|
|||||
| Reviews & Photos | The Alps 25 June - 03 July 2006 | |||||
|
Team Totty:
Marco Holt,
Paul Newbury,
Grace Norman Team Ginger: Lee Rogers, Pete Grant, Jo Savage, Patrick Morgan, Emma Newman Team Tosser: David Reid (apparently he doesn't like being called Dave...), Ben Nolan, Alex Berry Team Fogie: Simon Defries, Deb Thorpe, Doug Ashby Day One Grace - well it’s 9.15pm and we’re at least an hour behind schedule due to a ‘slight mishap’ while driving along the motorway. The whole roof rack came off the roof taking with it three boats and paddles strewing them across the road! Oops!! Paul was quick off the mark, running straight across the motorway to collect the paddles still attached to the roof rack (evidence of very good strapping on!). Fortunately the safety strap kept the boats near to the car, meaning that they were pulled into the hard shoulder just behind us. We were incredibly fortunate that there were no cars directly behind us saving us from having caused a major accident - thank god for the dead French roads! Once we were back on the road, the remainder of the journey was pretty uneventful, resulting in our arrival at the campsite at 2am. A 14 hour journey over with, we slept very well! Deb - Meanwhile, Simon, Deb and Doug were eating dejeuner in an aire when a French monsieur came crashing off the autoroute at 130km/h into the crash barrier and rolling the car! “Not a good year, 2006” he commented later after determining that he was ‘ca va’. So, on we went with Dozy Dorris (Simon’s sat nav) leading the way. Unfortunately, she forgot to mention a right turn up a ramp and off we went to Alberville. She then went into shock shouting “recalculate! recalculate!” and ultimately deciding to take us through the ‘Fres jus’ tunnel to Italy at the pricey sum of 31.50euros. But all’s well that end’s well and we arrived at camp at 2am. Day Two Grace – After a relatively lazy start to the day we paddled the middle Durance - a 19k, 3 hour section which was a relatively simple grade II, of the big and bouncy variety. My group, led by Paul with Pete, Patrick and myself, had few problems. It was a lovely sunny day, the water was incredibly clear and very cold. The scenery was stunning, gorgeous mountains looming on both sides of the wide river. It was just a shame about the huge groups of German paddlers who seemed determined at one point to pin me in an eddy, regardless of my protests. Dave - An uneventful drive down, we arrived at about 1am. After a well needed night’s sleep we set off to the first river of the trip. My group (Marco, Deb, Ben, Simon and me) had a swift decent with no major problems. Nice and easy grade II-III. So far so good! Ben - No major problems other than the point at which Dave, living up to his nickname, decided to push the Sussex Canoe Club President upside down at the top of one of the bigger rapids that day. Unfortunately Mr President’s paddles became wedged and he had to carry on without them. Luckily for Dave the paddles were recovered and all members of the party survived. Paddy - Everything that related to the journal or the paddling so far has already been said so it remains for me to tell of the first night’s drinking. For Emma, Jo, Pete Lee and I a delicious chilli was on the menu whist pasta dishes seemed to be the standard for all the other groups. After we had all eaten we played Macro’s humming game but tired of this rather rapidly. People started to drift off to their tents, tired out from the days paddling, but for those of us that stayed up one more treat was in store; a leary but quite friendly German motorcyclist stopped in for a chat as “zer was no other party anywhere”. He told us of him and his colleagues plans to do a cool 400km over mountain passes as high as they could find on the next day. We all had a laugh, partly with him, partly at his tipsy English (which in fairness was far better than all of our German put together!) and went to bed tired but happy! Day Three Pete - After a leisurely wake up, we continued from where we got off the day before. The lower Durance is a classic grade III to III+. It ended up being a nice notch up from the day before. There were a few noticeable rapids including the Rabioux wave and a rapid just before the get out. The total distance of this trip was 16km lasting two and a half hours. There were few problems and was a touch bigger and bouncier than the day before. In the afternoon 2 groups of three ran the Briancon gorge. This was a grade III 2km section lasting half an hour. The groups were Lee, Paul and Emma, and Marco, Dave and I. The Gorge was at an extremely low level, become a technical grade III with all members being pinned at some point on the descent. The only noticeable part was an old weir which had been blown up to make it safe - this was run river left with Marco having a near nasty pinning on the large boulder half way down. Lower down the river joined with the lower Guisaine becoming slightly more alpine in nature. The run finished at the campsite. Dave - Having been kept awake half the night by some noisy “yoofs” and a random German, the morning came as a nasty shock. Fortunately, coco pops came to the rescue and soon we were off to paddle the lower Durance. All groups were the same as yesterday, with Marco ably leading my group through grade III sections. Those who felt strong enough played on the wave at Embrum. We were all fairly pants at play boating, with the exception of Marco who pulled off some amazing old school play boating moves including paddle-spins and enders. The afternoon saw six of us paddling the Briancon gorge which was rather low (Paul - as low as the Pope is Catholic!) But great fun was had by all, with no epics. Tomorrow promises to be another glorious day with lots of water. Day Four Grace - We paddled the Upper Guisane today and Deb moved into our group. I say ‘we’ but really I mean everyone excluding me. I swam after 20 minutes (without even getting my hair wet - man, I’m good!) and then got out having bashed my legs nicely resulting in some lovely (read horrific!) bruising. This was mainly thanks to Pete who, while trying to rescue me from a very long swim, pulled me over a large number of rocks and then through a tree. So rather than a very long swim it was just a long swim with some deep tissue damage to show for it. (Present day - I then spent the next two hours waiting for the others to arrive and I don’t know what they did in this time as no one else felt the need to write about this day!) Day Five Grace - In the morning some of the more adventurous of the group paddled the Onde, managing to get to the get off before the cars! Someone else will no doubt write about that later. Having got off the first river before we normally got on, we faffed around, having lunch and watching handgliders, while Marco continued to bird spot. We then drove to get on the Gyronde. While the drivers ran the shuttle, we watched a number of other groups run a barrage, most of whom did it without any problems. After 15 minutes of continuous grade III, Deb became pinned on a rack and swam, shortly followed by me. Swiftly chasing me was Alex’s boat, with no sign of Alex, with Jo and Doug following suit. After watched Deb swim and then doing so myself, I managed to self-rescue with my paddles and also managed to catch Debs, as we watched our boats float down stream. As Deb was rescued, we spotted Alex’s boat floating past. He’d been pinned on a rock further up stream and whilst upside down, got hit by Jo. Unfortunately, I cannot retail the rest of the story as I don’t know what happened as I was rather pre-occupied by climbing up an incredibly steep scree bank, still holding both paddles, narrowly escaping falling back into the river by grabbing at tree roots which could barely hold my weight. To be honest, this climbing was far more frightening than swimming and watching the carnage below. I decided that today wasn’t going to be my day and decided that catching some rays was my preferred way to spend the rest of the lovely afternoon. Paddy - I got on the Onde with a real adrenaline rush going. I knew that it would be a challenge for me, the upper limits of my ability. It was t hanks to this that my concentration was high and I held on for the whole of this white water roller coaster and managed to survive. It was fast but luckily not too technical. When we got to the small bridge I was really buzzing and shouted to Lee, “Is this a portage?!?” And he called back, “No, it’s the end mate!”. It had been 25 minutes but it felt more like 5. I got off and ate a mars bar, trying to recover physically and mentally for the afternoon descent of the Gyronde. As it turned out this was a big of an epic! I managed the first bit and got out to help those that hadn’t. They all climbed up a bank to portage a tricky left hand bend which a big rock in the middle. Paul, Pete and I were going to drop down to a lower eddy and help the others back on. This was easier written than done! I made it past the big rock and thought, “phew, that wasn’t too hard” and then got pinned and swam. Yay! My first of the trip. After that had been sorted but (thank you Paul et al!) we got back on but some (including Ben who took as nasty knock to the eye) were to drained to continue. We carried on down without incident and got out to portage a very nasty bit of grade VI. Deb, Doug, Alex and I were told the lower you go down the river the easier it would be to get back on, so we walked. And walked. And walked. Eventually we felt so knackered that we decided to put on. We all did really well for about 15 minutes at high concentration and then I heard Paul shout, “S***! Break out! Break out!” Turning, I saw Deb swimming after her boat. I scrabbled frantically at the edge of a tiny eddy but to no avail; I dropped backwards over a 2-3ft chute and smacked into a big rock. The water was going so fast and the river so I had no option but to have a second swim that day. Paul chased my boat about 2km downstream and it was game over for me. I love the Alps!!! Paul - Yep, an interesting day. Started with an excellent paddle on the Onde with no swimmers. Fast rollercoaster as usual; I love this river. The Gyronde was slightly harder than I remember as evidenced by the 9 (?) swim. There is a corner about 500m after the start which at medium levels can be quite challenging. A III+ which isn’t too hard if no one swims but a bigger if anyone does, let alone 4 people in 3 different groups. Fortunately we recovered all of the kit and boats and carried on sans Grace and Jo, shortly followed by Ben after a bash to the head. The paddle down to the portage was uneventful and after all got back in, a cock-up (my fault) in my group order had Deb paddling last followed quickly by a swim and one for Patrick, although he did make a heroic effort to get in a very small breakout. A swim by Alex saw him, Paddy, Deb and Doug get off and the rest of us paddle down to the get out. Then the buggers shut the roads in Argentiere so we had a long carry with the boats. Marco - I am great - I rescued at least 5 boats by rope, catching and paddling into eddys. What carnage! Paul said it would all be ok, and lee and I couldn’t remember the river. (These flies are f***ing annoying!) I thought that the car smelled and it took me all day to realise that it was Paul. Ben - The Onde · Very scary, fast flowing The Gyronde · Fun and fast · Lots of swimming · Recovered my first person with a throwline · Recovered lots of boats · Hit head · Sunbathed! · The End. Day Six Pete - The trip started with the lower middle Guilly, a class II-III, to build up some confidence that the epics had ruined the day before. This was 7km lasting an hour with no hard bits to cause any problems. This finished at the same get off as the middle Durance. In the afternoon, Paul, Simon, Lee, Emma, Marco Dave and I paddled the lower section of the middle Guile. This was a 3km III+ to IV which lots of blind corners. It ended up being very scary with my boat becoming air borne at one point! It lasted about an hour and was a great run. We’ve ended up dosing on the side of the “lac de poncon” which is very picturesque and are paddling to the pub shortly. Day Seven Jo - Well, after paddling quite an easy river during the day yesterday, it was clear that we were going to have a night of complete madness. I am currently sitting in the middle of a doss site with the majority of people stumbling around with terrible hangovers! (This was quickly cured by jumping in the lake.) So, last night after we had made dinner, we have a few bevies and then canoed across the lake to the campsite pub. Most people got incredibly waster (the guys all had litres of ‘biere blonde’ and copious amounts of vin blanc, roset and some foul shot that tasted of mouthwash, were consumed. (Sorry about the jilty handwriting; there are some extremely tenacious flies pursuing me). As you can imagine, by this time we were pissed as anything and had some hugely entertaining gossip (although it didn’t quite live up to the game of ‘never have I ever’ of Thursday night. The barman was tres cool and allowed us to carry on drinking until 1am… THEN we had to commence the paddle back across the lake. Dave stayed back at the doss site and shone his torch over the lake, guising us safely to land! If it hadn’t been for him we almost definitely wouldn’t have made it back - he was the lighthouse leading us away from the perilous jaggedy rocks into the safe harbour. Paddling is so much easier when you’re drink and we glided swiftly over the water which was as still as a millpond. However, we weren’t quite as graceful, as we were informed by Deb, Doug and Dave, that we could be heard shouting and singing even before we had left the pub. The Yogi bear and Chicago songs were belted out for miles - we were probably heard in Italy! When we eventually arrived on shore, all safe and dry, people scrambled out of their boats and stumbled and fell over. Paul attempted to pull everyone out of the water, although was failing miserably. Then memorably were the drunken antics of Patrick who immediately fell back down the slope into the water! Miraculously we were back at the doss site. Alex, Ben, Patrick and I decided to say hello to Dave and thank him for his kindness with the light. I unzipped his tent and peered in but was immediately grabbed and thrown out with great force. Dave was not too pleased to see us, indeed he still hasn’t spoken to me since last night. I’m sure he’ll come round… As for paddling today, we are off to do my final river of the trip (boo hoo). I’m sure it’ll be tough with our hangovers but we’ll cope. Hopefully there will be no swims! Paddy - I drank too much last night. But it was ok because I slept under the best canopy possible - the milky way and its assortment of friends. The stars were so bright and I was so drunk that I had trouble focussing on individual ones. The flies work me up and I went and jumped in the lake before breakfast. It was perfect. Perfect. Grace- Today we paddled the Ubaye from Les Thuiles to La Fresquiere which was 5km of III in a large open valley. Having paddled particularly badly this trip I was rather scared but soon came to realise that as long as I stopped stressing and just followed Paul I would be just fine. And then I fell sideways into a stopper. Oops! I maneavoured and recovered well without any mishaps. Unfortunately Doug swam, as did Jo - twice. I was sad to reach the end of the section having had lots of fun (despite my sometimes rather snappy and sarcastic comments) in the knowledge that this would be my last river of the trip. It’s been an amazing trip, I just wish I’d made a better job of paddling! Still, I’ve learnt a lot and promise to be better and swear less next year. As it was Dave and lee’s cars’ last day, we all went out for dinner. Alex ordered white bait which he then refused to eat because they had eyes. The England v Portugal football match was playing which often dominated the conversation. To no ones’ surprise we lost, to the gratification of most of the other punters. A group photo was taken and then we parted ways, Marco and Doug’s cars carried on to stay at the Rabioux campsite, at which after tents were erected (“Lets get it up!” - Marco) Paul jumped back into his boat and on to the Rabioux wave, performing spectacularly well. We’re now sitting around talk about old cars and pedophelic teachers waiting for Pete’s (imaginary?) friends. Marco - Ubaye gorge is particularly pretty - although the grade III Thuiles-Fresquiere is uneventful(ish), it’s a lovely paddle nonetheless. I picked up Jo from Lee’s group who swam a few times, but had fun. Paddled the first bit of Fresquaire Racecourse - couldn’t remember it as I’d paddled it last in 1999, but did recognise a few of the rapids. I then took Patrick and Ben down. The looked very very scared and it reminds me of how I must have felt on my first run down - probably 12 years ago. We stopped next to lac de poncon for a group meal. Paul ate raw mince - yuck. Team photo, then Team Ginger and Team Tosser drove off into the evening. Team Fogey and Team Totty left going to Rabioux campsite. Swim Count Jo 7 Deb 4 (plus 4 on the last day after Team’s Ginger and Tosser had left) Patrick 3 Grace 3 Doug 2 Alex 2 Ben 1 Pete 1 Simon 1 |