2023 LCC Alpine Paddling Holiday
Day 07 Thursday: Middle Guil and Château Queyras by Oliver Murphy
Thursday offered one of the most challenging rivers of the trip so far: a relentless grade 3 paddle down the Middle Guil amongst some of the best scenery the French Alps have to offer. Although more attention was paid to the many rocks along the riverbed, navigating around was challenging. We set off from the get-in in small groups of 4, paddling the ‘easier’ first section, including the surprise drop. Next, we approached a fork in the river which had run on the right in previous years, but the group elected to take the left channel instead. This proved quite challenging when we were confronted with a 90-degree turn with a drop followed by another 90-degree turn with a drop that all who ran made it successfully down.
Paddling on, we arrived at the difficult staircase which one group had gone a third of the way down before realizing they were on it. Because of this for the first time, LCC decided to run the rapid as a group. The rapid more than earned its reputation as we made our way down the 100m+ grade 4 section that required quick thinking to navigate around the boulders and drops. Most of the group made it down intact with only a couple of swims including someone (me) running over their dad with their kayak.
After a couple of hours, a few of us elected to get out early while the rest of the group paddled the last section of the river. Once everyone was off the river, it was a quick drive to Château Queyras for a spot of lunch by the fort. A couple of keen paddlers (Mike and Cameron) then took on the famous narrow gorge beneath the château.
Oliver Murphy
