France 2023 Day 10 Tuesday 6th June – Allier – Prades to Langeac by Ruth A
After travelling over the Central Massif to the Allier Valley (volcanic) the evening before, we planned to stay at the Blue Snail campsite in Prades. Unfortunately, this was closed and not that accessible for the canoe trailer, so we managed to find a great camp site further upstream instead in Monistrol.
So the following morning we headed back to start the first paddle on the river Allier. There was a large car park at the get in, so we dropped the boats off and the drivers set off to do the shuttle. Whilst waiting for them to return, it was great to see the local school come out to do paddle boarding, kayaking, white water on hotdogs as well as climbing up on the rock opposite the put in as part of their curriculum. The climbing was taking place at the base of basaltic columns (a band of basaltic columns ran the whole length of the valley).
We launched, with the gauge reading at 4 and began our first taste of the Allier. It is a grade 2 river with a lot of rapids spread throughout this section and amazing rock formations along the length of it. Towards the end of this section, there was a weir.
In France, they provide a glissiere, which are slides which allow you to paddle down the weir. This one was deceiving, it ended up filling several boats, all managed to stay upright despite being swamped. A boat being lined down the glissiere decided to capsize itself! After the boat spent some time being recirculated, we recovered the boat and its contents (all bar a sponge – no this was not Spongy). We continued on to finish in the town of Langeac.
We got off and loaded up the vehicles that were parked next to the river, then we took a walk into the town and found a cafe at the back of a book/magazine shop with a lovely, shaded veranda to enjoy some refreshing drinks! We also stocked up supplies from the local supermarkets before heading back to camp for tea.
In the evening a few of us went for a walk to take a look at the grade 3-/3+ section of the river that starts from the campsite down past the EDF hydropower plant – the release from the hydro plant determines the river level – we agreed this needed to be paddled but it will have to wait for a return trip!
Paddlers: Ian, Mike, Ruth, Martin, Nikki, Andy, Graham & Spongy
