We all knew there was a big snowpack, and expected a lot of water in France for the spring season. A resilient micro system over the southern French Alps would make the season turn out even a bit more extreme this year; UL kayak club was in for an interesting time. As I was going out to France in ‘Arctic Fox’ (our little Sprinter) anyway, I joined them on their 2 week Alps Trip.
They were pretty hard to miss at Rosslare harbour: a flash new big Sprinter dragging a rather narrow looking trailer with uneven rungs and boats slapped onto the side and top, filled with happy shining faces full of expectation. Galway canoe club had booked onto the same ferry, and there would be beer, I suspected. And I was right…
There was beer on the deck, an amazing sunset and about 50 dolphins following us for a little while, jumping the wake of the boat. Hoping for a floor space in one of the lads’ rooms, I had brought a sleeping bag but when it actually came to sleeping, I was bodily lifted into one of the beds and Kev took the floor. Thank you for that, I owe you one brother!
The drive from Roscoff to our first stop in the slalom site of Sault Brenaz was pretty uneventful and gave us time to come up with cunning plans for future trips and looking for Decathlons. We now know never to trust GPS systems; following Tony through the city of Le Mans provided some expected frustration and I am pretty sure I will be one of those freaks that will still use a map, even when they are not made anymore, somewhere in the 2050’s.
Sault Brenaz, or Isle de la Serre Slalom Site, is an amazing spot. It’s safe, has very defined eddy lines and easy to walk up along, as it is shaped with lots of s-bends with bridges crossing the flow to give the walker the shortest route to the top. This is where we met the rest of the club. Many cars, many 2 second tents and gear everywhere: it’s amazing that I didn’t lose track of more kit during the 2 weeks.
It’s pretty hard to move such a big amount of people around and I think Lorraine and Kev did an amazing job, right from the start. An Alpine warm up with some rope throwing and getting to know one and other (this is when we still had the sun) got everyone excited for the rivers in the southern French Alps, and the plan to leave early in the morning was met by my surprise as it actually happened: clean away at the estimated time!
So that’s when the weather turned on us… As our journey proceeded, so did the rain and by the time we came over the Col de Lautaret, we could see there was definitely enough water. I think I said: “I don’t think I have ever seen so much water here”, but I was also very excited to be back in the Alps, so in my mind I didn’t take my estimation very seriously.
The rest of the group was quite a while behind, and we ended up never getting on the water that day, but a careful start the next day on the easiest section proved to be a challenge. Someone’s famous words “I generally don’t get on the water when the branches on the trees coming down are still green” and the local farmer’s worried advice to be “very, very cautious” started off a small knot in my stomach. But the branches are still brown and we got on.
Three bends and a few swims further, the decision was made. The branches had turned green and it was too difficult to deal with more than one swimmer at the one time: we got off the water. We were also not sure how easy the last bend before the famous Rabioux wave was going to be, and we were worried about the last eddy to catch (people had looked but the water was still rising). Unfortunately it made for a nasty walk out for most of the group.
The next day the water had risen again and there were now not so many options left. We decided to paddle the lower Guil with some of the more experienced paddlers, but as the main group arrived at the take out we found notices that forbade access to all rivers in the department. Very sadly, a local kayaker had died on the river that previous day, leaving his eight month pregnant girlfriend behind.
Police was out fining people but our group got off a bit above the take out, avoiding the police that was patrolling the bridges, and plans were made to make a Move.
The first Move of the trip led us to the Verdon area. This should give us a few days of nice rivers: some good stuff for the more advanced people and nice mellow stuff for people that wanted to do some shape up work. 4 hours of driving (and another swift and well organised exit from the campsite which would have left the military impressed) brought us to a dry and sunny spot: blue water and a beautiful little playwave right in the middle of the picturesque town of Castellane.
Of course, we were jinxed! That same morning, a notice had gone up in the town, closing the rivers in that department as well.
Move number two happened that same day: we tried the Var area, an hour’s drive further south. The local fire men thought there wouldn’t be a problem getting on the river there, and as we were getting changed, the police decided differently, and we were chased off again. So we drove back to Castellane and of course it started to rain.
This is what we did on our day off…
So France was clearly not going to happen for us. We gave up on croissants and camembert, and decided to give Italy a shot. Move Three brought us down south to Nice, across the border to leave the Shit behind us. Driving up a lovely road beside a beautiful blue looking river called the Roya, we dropped down into the Valle di Demonte, where there should be a class III river we might paddle. The sun came out, there was no police looking for us and the river was… a brown raging torrent.
The Roya we looked at the day before was really our last hope and we spent 2 nice days on the water. Some decided to go ahead with the planned level IV assessments and finally, FINALLY we got to do some paddling.
Unfortunately, some of the group were going home then having only a few days of paddling in. It is very sad how that sometimes happens, but on the other side, no gear had been lost and no-one had got hurt by a rash decision. The Stura di Demonte had now dropped a good two foot, and the whole group took a goodbye paddle in the area before making our last and final Move: to Valsesia.
Did we have any interesting learning points on the Demonte River? Yes: a phone is a very handy thing to bring with you on the river. At all times… And did we have learning points on the drive to Valsesia? Indeed: Yoghurt doesn’t travel very far laterally when throwing it out of a car at 70 miles an hour. It will therefore very likely NOT land on the target car right next to you, but rather spray all the traffic behind you, especially the black BMW convertible sports car with the Big Italian driving it.
The river Sesia and its tributaries are generally running much earlier in the year but the weather had brought the rivers up to a much higher level. It was hard to find rivers with an easier grade though, and especially after the broken up trip we had, most really hadn’t had enough ‘flow’ to take on the more difficult rivers. There were another few learning moments, especially in regards with organisation and trip leading, and what to do when there is a whole bunch of Italian (yes, the are different) fire fighters on the bank that give you the wrong advice about the line. Highlights were definitely the Sorba Slides and the Race Course above the campsite, and the Mountain Style bar with its big mugs of beer. And then of course some people had birthdays…
That was it for ULKC, unfortunately… I was staying and the group would go back to Sault Brenaz for a day, on its way to the airport in Paris. At this stage it was clear we really had made the best of the trip. France had had much more bad weather and still hadn’t opened up the rivers. In fact, they had suffered from a lot of flood damage and crazy situations (see some of the photo’s at SND Kayak Shop), so nobody had to feel bad about all the driving. It was just one of those trips. However, the crowd had been so positive and fun that the trip will stay in people’s mind for a long time, like all things that have cost a little effort do.
Goodbyes were exchanged, and hopefully I will see everyone back soon! My next part of the trip was about to start: some Italian paddling with Dave, and then driving back to France for a few weeks of Alpine rivers. Bring it ON!
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