France 2023 The Ardèche Day 6 – Bivouac la Gournier to St Martin (Grade 1-2) by Spongy
After the thunderstorm overnight we awoke to get breakfast and drop the tents and pack up the camp. The two bivi shelters had provided good cover during the rather heavy downpour the night before. We quickly packed our gear down to the beach and our waiting boats and were the first on the river. It was great to have the gorge all to ourselves.
Spongy led the way by hitching a lift on Martin`s boat and we were soon paddling under some towering limestone outcrops but before long someone utter the words “magnificent cliffs” and Nikki, Keith and Ian jumped in to the warm and clear water. This was due to be the first of many such immersions that day and even saw Mike and Ruth taking the plunge!
Martin had to put away his camera on passing Les Templiers with signs indicating no photography. It was a naturists colony, but nobody was around this early in the morning and we drifted on down to the Leper Colony (former site of). The river yielded one or two surf waves where we stayed a while to play. People lent forward and trimmed their boats and surfed from side to side. Mike even used a cross-bow rudder to pull his boat onto the wave while also slowing it to match the velocity of the water. All that 1990`s playboating is not forgotten!
Before long it was time for elevenses again. (Elevenses can be taken at any time on a club trip depending upon a suitable picnic spot). The magnetic rock was a non-event and Andy soon relaxed when we paddle by it with little or no “magnetic attraction”. However, soon after this rapid, in a momentary loss of concentration, Martin managed to lodge his canoe across the only gap in the whole river. Obligatory photographs were taken before he shuffled his way off without the need of any of the ropes and pulleys that were somewhere in our kit.
Soon after this Spongy had a overboard moment and got swept into a syphon. [The word syphon is from a Greek root meaning “pipe” or “tube for drawing wine from a cask.” Syphons work using the power of gravity to pull liquid out of one container and into another. On a river is where water is sucked under and through a gap or cave in the rocks, frequently on a limestone bedded river or under boulder chokes] These have often been the cause of many deaths or near misses on rivers such as the Verdon Gorge or Pas De Souci on the Tarn which took a German kayaker in 1981.
Fortunately, Spongy used all his swimming practice over the past week to swim out of the syphon and was scooped back on board. Disaster averted but it could have been as serious as the unexplained swim by one of our leaders on day four!
More stops and more swimming and jumping in ensued. It was not far now down to the finish at St Martin. We opted for the beach just before the canoe companies get out and quickly loaded the cars and trailer and headed into the town for a spot of well-earned lunch. What a great time of year to do the two-day trip on the Gorge L` Ardèche.
Paddlers: Keith, Ian, Mike, Ruth, Martin, Nikki, Andy, Graham & Spongy
