The second and final part of our University Trip to the French Alps! Enjoy!
Today was probably the best day of paddling we had so far in the trip! Levels were still dropping making so many more runs open to us, THANKS GOD FOR THAT! So as levels dropped and we gained some serious poundage from our growing pastry addiction, we set off to do The Upper Durance, The Onde and The Gyronde. T
Day 8: 24th
June
Whilst writing the blog, I glanced down at my written diary to discover I’d written NOTHING for this day. Asked Ruthy. Suddenly I remember why…. Oops ha. This was the day I received DOTD for “fucking off” and stressing out Adi who was leading my group. Again, oooopsie :P Yes, I remember this now. I think it was actually quite good up until S Bend where everyone (including a number of other groups on the river!!) was getting off to inspect and set up safety. Having decided to walk it, off I went. First steps to ruin *sigh*. So I walked too far, long story short. Lost EVERYONE. Had to sit by the side of the road, sulk, and wait for someone to notice I was gone. Stu helpful came to my aid in Chantelle. Cue a guilty looking Hannah… But it was really annoying when all the other groups on the river (who were, to put it lightly, shit) pushed in front of, used our safety and made it all very faffy!!! Also sighted was the impressive lady with a broken foot and crutched in her boat!! What a woman eh! The Lower was another full on run of the day as we waited for the pro boaters to finish it again, in our favourite layby! JP had a cheeky swim and left his boat to make its own drop in the middle of the river. When we got back to camp, despite a 3 river day, Butler coaxed Earnie, Liam, Chris and Grog to do the Fournel. CHRIS SWAM!! Chris, of Chris Kayley’s Driving School, Chris pro Italian boater, swam! Having been through the Scotland experience of a fake Chris swim, it was quite exciting! In the nicest way! A nice little reminder we’re all between swims, but distinctly lacking in epicness, it was a good paddling day had by most!!
Whilst writing the blog, I glanced down at my written diary to discover I’d written NOTHING for this day. Asked Ruthy. Suddenly I remember why…. Oops ha. This was the day I received DOTD for “fucking off” and stressing out Adi who was leading my group. Again, oooopsie :P Yes, I remember this now. I think it was actually quite good up until S Bend where everyone (including a number of other groups on the river!!) was getting off to inspect and set up safety. Having decided to walk it, off I went. First steps to ruin *sigh*. So I walked too far, long story short. Lost EVERYONE. Had to sit by the side of the road, sulk, and wait for someone to notice I was gone. Stu helpful came to my aid in Chantelle. Cue a guilty looking Hannah… But it was really annoying when all the other groups on the river (who were, to put it lightly, shit) pushed in front of, used our safety and made it all very faffy!!! Also sighted was the impressive lady with a broken foot and crutched in her boat!! What a woman eh! The Lower was another full on run of the day as we waited for the pro boaters to finish it again, in our favourite layby! JP had a cheeky swim and left his boat to make its own drop in the middle of the river. When we got back to camp, despite a 3 river day, Butler coaxed Earnie, Liam, Chris and Grog to do the Fournel. CHRIS SWAM!! Chris, of Chris Kayley’s Driving School, Chris pro Italian boater, swam! Having been through the Scotland experience of a fake Chris swim, it was quite exciting! In the nicest way! A nice little reminder we’re all between swims, but distinctly lacking in epicness, it was a good paddling day had by most!!
Day 9: 25th
June
First line of my alps diary for this day “Having a shit day” optimistic Hannah, didn’t help I was DOTD for being a moron yesterday *sniff*. Anyway, with everyone else really enjoying paddling now levels had dropped sufficiently, it was a mad rush of rescuers in the morning to go rescue James’ boat- challenge accomplished! After more quality layby time we went to the get on for the Briancon Gorge (the one with the chute where everyone gets cool pictures) and again, took some excellent photos after JP had figured out how to take the handbrake off the 9 seater!! For this reason we only caught Adi doing his best Metcalfe impression and a few others- blame chantelle’s weird handbrake! After a wait in our fave layby, we went to run the Lower Claree which was simple and a nice little run for a bit of coaching, despite the annoying portage around an awkward tree. Did the Gyronde in the afternoon, and it was much nicer in lower levels- like a whole new river each time some said! A swim from me early on wasn’t fun, but I stayed on to do the run down to the slalom site at camp. It is just a tad bigger than it looks from the bank!! Rolly rolly, swimmy swimmy. Sit on a rock in the middle for a while whilst Earnie and Liam rescue me- pretty much my run. But, BBQ and Punch night made me feel better!!! Swim spirits came in place of beer as we already had a spud pretty much overflowing with the stuff (thanks Dan, much appreciated for the fridge! ) Punch was gooood!! Too good really! Fiona and Graham were the drunken messes of the night ha! And I think this is the night we invaded Manchester to make them realise they had to friends with us. Not sure how the night ended up like it did …. Guantanamo Bay guards in training is all I’ll say!! Also, Fiona got punch in Adi’s crotch, we decided not to enforce the ‘Spillage is Lickage’ rule too stringently.
First line of my alps diary for this day “Having a shit day” optimistic Hannah, didn’t help I was DOTD for being a moron yesterday *sniff*. Anyway, with everyone else really enjoying paddling now levels had dropped sufficiently, it was a mad rush of rescuers in the morning to go rescue James’ boat- challenge accomplished! After more quality layby time we went to the get on for the Briancon Gorge (the one with the chute where everyone gets cool pictures) and again, took some excellent photos after JP had figured out how to take the handbrake off the 9 seater!! For this reason we only caught Adi doing his best Metcalfe impression and a few others- blame chantelle’s weird handbrake! After a wait in our fave layby, we went to run the Lower Claree which was simple and a nice little run for a bit of coaching, despite the annoying portage around an awkward tree. Did the Gyronde in the afternoon, and it was much nicer in lower levels- like a whole new river each time some said! A swim from me early on wasn’t fun, but I stayed on to do the run down to the slalom site at camp. It is just a tad bigger than it looks from the bank!! Rolly rolly, swimmy swimmy. Sit on a rock in the middle for a while whilst Earnie and Liam rescue me- pretty much my run. But, BBQ and Punch night made me feel better!!! Swim spirits came in place of beer as we already had a spud pretty much overflowing with the stuff (thanks Dan, much appreciated for the fridge! ) Punch was gooood!! Too good really! Fiona and Graham were the drunken messes of the night ha! And I think this is the night we invaded Manchester to make them realise they had to friends with us. Not sure how the night ended up like it did …. Guantanamo Bay guards in training is all I’ll say!! Also, Fiona got punch in Adi’s crotch, we decided not to enforce the ‘Spillage is Lickage’ rule too stringently.
Day 10: 26th
June
Ubaye Day!! After a bit of indecision about whether to make it a Chateau Q or Ubaye day, the Ubaye was set on as more people could run it! So, the longest drive brought up a few odd smells from some vehicles brakes as we wound our way round some mountains, as you do! It was a bit of a wait for the shuttle, and true to Alps form, I swam very swiftly as we did the Upper. It was grim and emerging from the water with a grimace on my face, it was James that had to carry my boat out as I pulled myself up with only one working leg. Chris then threw my paddles back into the river (massive lol watching him realise this I must say) and I settled into the side of the road to wait for a hitch or a pick up from the finishers. On the bright side, I got GoPro’d by a passing French cyclist!! :D Watch out for my foreign film debut! After lunch we drove to the get on for the Upper race course section and some nervous glances passed around as rumours circulated that it was constant 4 with some 5! WRONG. The rumour mill was dispelled pretty soon as they found out it wasn’t near that: ended up a fun run with plenty of water! A smallish group got on and were the star of some awesome photos from JP, Spud and I! Spotted at the get off: Broken foot woman with pretty awesome abs racking up the boats on a car! Needless to say this was pretty much the end of any setting off plans we had as Ruth, Spud, Fiona and I waited patiently for the staring to be over. Boys!
Ubaye Day!! After a bit of indecision about whether to make it a Chateau Q or Ubaye day, the Ubaye was set on as more people could run it! So, the longest drive brought up a few odd smells from some vehicles brakes as we wound our way round some mountains, as you do! It was a bit of a wait for the shuttle, and true to Alps form, I swam very swiftly as we did the Upper. It was grim and emerging from the water with a grimace on my face, it was James that had to carry my boat out as I pulled myself up with only one working leg. Chris then threw my paddles back into the river (massive lol watching him realise this I must say) and I settled into the side of the road to wait for a hitch or a pick up from the finishers. On the bright side, I got GoPro’d by a passing French cyclist!! :D Watch out for my foreign film debut! After lunch we drove to the get on for the Upper race course section and some nervous glances passed around as rumours circulated that it was constant 4 with some 5! WRONG. The rumour mill was dispelled pretty soon as they found out it wasn’t near that: ended up a fun run with plenty of water! A smallish group got on and were the star of some awesome photos from JP, Spud and I! Spotted at the get off: Broken foot woman with pretty awesome abs racking up the boats on a car! Needless to say this was pretty much the end of any setting off plans we had as Ruth, Spud, Fiona and I waited patiently for the staring to be over. Boys!
Day 11: 27th
June
DUN DUN DUUUUN. This is the End. Hello Darkness my old frieeend.
Packing up went surprisingly smoothly! We said farewell to the campsite and L’Argentiere for another year *sob* and made our way to Briancon for food and supplies. Jess desperately needed some tyres so in true Liverpool style, Team Espionage did a little bit of espionage themselves and bagged not one, but two tyres. I heard it was a special deal, 2 for the price of 1! Well, that’s the story we’re going with anyway….
Cruised through a rainy France and arrived at the ferry no problemo! After a quick passport check it was back on the ferry and back to the Shite cliffs of Dover that meant home was near. Adi was dropped off in Hammersmith ready for his epic journey to Hong Kong, and we cruised up to Liverpool arriving at around 5am where we prestrnly crashed out in Paddle Manor to Await Jessica and the Van. Unloady loady, yawny yawny, go home- sleepy sleepy. Well Alps, you were a beauty! Cannot wait till next year!!!
Well done organisers, drivers and anyone and everyone who contributed to make this an epic trip! I had the best time. LUCC forever (considering this as a drunken tattoo option)!
I’ve been having withdrawal symptoms since the day we stepped off the ferry!
DUN DUN DUUUUN. This is the End. Hello Darkness my old frieeend.
Packing up went surprisingly smoothly! We said farewell to the campsite and L’Argentiere for another year *sob* and made our way to Briancon for food and supplies. Jess desperately needed some tyres so in true Liverpool style, Team Espionage did a little bit of espionage themselves and bagged not one, but two tyres. I heard it was a special deal, 2 for the price of 1! Well, that’s the story we’re going with anyway….
Cruised through a rainy France and arrived at the ferry no problemo! After a quick passport check it was back on the ferry and back to the Shite cliffs of Dover that meant home was near. Adi was dropped off in Hammersmith ready for his epic journey to Hong Kong, and we cruised up to Liverpool arriving at around 5am where we prestrnly crashed out in Paddle Manor to Await Jessica and the Van. Unloady loady, yawny yawny, go home- sleepy sleepy. Well Alps, you were a beauty! Cannot wait till next year!!!
Well done organisers, drivers and anyone and everyone who contributed to make this an epic trip! I had the best time. LUCC forever (considering this as a drunken tattoo option)!
I’ve been having withdrawal symptoms since the day we stepped off the ferry!
Dicks of The Day:
Hannah/JJ- Forgetting stuff
Liam- driving off with lunches!
Ruth- Drunken Mess
Stu- SOMEHOW getting the car keys stuck in the suspension of the 9 seater- FAFF ALERT
Grog- Forgetting his shoes then sulking a bit
JP- Breaking glass bottles
Hannah/JJ- Fucking off
Fiona- Punch in Adi’s crotch
Chris- throwing paddles back into the river
"I
sometimes catch myself looking up at the moon, remembering the changes of
fortune in our long voyage, thinking of the thousands of people who worked to
bring the three of us home. I look up at the moon, and wonder: When will we be
going back? And who will that be?"
No comments:
Post a Comment