Guil, but a good choice for the group,
given the weather.
Day 08b Lilo Race Slalom Course 2019 by
Neil Jones
Return of the famous Lilo Race not for
the faint hearted, only for the stupid!!
So after a nice leisurely morning paddle
down the Durance with a bit of tasty surfing to finish off at St Clements we
returned to the camp were the crazy 8, inflated their children’s toys and
headed off up to the start of the L'Argentière-La Bessée Slalom
course.
Quick brief from Keith, basically condoning our stupid antics and the best line to limit casualties. He lined us up…..sort of…..and we where off!!
I just imagined total carnage from the off but we were all doing pretty well. Keith must have thought the same as he instructed the first race photographer to set up at the first drop. But first fence…drop, was taken well by all and we continued down Couse. This must have been the fact that the first 4 across the line would hopefully receive one off the four throw lines set up at the bottom to catch us??
I cleared the second fence… drop
and was beginning to lead the field with Sarah a very close second. As for the
rest…..who knows what the other riders where going through; all I knew me
and my trusty Pegasus was in with a shot….
As we approached Becher’s Brook, it was me on the flying Pegasus and 3
times regular French Alps Lilo racer Sarah on the stable cactus neck and neck
with the experienced river runner Ian in 3rd ridding his new
Spiderman camp bed. Also
going strong was Nickki, riding “Terry the Turtle” very well indeed
for her first time. As for the rest they 
were a thing of the
past… (may not have still been alive, never mind in the race)
Well, Becher’s Brook does what it does to flying horses….and I was off! The next couple of fences….drops where a wee bit of a blur for myself but then again so was breathing at times. To my surprise as we came to the last fence…sorry drop, I was alive AND was in the lead with the spidery rider close second.
One fence…..drop, to go. Pegasus was now with a deflated and broken wing, but still holding in there….with the experienced of Ian moving river right? As we took the last, Pegasus and I dropped into the stopper where the experienced spidery-rider, Ian took the tongue to the finish line.
As anticipated by the wiser competitors in the group. The first over the line will receive the best safety cover. As for the rest, they had a long walk back, or maybe a pickup from Embrun later in the week.
Race two
2 new competitors where
talked into running the race as no harm was incurred to the riders, other than
trying to drink the Durance during the race.
The race was going steady with Ian again taking a good lead and Nickki running second, Arron and Kirk where going well until they got up close and personal. A steward’s enquiry was called but then a random kayaker took Aaron clean out…so the enquiry wasn’t required.
Pegasus took the same line on the last, straight into the stopper dislodging his new rider Mike…. All finally crossed the line with no further serious injuries to riders or children’s toys.
Think the Annual Lilo Race will be back for the less sensible LCC French Alps paddlers !!!
Race results
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First race |
Second race |
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1st |
Ian Bell on his spidery camp-bed |
Ian (cheating sideways on his Spiderman camp-bed) |
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2nd |
Me on the flying Pegasus |
Nicky on the beloved Terry the turtle |
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3rd |
Nicky on Terry the Turtle |
Aleksander on his crazy croc |
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4th |
Aaron on his campsite airbed |
Aaron on his bed as usual |
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5th |
Sarah on the spiky cactus |
Kirk with Annie the unicorn |
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6th |
Aleksander on his crazy croc |
Mike on the wigless Pegasus |
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7th |
Craig on his stable diet of pizza |
Hannah on her cactus to which she is bidding to take home as she got on so well with it |
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8th |
Captain Kirk on his unicorn |
Non-runner (sarah was too tired) |
Day 9a The Upper Durance by Hannah Bellamy
Monday was to be a
two-river day, and in the morning,
we headed to the Upper Durance. It was to be a warmup for those who
would be paddling the Gyronde in the afternoon, and with plenty of opportunities
for eddy hopping and mini wave surfing, an all-round nice river for everyone.
We unloaded the trailer in our now well polished fashion, and in our groups
(today our group adopted John), we set off down the river. Ian took the
opportunity of this friendly river to give us all an opportunity to lead (some
might say that he was delegating to avoid the leaders ‘curse’ that
has unfolded over the week…!). During our turns leading, he reminded us
all of four key points of leading;
·
C=communication
– to communicate clearly with your group using a combination of speech
and river signals
· L=line of sight – as the leader you should maintain line of sight with the rest of your group
· A=avoidance of hazards (rocks/weirs/trees/even forgetting kit)
· P=position – as a leader you should position yourself where you are most useful to the group, be that at the front, in the middle or at the back depending on the river features/bends etc.
In our group we took it in turns to lead, signalling into eddies frequently until we were about 1km from the end – then we eddy hopped and surfed our way to the get out, a bank just before the dam where we sat in the sunshine and waited for the shuttle to the afternoon river.
Day 9b The Upper Gyronde by
Aleksander Ford
The Gyronde was alpine great volume grade
4 – river which started from Valloise to Les Vigneax . It is formed from
the Gyr and Onde which meet at their confluence at the barrage in Les Vigneax
where we got on and set off. The
Gyr and Onde water is normally taken off through the hydroelectric power
station and re-enters the river Durance some 11 km downstream. They had been doing work on the
barrage and consequently all the water down comes down the Gyronde and when came out of the raised
dam barrier it was lot faster.
There were ten people on the river in two groups of five today. The first
group was Keith, Aleksander, Sarah, Neil and Ian. The second group was Kirk,
Ron, Mark, Aaron and Helen. The start was at the Barrage which had an enormous
wave 
which was right
next to the weir. We had a difficult river with lots of hidden rocks.
When we got to the most difficult part of the river there were two ways to go. Our group went first. The left side of the river you had swerve past a large boulder and immediately go river right to avoid a rather smaller boulder, which everyone missed but Mark choose to go over the rocks a different way and go back river left. The other way was down between two rocks and you could carry on straight and go left. This route was called the chicken chute which Aaron and Kirk took.
When we came to an eddy after the bridge section there was a `boulder choke`
in the middle of the river.
Keith confidently described the route for the next part of the river; ‘Go right of the largest boulder
then left around the corner’ but on setting 
off he made a sudden decision to go left
as there were too many boulders on the right!!!!
When we all got through safely our group carried on and there was continues rapids which were a bit easier.. There were a few rocks we had to dodge but overall it was fine. We had to prepared when our get out was insight as there were only few eddies to stop. If we missed, then it as all the down to a grade 6 rapid five hundred metres ahead. Everyone was fine but I got a little lost and needed some help from Ian. Afterwards we went to a little café in Valloise next to the river Gyr and the waiter there made my mum order in French. The waiter asked if we kayaked and asked which river, we had paddled he was very surprised when we said the Gyronde.
Day 9c The Middle Durance by
Jake Toulson
So
the Toulson brigade arrived yesterday with a little warm up session in the lake
Kurt playing assistant coach to Jake, and got him warmed up for today’s
paddle on the river Durance.
Setting off around 10am with beautiful
blue skies we headed down river after Jake eventually got his Cag on. Head coach dad (stu) taught Jake how to
break in and out followed by some ferry gliding we got off to a good
start. That practise had to soon
come into action as Jake was stuck onto wrong side of the river with a huge
tree coming his way. He did the
best he could to avoid missing the trunk and luckily only hit a few leaves!
Leaving Jakes and dads arses both nipping. Some beautiful scenery was observed
along the way. As we floated down
we spotted an eagle and a white water duck who was showing off his skills on
the 
rapids.
After about an hour we stopped for a break
got out our kayaks Kurt thought he’d let some water out of his kayak
losing his draining bung downstream; never to be see again. Dad (Stu) was ready
to improvise with a stick and a bit of tape which saved the day!
We headed back onto the water for the
second half of our journey passing a group of French kayakers to which one
shouted ALREET! (Geordie slang for hello) to which Jake replied with ALREET
MATE! after further discussion with the group it turns out he wasn’t a
Geordie at all he was simply saying salut! Which was a bit embarrassing for
Jake but he blames the noise of the river for the mistake.
We then had a steady paddle/float down to
the river eventually getting to the slalom course where we were instructed by
dad to follow his lead which this time happened and with some unorthodox low
braces Jake managed to get to other side without capsizing or swimming on day
1; something that was haunting him all the way here.
We then got out all had a beer and a steak
panini in the sun and reflected on what a great first day paddling in France!
Aaaannnnd Relax !!
Day 10a The Middle Guil by Kirk Williams
A happy
bunch of paddlers set of from the campsite around 9:06 am, somewhat later than
the announced start due to the driver looking for his keys. Or just being late.
Or something. But 
definitely
not texting. It just needed mentioning.
We
headed up the Guil valley, peering over the edge at each opportunity to see the
river looking a little bony to say the least. A final inspection from the get
out layby confirmed we were going to go for it but from the raft get in rather
than the usual bridge further up. We split up into teams of four and set off in
slightly staggered intervals to give each other space on a rocky technical
river but keeping contact between the teams in convenient group eddies when
they presented themselves.
The
paddling went well with everyone relaxing into what can be a daunting trip,
especially for first timers, with teams working together to make our way safely
down a classic Alpine river. It was a bit harsh that the Toulson Trio decide to
give Jake (not paddled for a decade…) the playboat to tackle the rocky
road ahead, but he had the sense to realise his dad/brother had set him up and
bail out early (hope the thumb is just a sprain…!) The rest of the team
worked their way carefully down the river, negotiating some tricky sections
without too much drama, finally arriving at Surprise Drop with few mishaps to
find it was more of a surprise chute at this level.
A
couple of the group departed for the road at the raft get out above the
Staircase rapid, with the rest choosing to brave the daunting portage (better
than daunting rapid….!!) to take in the challenging but great section
below. This was where the main drama of the run came with one of the team
deciding to take lightening his boast a little too far and sending it down the
entry to Staircase alone. Luckily the paddler was lined before it got too
serious and the boat pinned high up the rapid allowing some decent kit rescue
practice in gnarly water. You’d think Kurt would have 
had
enough of fish in work without wanting to be live bait, but it seems not.
The
rapid after the portage is interesting at any level but with the water slightly
lower it was actually more intimidating to see all the boulders to avoid. The
team’s morale was boosted by Keith pretending to broach a rock and then
throwing a causal 360 before bobbing on down. The rest of us decided to try to
go around it, mostly successfully (thanks for showing us the wrong line 
Keith!).
Some excellent paddles by the team, especially those who were running it for
the first time and managing that nervous “unknown” feeling, and
everyone got down safely.
The
last rapid before the get out at the Tunnel is interesting and can easily catch
the unwary out. The whole group gathered above, with the breakaway Twingo
Tourist team visible in the distance waiting to help us at the get out, and our
hardy canaries (Keith & Kurt) headed down to signal the group safely down
the final few drops. Everyone acquitted themselves well on a tricky section,
but special mentions must go to Helen S “I can tail squirt a
machno” and Sarah G “it’s too easy if you don’t take
the undercut line”. Go girls!
Everyone
pulled together moving the boats up to the layby while the shuttle drivers
retrieved the minibus/trailer and we set off for Chateau Queyras. We stopped
off at Triple Step just in time to see a couple of hard paddlers make it look
pretty easy. Sadly, it was a bit
late to give it a go but there is always next year.
Day 10b Chateau Queyras by Kirk Williams
We headed up to
Chateau Queyras after a great morning on the Middle Guil. There was a bit of
talk in the minibus about plans for the afternoon, mostly about ice cream, a
little about Via Ferrata, and a few whispers about the “toilet
flush”. We arrived at a beautifully sunny quaint mountain town and the
chips were down. “Whoever’s paddling stay in your kit cos
we’re going now and then eating ice cream all afternoon, who’s
in?” The answer, a team of 8 for the paddle, a few more just for the
spectating and the ice cream was the answer.
Chateau Queyras is not that technical, but it is intimidating, so kudos to everyone who went for it, and encouragement for next year for those that didn’t. You can probably split it in to 3 main sections; a tricky, rocky lead in that can unseat a few and unsettle you for what follows; the central “toilet flush” that narrows and fires you through some balance challenging water features at pace; finally a more measured but still interspersed with rocky drops section to lead to the get out before the bridge section.
We all gathered in the eddy at the top bridge to agree the approach and
running order as once 
you set off
that’s pretty much it. We basically decided to run as two teams of four
in a bigger team of eight giving each other enough space but staying together.
Work that one out if you can! So we set off one by one and entered to
increasing flow realising that know it was hold on tight, stay loose and keep
it straight, or else….Well there was no or else, everyone nailed it and
we even did a round of hand slaps at the bottom just to show how nervous we weren’t
The drama of this section actually came off river. Some of those not fancying a “Harry Potter” experience we were mooching round town and checking out the local café bar. One of the taller members of the group, wearing his hat at a jaunty angle, sauntered into a traditional old establishment straight into one of the low hanging beams. Most of his fellow paddlers, and the local staff, tried hard not to laugh too much. Luckily, he consoled himself with an ice cream and seemed none the worse for a bang on the head.
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
Day 11a Upper
Durance by
Michael O`Rourke
A leisurely depart
time of 10am saw us waving goodbye to John on his journey to see his
sister/avoid the minibus journey home.
We were re-joined by Stuart and Dom after their previous day’s
excursion to the Chateau Queryas in Dom’s hire car the Duck Egg. A modest
10 Euro entry fee into the Chateau seemed well worth it according to
reports. Stuart was back to minibus
door duty, it’s a tough job, but it’s no opening and closing window
job. Stuart had to be remined on self occasions how to perform his duties.
We
separated into our now usual groups and headed on down the Upper Durance. Keen
to avoid the leaders swimming curse Ian quickly delegated the leader’s
role to Stuart, Myself and Hannah and we all took it in turn to lead. We took
turns leading, selecting eddies to break into, hand signalling and the 
choo, choo full
steam ahead signal with added sound effects.
Hannah carefully navigated us through a set of rapids that curved around and under a bridge with a very colourful skull graffiti piece on then inside. After this we were given free reign to break in and out of as many eddies as we could. We let the other groups run though, not because we were slow, but we thought the more people there were down the bottom, the more people there would be to help us with our boats. Kirk`s group were also doing a significant amount of eddying and it seemed to become a race who could make it down the river the slowest.
Eventually we all made it down to the bottom and once again Ian had avoided the leaders swimming curse. Unfortunately, we had left it so long, no one was around to help us with our boats, so we hauled them up the now well-trodden slope in anticipations of the minibuses arrival to take us to our next river
Day 11b Upper
Guisane by
Michael O`Rourke
Lunch was had in a
very picturesque spot along the Upper Guisane where Nadia and Craig would be
joining us later on to paddle the second section of the river. After lunch we
headed to the get in and set off in our groups down the river.
We made our way
down to S bends, where we were given the usual option of running S bends, or
the portage. I led the
portage group. Hannah decided the portage wasn’t for her and it was time
to run S bends. By all accounts Hannah sailed through barely touching any of
the rocks. The rest of the S bends runners also made it through unscathed.
The portager`s eventually re-joined with the group and paddled on down to where we had lunch and joined up with Nadia and Craig. We paddled the remaining section of the Upper Guisane where there were still plenty of obstacles to avoid. Nadia successfully avoided these boulders whilst carrying out some special moves on top of them (360 spins). She is almost certain to join us on some rivers again.
We all decided to reach the get out point at the same time! This made exiting the river a little bit of a scramble.
We all piled back into the minibus to head back to the site to get ready for out evening meal out in Briancon. This year a French/Nepalese restaurant has been selected and was recommended by Mark. Mark has even offered to pay for all the starters (NOT).
Day 12a The
Upper Ubaye by
Martin Aldridge
Another
“early” start (the definition of early varies throughout the group
and has a strong correlation to the previous evenings activities). Whilst we’re on the subject of the
previous evening, it was the groups evening out the night before. We ventured into Briancon old town and
had a lovely evening with good food and a few 
bottles of alcohol
(one bottle of wine each in some people’s case – despite to say,
early was any time before the afternoon really).
Off we went up to the Upper Ubaye, dropping off SUP’s and people at the lake at the end of the racecourse.
Having less water this time than last and considering we broke two boats last time, Keith decided to park the shuttle car a little sooner before the shallows. We also used the new get in, the fisherman friendly one, and to be honest a much easier access point. It was like a completely new river!
On we got for a rather shallow start, but the water picked up and we could float down the river for a pleasant G3- trip. Many boulders later we arrived at the “green” bridge, which was decidedly brown/rusty and marked the end of the trip. Many played in the boat killing wave whilst the car shuttlers scuttled off to do their duty.
Bring on lunch and then to the Racecourse…
Day 12b The
Ubaye Racecourse by
Martin Aldridge
Off the Upper and the shuttle complete, we all stopped for some lunch in the glowing sunshine. I on the other hand, returned to patching my boat, which to be fair had been holding up surprisingly well all things considered, but needed a bit more TLC to protect the crack.
A choice was then
offered – people could paddle, or people could relax at the lake, get
some rays and play on the SUPs.
Some chose relaxation, whilst others chose crazy paddling instead 😊.
Boats loaded and then on the road we went, for what seemed like ages. At the get in, boats unloaded and off to shuttle again, as a very nice man (who should have been paddling) offered to bring us back without the need for a shuttle at the end.
Groups sorted, on the water we went for my boats retirement paddle ☹. Then I started seeing things, I was sure I could see a Helen doppelganger, but wasn’t she back at camp? Thankfully it turns out it was Helen, who had magically appeared with a different group – I’m being told there’ll be a separate write-up, but we’ll see.
Even though the water levels were lower, you still couldn’t see the rocks, the water being the same colour.
Sarah: “what did we do today”; Martin: “hit a lot of rocks”
Our illustrious leader took point and meandered his way between the rocks. An amazing river and well worth the paddle even if low, we all got to the get off having successfully navigated our way down, to then enter the actual carnage of the day, the raft get off.
What
a palaver. Absolute chaos, with
idiots parking and even bigger idiots being impatient. Nevertheless, the crack team of 
trailer movers came
into play and unhitched the trailer, reversed the bus and rapidly throw the
boats in.
So at this time as it’s my last day, we should probably tally up the leaders curse. So far, in chronological order:
· Kirk: Swim
· Nikki: Swim
· Martin: Broken Boat
· Keith: Broken Boat
· Sarah: Swim
· Helen: Swim
· Ian: Hmmmmmm – me thinks tomorrow will be interesting
We all then headed to the lake, to relax and play on the SUPs. A perfect end to a perfect day.
Day 13
L'Argentière-la-Bessée to Embrun 2019 by Stuart and Kurt Toulson
We departed the
campsite on what was to be the club’s penultimate trip in the Alps this
Year at 10am.
Most departed from
the beach, whilst a few carried up to the top of the slalom course, a great
cure for a hangover!!
The weather was
perfect for this long paddle, we had a steady head wind to keep us cool in the
scorching sun.
This being the
second week of the trip, everyone was working together well as a team. This
would be tested later in the trip.
Rounding a gentle
bend, we were astonished to whiteness Helen at full flight. With the speed of 1000 gazelles she
caught her boat, just before it drifted off on its own!
The next incident
occurred at the undercut cliff, the location of one of last week’s swims.
As we approached,
I thought I spotted a kayak wedged in the undercut. As we neared the cliff face, I saw
it was a folded raft wedged fast. Luckily the crew were safe downstream.
We made contact
with the raft guide and offered our services. A line was attached to the stricken
raft, from the other side of the river a large team of us (10) tried to free
it. We needed to try the pull from
3 different directions but finally managed to free it using a direct pull. Once free its buoyancy fired it
vertically up the cliff and out into the flow of the river where it was
pendulum it into an eddy. A
very relieved raft guide thanked us, but I think owing to an international
salvage agreement the club is now owed a lot of beers!!
We next arrived at
the slalom course; Kurt broke out into an Eddie just below the first wave right
on top of a French play boater in his carbon craft. Many of the team surfed the top
wave and did some posing for Martin with the camera.
After a relaxing
lunch we set off again into the wind and started to ride the increasing wave
trains.
The next obstacle
was the Rabioux wave, all went through with no swimmers, great effort!!
A little while
later Kurt was relaxing and enjoying the sun with his legs out of the boat. A
few paddlers tried to unseat him without any success. Sarah finally laid the
smack down. - “Swimmer”
A short while
later we arrived at the get out in time for BBQ shopping and final evening on
the campsite.
Day 14 The Lower Gyronde by Keith
It was the last day
and only 5 paddlers were up for the early morning challenge of a quick trip
down the Gyronde onto the Durance and down to the slalom site. We were to be a team of 6, but the
“Welsh Wizard” was still under a sleepy spell. We drove out of the
campsite at 8:00am leaving the others to start to pack away the camp.
We put on under the
campsite bridge (the lower one!) and paddled off being pushed quickly along by
the fast-flowing water. They were still working on the dam and HEP Scheme above
so all of the Gyr`s water flowed directly into the Gyronde making it a great
level for paddling.
It was an exhilarating paddle into the gorge with the water flowing over most of the normally exposed boulders. We stopped in only two eddies, just long enough to catch our breath before heading on down to the weir. This is now well signed, and the potentially boat pinning boulders have all been swept well to river right by high floods.
Without stopping we followed the flow over the middle of the weir and on down below. Ian did talk a line slightly over to the right and glanced one of the boulders, but all ended well.
Hannah lead the last section though the mini gorge. No sign of the old embedded bicycle wheel and we were soon swept on towards the confluence with Durance. Plenty of water sped us down through the town and under the old Hydro Electric pipe that used to feed the power plant for the old Aluminium works. Without so much of a single breakout we then charged on down through the slalom course. A quick glance at my watch indicated that it taken us exactly 30 minutes from campsite to campsite, surely a record for the traditional last days paddle.