Firstly, my apologies to those who have been enjoying daily
updates, I’ve got behind a little as the strenuous nature of the trip has
gotten on top of me.
Secondly, my apologies for this post, I’m already feeling
the effects of the rum and I can’t say how coherent it will be!!!
Day 16
We are missing Keith, Chucky, Alex and Dylan over the next
couple of days as they are making the most of Andy Grimes being available out
here, to get their advanced white water course done. It’s been in the planning for the last two
years, and has been cancelled every time for several reasons. The rest of us plan to go over Col D’Izoard
and paddle on the Guil. It’s a long
drive and a bit of a faff day but the river is worth it.
Everyone paddles the upper section from the school to the
town get out. It’s a nice run that
wasn’t available last year as the water levels were too low. We split up in to groups again; The first
group is Sam, Tim, Jen, Rob and Ali, and I’m in the second group with Gregg,
Bill, Matt, Jamie and Trevor. It’s got
some good wave trains and a few slightly technical pieces, I believe it’s a
grade 2 run but it’s a good continuous grade two. As we paddle through Bill gets me to make
some eddies on the way, even in the middle of some of the rapids, which is good
practice for me at this level. I feel
like it’s testing me but it’s all quite achievable. As we paddle through we see that the first
group has stopped at one of the stony Islands, Sam has had an unfortunate trip
over a rock, and taken a swim. All is in
hand and everyone is OK so we continue to paddle on, our group now taking the
lead. The get out only has one small
eddy (enough for one boat to stop) so we all beach ourselves on an island
further up, and go one at a time through the final rapid and in to the eddy to
get out. Once we are all out Sam’s group
catches up, and does the same to get in the final eddy. We were only on the water for 25 minutes,
it’s a quick little run! On catching up
with Sam it seems another river has claimed some of her kit. This time it’s the left shoe. She’s bumped over a few rocks in her swim as
she came out in a shallow section, but she’s OK.
The town is then portaged by car, as there is a weir in that
section of river that cannot be paddled due to exposed ironworks, and we all go
to the get on for the gorge. It’s here
we find a table in the shade to gather round and have lunch. Sam, Trevor and I have got changed, as we
aren’t going to paddle any more today.
The rest then run the gorge and the wood yard down, in two groups Bill,
Ali, Rob and Matt go first, then Jen, Tim, Jamie and Gregg follow a few minutes
later. Trevor went to the bottom when
the cars were shuttled and Sam and I then follow the group down river. I managed to get some pictures at the start
of their run before we made a mad dash to catch them all going in to the top of
the gorge, from the small lay by at the side of the road above. We then carry on down to sit with Trevor,
grab a drink and wait for the paddling groups to arrive. They’ve all had a good run with a roll from
Ali and Gregg. We all have a catch up
over ice cream before we head back. Tim
and Jen are staying in this valley tonight so won’t be joining us
tomorrow.
It’s a lazy start for most, we are all feeling tired at this
point in the holiday and with Keith, Chucky, Alex and Dylan out on the second
day of the course this reduces the group again.
Rob and I decided to do the Via behind Briancon town this morning, it’s
not a long one so there is still time to paddle in the afternoon. I’ve been told the walk in to the Via is quite
long and steep, so I’m prepared for a long walk, we walk from the house as it’s
so close it’s not worth driving to the top of the hill. It only takes us 30 minutes from the house,
so we think it’s not so bad. The Via
itself is not too difficult, it’s graded as red as each section of the via has
a small piece (4 or 5 moves) with no metal pegs. Rob and I managed to get through the Via
easily in 1 hr 45, 15 minutes under the advertised time. We still have a couple of water breaks but it’s
surprising how quickly you can go with just two confident climbers going
together, rather than a big group. The
views over the town and the valley open up more and more as we climb, and every
time I turn around it’s breath taking.
Knowing that the group want to paddle in the afternoon, we don’t spend
too long at the viewpoint and we make our way down the descent track. This is the part where I start to struggle.
It’s 45 minutes of a continuous down hill scree slope and this starts to take
it’s toll on my knees and back. We stop
a few times to rest, and keep a fairly slow and steady pace down.
Back at the house we get our kit together for an afternoon
paddle. Rob, Ali, Bill, Gregg and Jamie
are going through Briancon Gorge and Matt and I are joining them at the ‘Briancon’
get in to paddle down to Prelles. Rob, Matt
and I missed out on this paddle on the first day as we didn’t make it across Italy
in time. Sam and Trevor are heading to
Puy St Vincent to do the Via in the gorge there. While the shuttle is going on I have quite
some time to wait at the Briancon Lay by, and Matt joins me for the second part
of this wait, after he has shuttled drivers back to the top of the gorge. We’ve both got comfortable on our boats, and
I’m pretty sure I’ve nodded off to sleep when we hear the others arrive. Getting up from this relaxed state and
jumping on to the river isn’t such a great idea, it makes me feel irritated and
nervous from the beginning. Bill gets me
to do some more eddies, but I’m not feeling so comfortable with it today. Nothing feels smooth and easy, and after a
while I stop doing them. There are a
couple of larger rapids on this run and I’m finding the Mamba difficult to work
through them. I recognise the ‘boulder
garden section’ where Zaf had advised me to find a tune to work the eddies. Water is flowing over the rocks today so
there are only stoppers and no real eddies there. We paddle straight through and at the final
rapid, which is the biggest one of the run I say to Rob that I want to go
straight through, rather than catching the half way eddy that some of the group
have gone in. I know from last year
there is an excellent eddy at the bottom, the one I got when I lead the section
at the end of the trip, and I just paddle hard until I get there. It’s the smelly eddy so we don’t hang around
long (I’ve no idea why it smells but it makes it memorable!) and then we bimble
down to the get off. It’s not been the
most enjoyable run for me, but I think it’s mostly being tired and achy that’s
the problem.
Everyone has a catch up over dinner, Sam and Trevor have
enjoyed the via this afternoon which has a lot of rope bridges and rope ladders
in it, and cool being out of the sun.
Keith and Chucky are both extremely tired (and a bit grumpy) after a
hard couple of days working some difficult water. I can now really feel the effects of doing
two activities in one day, and I go to bed early.
Day 18
I wake up and I can a hardly move, everything has seized up. I waddle down for a little breakfast, let the
others know I’m not going anywhere, and go back to bed. Keith and Chucky also have a lazy morning but
then head out to have a bike ride, Bill and Ali have stayed in to prepare
dinner for later, and the others go to the Lower Guil to do the run down to St
Clements slalom course. I didn’t get up
until 11.30, spent some time doing pilates and reading in the sun, I’ve
finished ‘The Little Prince’ and I’m now reading some more of Tom Dorrance’s
book. I then take Gregg to fetch Sam’s
car from the top of the Col Du Lautaret where Keith and Chucky started their ride
and then have a long soak to soothe my aches.
There is plenty of fun before and after dinner as a few of us have
bought hammocks and we get a couple set up in the garden. Spirits are higher this evening now that everyone
has had a somewhat more relaxed day, and a break from kayaking where needed.
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