Day 13 - Sun Run and Via in the park


I’ve had a great sleep and I’m feeling good this morning.  I head down stairs and it’s the usual dance and step, moving around each other as we all get breakfast and drinks, lunch gets prepared for the car fridge, boats are moved around and kit organised in to cars.  Chucky, Keith and I head to get some shopping while the others head to St Clements get in for the obligatory Sun Run.  After dropping the food of at the house we go to meet them, and get changed while the shuttle is sorted.  There is a fete/car boot on so the car park is chockabloc!!! Alex and Dylan also meet us with two paddling friends, so it’s a big group!

We get on at the beach below the Slalom course as the Leat has been drained, so it’s a bit of a carry with the boats.  I’m feeling a tad nervous.  After a jump in at the deep end in Austria, and some mostly tame paddling in Slovenia over the last week, I’m wondering what the Alps is going to have in store for me.  The last time I did this run I was a very new paddler, so my recollection is hazy and can’t be relied upon anyway, a lot has happened in the last year and I’m a different paddler, and probably a different person than I was then anyway.  The water levels are also a lot higher than last year too.  We’re sure of some fast water and big wave trains this week.

Once everyone is on we start to make our way down stream.  The ‘start of paddle’ nerves start to fade and I begin to enjoy myself.  After paddling in such a small group over the last week and a half though, it’s strange to be on the water with so many people!  I don’t settle 100% and there is an odd moment or two where the waves get a little choppy, that my adrenalin has a little spike.  One wave train heads down towards a rock face and then, after a wave over a rock in the water, the water flow tracks along it, and I have to put in quite a bit of effort to paddle the Mamba to stay away from the stopper there.  I’m missing my little bath tub of a hero which seemed a little easier for me to steer most of the time.  I won’t give up on the Mamba just yet, but it’s not giving me the same ‘safety cushion’ type of feeling the hero did. 

We are very quickly down to the beach where we get out to inspect Rabioux wave.  The higher levels, means faster water, and quicker runs.  I join the others for an inspection and I’m undecided but leaning towards giving it a go.  Chucky and Bill have gone straight down in the boats to give it a run through, and Chucky says the ‘diagonals’ (sideways waves) on the lead in to it are quite strong.  This makes me decided, I’m walking today.  The others get back in their boats and get sorted in to smaller groups to run the wave while I carry down to the bottom.  Everyone comes through without incident, and with some woop’s and wahoo’s on the way through.  Sam decides to quit while she is ahead here.  Her back had been causing her issues after the driving yesterday, and she didn’t want to tempt fate by pushing it on the first day.  I could give you any number of reasons why I decided to join her and shuttle Keith’s Car back from St Clements to take down to Embrun at the end, but I don’t really feel it needs justification, I decided to get off here too. 

The others headed on down to the end get out, after having decided to push on rather than stop for lunch.  Sam and I went back to St Clements and picked up Keith’s car so we had some extra seats, and then drove down to Embrun just in time to see all the paddlers arrive through the main wave.  Sam got video and I got pictures.  Rob had a roll, and Trevor took a swim.  Both were fine though, and all the others came straight through and ‘tits deep’.  It had started raining as we left Rab wave, and was now raining heavily at Embrun so we all opted to get changed and take the lunch back to the house.  The earlier thoughts of going to paddle the Onde this afternoon had faded, as it was going to be at a stonking level, and with some good heavy rain would be higher still.  









Even though it’s a late lunch (nearly 3pm by the time we get back to the house) the day isn’t over yet.  The groups are split again this afternoon; Rob, Jamie, Sam Matt and I are going to do the Via Ferrata in the Park at Briancon, Keith, Ali, Chucky, and Trevor go to bike round the lower Guisane and take a look at the levels there on the way, and Bill and Gregg stay at the house. 

The Via starts in the Park and is gated so you have to pay a small entry fee, but it’s an excellent training ground and small test run for Jamie to see if he enjoys it, and a nice little Via for us to get back in to the swing of using the Via ‘cow tail’ equipment.  Once paid and kitted up, the Park guys take you to the gate, and once we are all on the way he locks the gate behind you.  I imagine this is largely to stop any children wandering up there, but as it’s a well maintained route, it will also be to make sure you pay to use it.  The start takes you out off the edge of the river bank, and around a rock face that is above the Durance river which passes through the edge of the park.  It then begins to climb up the other side of the rock here, then zig zags a bit as it climbs, so you look out over the park on one side and the gorge on the other.  Even this small Via has enough elevation to allow you an excellent view down the gorge, along the river, and then on over the town.  Rob had gone first with Jamie behind him.  As the most experienced member of the group, Rob could then show Jamie what to do as we tracked the cables bolted to the mountain.  Sam and Matt followed and I went at the back.  I’m not very experienced with Via’s specifically, but I’m a confident and reasonably experienced climber.  There is one spot where Sam struggles to figure out how to get off the ledge we are on, and up the rock to the next set of metal staples.  The obvious direct route ahead is quite a step up, so I ask Matt to swap to being behind me (figuring out how to do this on the small ledge, with both of us remaining clipped in at all times) and go to help Sam with those first steps.  Once she’s got past this one step up she is fine, and makes the top easily.




At the top we comment on how well Jamie has done.  He and Rob have created a good distance between themselves and the rest of us, so they have been moving quite swiftly.  Jamie replied that ‘the quicker I’m up, the quicker I can get down’.  He wasn’t particularly comfortable with it all, and has said he would do another simple one again, but wouldn’t go for anything that is any more difficult or exposed than this one.  The walk out from the top isn’t the easiest.  Although it is gravel tracks now, it’s narrow and fairly steep, so still takes some time to get down.  We are soon at the bottom and when we check the time, we have only been a couple of hours all together. 

Back at the house I quickly jump in the shower, and while I’m in there the biking group arrive back.  Keith says they have had a nice ride, and everyone is feeling that their ‘bike fitness’ is going well.  The river is looking high though, and although it makes some sections of the river look nice to paddle it makes others look messy and ‘meaty’, so it’s possibly one to leave for a few days until the levels drop just a little.  Chucky then makes a start on dinner, it’s Fajitas for tea and there is plenty of it!  We still have plenty left too!!  Over dinner we’ve had the usual discussions over the house stuff (the bins are full, does anyone know where to take them?, and with cherries on the tree make sure we are leaving outside shoes downstairs), who’s cooking over the next few days so that shopping can be arranged, and what activities are we planning tomorrow?

It’s an early night again for some but here I am still typing these notes, and I might even do a little pilates before bed.  I won’t be outside tonight though, as it’s gone dark and there is a chill in the air.

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