When I would tell people that I had never paddled in the French Alps – they always seem surprised! The area around Briançon in the French Alps are a well known kayaking destination for kayakers of all abilities and yet I have never seemed to have gotten myself there. Finally, after 10 years of kayaking, I can now finally say that I have kayaked in the French Alps! I’ve just had the most lovely first time trip to France with friends. It exceeded all my expectations and I can now see why people make this trip annually! This article is to tell you all about it!
Part of the reason why I’ve never made it out to France is because of timings. Working as a teacher, I have very set times in which to take holidays. Most of my friends are not teachers and so they always plan trips during term time and for France this would be mid June. So imagine my surprise when I got invited to a trip that coincided with my May half term! Of course I said yes and when I got added to the group chat, my friend Joe says ‘did we accidently plan this trip for the school half term?!’ Yes you did Joe and I thank you for that!
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Driving to the French Alps
From Nottingham to France!
I left school as soon as I could on the Friday and went straight home to pick up Josh and Jude who were travelling with me in my car. We headed straight down to the Eurotunnel and made great timing considering the half term traffic. Unfortunately ‘Le Shuttle’ was having some issues and we then spent 3 hours queuing in the carpark to get on! I had never been in the Eurotunnel before but as a kid imagined it to be like the tunnels at an aquarium in which you could see all the marine life.
Turns out that the Eurotunnel it is not quite like that! Once on, it was quick though. We arrived in France at 2am and Jude kindly did the driving to get us to our accommodation. At 3am we arrived at our budget motel for the night which was an experience. Luckily as we were only there for 3 hours so it didn’t really matter!
First time driving in France!
I’ve never driven in France before and so was a little nervous. 6 hours later and I realised there was no need to worry – driving in France was a piece of cake! The roads are so much quieter compared to the UK and as soon as you are on the autoroute, it is so simple. After our second fuel stop, I swapped with Josh who drove the last 4 hours. Driving through the mountains was beautiful and I was getting extremely excited! Many of the mountains still had snow on them and this made me so happy! Then we were in Briançon!
Hunting for birthday candles and arrival in L’Argentiere
We stopped via a larger shop to get food for the next few days. It was Josh’s birthday the following day and so I set the boys on a mission to find a cake and a birthday card. We found both but they were lacking candles and the only ones they had left were the large numbers. In my panic, I couldn’t remember how old Josh was and so just went for the number 5. Absolutely no relation to the 33 years old he was turning but it did have the ability to get lit!
We drove a little further and arrived at our chalet in L’Argentiere. Set in the mountains, I couldn’t believe how gorgeous it was. We chose rooms and I was fully prepared to share with a smelly boy for the week. However Josh, in his kindness, decided as I was the only woman I was entitled to some privacy and made the decision that the one single room would be fine. So thanks for that Josh – what a nice surprise!
I sorted out the Pizzas for some late night dinner and we all opted for an early night. I slept like a baby of course!
Day 1 – Slalom course & Briançon gorge
French baguettes for lunch!
As everyone was pretty tired from the drive, we decided to start easy and head to the L’Argentiere slalom course for the morning. Stopping of course for fresh baguettes and fillings for lunch from the local shop!
Sunny and scenic at L’Argentiere slalom course
I was in absolute awe when we arrived at L’Argentiere slalom course. It was 22°C and the setting was stunning! Blue skies, mountains in the background and crystal clear waters. I could see why people came to France to go kayaking!
Ironically the day I left I had been talking about my half term plans with one of my tutor set who is also a keen kayaker. He had asked me if I would go to any of the slalom courses and I had said no. So as we walked up to get onto the water, I thought to myself ‘I must tell him I went to a slalom course!’
We got on and paddled laps all morning. I was quite surprised by how fast the water was flowing and it took me a good while to get used to it. It was a lot of fun though! Joe had opted for his SUP and Graham was in his Ozone. Both were spending a lot of time in the water and looking very happy.
Wait Del… is this for the sponsors?!
The lovely SurfEars had sent me some replacement earplugs just in time for this trip and I wanted to give them a little shoutout as a thank you. With such a gorgeous backdrop, I asked Joe if he could film a short clip for me.
Of course, this then resulted in having the absolutely mickey taken out of me for the rest of the trip by the group. Every time I took a photo, someone would pipe up – ‘Is it for the sponsors Del?’
It’s actually something I weirdly really enjoyed about the week. Just friends being friends and all the banter that comes with that. Needless to say, I did not ask anyone to film another ‘advert’ for me that week!
Beautiful Briançon gorge!
In the afternoon we headed to the Briançon gorge for a couple of laps. It was a little rocky but Jude informs me he had paddled it much lower and so I was happy. What a beautiful river – lots of gentle class 3 joy. It was stunning in the gorge! Josh ended it by going for a birthday swim in the river!
BEST DAY EVER?!
Then as the others ran shuttle, I was sat happily on the side of the river and saw to my amazement a 4 leaf clover! I WAS ECSTATIC!!
Josh’s birthday celebrations
We headed home to continue celebrating Josh’s birthday (and my 4 leaf clover find). In the morning, I had managed to come across a singing birthday candle. This, combined with the 5, made it look like Josh was celebrating his 15th birthday! Never mind!
Let’s share our favourite part of the day….
When I first learned to kayak, my friend Lewis would insist we played a game at the end of each river day where you had to list 3 things. Something that went well that day, something that didn’t go well and something you had learned. It has since become a bit of a ritual for me following a river day and I always get the friends that I’m with to do it too.
That evening I introduced the group to the game. Some were a little sceptical at first but I soon persuaded them it was a fun activity to do! Patrick and Joe in particular really looked forward to me asking what their favourite part of the day was every evening!
Day 2 – Durance gorge
Making new friends and seeing old friends!
Day 2 of kayaking definitely saw the tiredness kicking in! We headed to the Gyronde in the morning only to find it completely empty. Joe’s friend Fergus had come to join us and we decided as a group to head to the Durance gorge. We arrived and my lovely friend Amy also turned up at the get on! After exchanging some hugs, she told me she had kayaked this section with Fergus only 2 days before and it had been great! Reassured, I did the shuttle and then we went kayaking!
The Durance Gorge – A class 3/4 boulder garden heaven!
My gosh, this section of river is so beautiful. A class 3/4 boulder garden joy run! There was one tiny portage up the side of a mountain around the Class 5-6 section which wasn’t quite as fun. However, getting back on the cold water afterwards was bliss! We got to the harder rapid, Slot and Drop, and got out to scout it. Despite feeling that it was well within my capabilities, I felt exhausted and decided it was better not to push it so walked around.
Roll, roll and roll!
Portaging slot and drop was probably a good thing as the rapid that came next resulted in a roll for me! (My only roll of the week to be fair). I was doing a beautiful swoosh move around a boulder and thought to myself – ‘I feel so smooth!’ Of course the Universe heard me and I was suddenly upside down. Luckily I rolled quickly and felt very refreshed for it!
I was not the only one to have a roll on this day. My favourite moment was when Jude had an unexpected roll. As the entire group looked over in concern and to check Jude rolled up okay, I glanced downstream. In this moment I spotted Joe also upside down and carping on an eddy line. He rolled of course, don’t worry! But it did tickle me after! As the rapids eased we found ourself in the most gorgeous of gorges! I was in heaven – such a stunningly beautiful section! This also signalled the end of the Durance gorge and I got off the river one very happy Del!
Waterfall walk!
In the afternoon, Joe Graham Patrick and Fergus went off to run the lower Guisane. I was completely out of energy as was Jude and Josh so we headed for a waterfall walk instead which was fun but hot! We caught up with the others over dinner and had a lovely chilled evening.
Day 3 – Guil
Mornings are my favourite time of the day!
Today was just lovely! After a couple of nights of actually getting to sleep at a reasonable time, I had woken up feeling great! I am very much a morning person and wake up 100% ready to go about my day. I try to keep that morning happiness reigned in around other people as I know most people need a bit of wake up time but when you know you are going kayaking – it’s really hard to keep that happiness within!
Now I won’t be naming any names but there was one member of our group who was not appreciative of my energy levels and politely told me to go away this morning. Luckily after some morning coffee and time to wake up, he mellowed out a little and seemed to like me again!
Chilled paddle on the Upper Guil
We started on the Upper Guil and compared to the Durance Gorge of the day before, it was super cruisey. Just a fun chilled lap of enjoying a river with friends. The upper ends with the infamous Château that starts the Château Queyras section. We got out to scout the rapids and was a little surprised at how high it was. Jude had found a video in the morning’s drive for us to watch of a group running it and it seemed fairly chilled. The section we were looking at was a lot higher than the video!
Château Queyras was higher than expected!
We walked down and had a look. By the end of our scouting session I knew I wasn’t going to paddle this. It was high and pushy. I’m not the strongest of paddlers and felt I would get pushed around in the gorge. How well I paddled might be down to more luck than skill! Instead myself Jude and Josh cheered from above as Graham, Patrick and Joe paddled down. We had a lovely lunch by the river and then headed over to the middle Guil.
Shooting videos on a chunky middle Guil
The middle Guil was also pretty high! I opted not to get on and set up the shuttle instead and took some videos for the others. Watching Patrick, Graham and Joe go down a chunky Triple Step, I was immediately reassured that my decision to not get on was the right one! Graham took a huge beat down going down Triple Step and Graham is a significantly better paddler than me. He later asked me to post the video on Instagram so that his girlfriend could see. Despite being a whole 6 months younger than me, it turns out Graham hasn’t yet learned how to post a reel on Instagram. I was of course happy to oblige!
Myself and Jude had a lovely chilled couple of hours chatting and waiting for the others before heading back for some tartiflette! (A Graham speciality).
Day 4 – Ubaye
The Upper Ubaye was chilly!
The Ubaye was further away from where we were staying and so we set off a little earlier on this day. Jude was driving today which meant that I got to fully appreciate the drive over the mountain pass which was spectacular! The get on for the Upper Ubaye is pretty high up and you could tell this just based on how cold it was! I was pleased that I’d packed my drysuit but there were some in our group in shorts and a single layer who were a little chilly!
As we were waiting for the shuttles to be run, the lovely Chris Brain sent me a message. Chris was also out in the French Alps and had been asking if he could join us for a paddle. His message asked me to let him know if we were thinking of an Ubaye day – what perfect timing! I gave him a rough time to meet us later for another section of the Ubaye and then we got on.
The Upper Ubaye is meant to be a gentle grade 2-3 river with a slightly steeper section at the start. It had a fair bit of water in and the start definitely felt more full on than expected! It soon eased out however and we had a very chill run down. Chilled being the key word – it was freezing! After the first 500m I did say to Graham I wished I had pogies!
It was an absolutely stunning river – crystal clear waters and a backdrop of snow covered mountains. My favourite moment was coming round to a herd of cows. At some point on the drive down, Jude had pointed at a cow and gone ‘Le Moo!’ so it had stuck! (I know that’s not the French word for cow before someone corrects me but I’m not sure I can call it anything else now!).
An afternoon with the lovely Chris Brain!
We met Chris for lunch and hopped on one of the middle sections of the Ubaye. It was an in between section between the Upper and the Racecourse. It was lovely to get on a river with Chris and the section was good fun!
We headed over to the Racecourse section and it was high. Myself and Jude opted not to get on whilst the others headed down with Chris. I had really enjoyed the paddling that day. The Ubaye felt more like Austria than the other rivers we’d been on this week. But the river was high and I didn’t know if I had the energy to move myself around on big pushy water right now.
It worked out though because in not paddling, I then got to see both a snake and a lizard and this made me very happy!
Day 5 – Guisane
Rising temperatures and squirty cream competitions!
We had now been in France for nearly a week and the temperature was getting hotter! It was 27°C and we were loving it! The day had an interesting start as both Jude and Joe purchased a can of squirty cream with an impromptu competition of who could finish it first!
Upper Guisane
We headed to the Upper Guisane today which was a chilled section but very pretty! The others paddled the lower section as well but I wasn’t feeling it. It is a section that is notorious for being unforgiving and not one to do if you are low on energy. Instead I ran shuttle for them and met some nice French paddlers at the get out.
A glacier adventure!
Afterwards we had a long lunch and decided to head for a glacier walk in the afternoon. Graham wanted to go back and read his book so I took 5 of us up a very windy mountain road to see Le Blanc et le Noir. It was incredibly pretty and when we parked at the top – we were right at the snow line!
Snowball fights and childish joy
Of course me, Joe, Jude and Patrick immediately went off to have a snow ball fight which was the most fun! I thought I would be sneaky and bring a snowball back down the mountain to throw at Joe. This then resulted in getting held down by Joe as he took my hat off and smashed said snowball into my head/hair. Those of you who grew up with a sibling when it snowed know the exact move I’m talking about. As I had in fact started it, I only had myself to blame!
The finale to the squirty cream competition
We went for a little walk where Jude officially won the squirty cream competition! To be fair they both looked quite sick by the last squirts of cream. Swallowing was the hardest part apparently and unfortunately Joe and Jude did struggle with this so were left a rather sticky pair with cream ALL down themselves! It provided some good entertainment for the rest of us before we headed back down the mountain. It had ended up being a really lovely afternoon of silliness and fun with friends which was just what I had needed!
Day 6 – Briançon gorge
A joy to be on the water!
Today was over 30°C and we were happy that our chosen sport was water based! We spent the morning running laps of the Briançon gorge which was much higher than our first day. It was good fun though as everything cleaned up and there were less rocks to hit! There were also so many dogs at the get in which obviously made the whole day much better!
Swimming, sunbathing and bonding with friends
In the afternoon the others went to paddle the Durance gorge. Due to the higher temperatures, the levels of this section were now much higher than earlier in the week and I felt it was out of my remit! Instead myself Jude and Josh went in hunt of ice creams and other adventures. We ended up at Lac de la Roche de Rame which is this gorgeous maintained lake for swimming. The others met us after their lap and we had a really lovely afternoon here. I find it pretty hard to switch off usually but after 4 hours of swimming, sunbathing and good chats with good friends, I felt very content!
A meal out to celebrate our final night
We headed back for a quick shower before going out for a group meal out as it was our last night! The very lovely restaurant staff were extremely welcoming and food was delicious. Although our days were very active, my capacity to eat was nowhere near what the boys was. I couldn’t finish my meal and said ‘does anyone want my leftovers’ at which point there almost a physical altercation between the 5 of them as they all kindly offered to help. It was a really lovely evening and nice to have that time together.
Day 7 – our last day of kayaking!
One last paddle!
Our last days in the Alps had arrived which brought with it a mad rush to clean up our accommodation and get packed up. We wanted to paddle in the morning and so decided on another few laps of the Briançon gorge. It is just such a fun little section! Patrick was happy with his paddling for the week and so opted for a nap in his hammock instead. I have to say – it did look very comfortable!
We had the best time on the water and I just felt so very happy! It had been an incredible first trip out to France and we had been so lucky with the water levels, the weather and the company. We finished our last lap and I felt so exceptionally happy! We packed up and headed to the Upper Guisane to have lunch before starting the drive home.
Starting the journey home
We had opted to drive to Dijon, which was about 5 hours away, to help break up the journey back. I offered to drive and we gained Patrick for this trip as well. The van apparently wasn’t the most comfortable with 3 in the front or at least this is the reason he gave for asking to join. Secretly I know it’s because of mine Jude and Josh’s amazing company and the fact we were definitely the ‘fun car’.
As we came out to join the main road about a minute into our journey, the extra weight and the steepness of the hill resulted in me stalling the car, twice. I’m sure Patrick was slightly concerned at my skillset as a driver at this point but he was polite enough to simply point out ‘the car isn’t on anymore Del’. Thanks Patrick!
Karaoke on the drive to Dijon!
Once I got into the swing of things though, the drive was easy enough. We had some great thunder storms on the drive back and this was combined with some car karyoke. By car karyoke, I mean the boys were serenading me whilst I focused on driving. If you’ve never had Despacito sang at you at full volume whilst driving on a French auto-route in the middle of a lightning storm, then you are missing you! 10/10 – I think this was one of my favourite moments from the whole trip. Thanks for the great company guys and making that 5 hour drive back fly by!
Another night of Joe eating too much
We arrived at our accommodation in Dijon and compared to our first night, that it was a huge step up! Our rooms had both toilets that flushed and working showers! Joe had found an all you can eat buffet a 5 minute walk away from our hotel and so we promptly headed there. A couple of hours later and I was full but happy. The other 5 on the other hand were all looking distinctly in pain and Joe remarked for the 7th night in a row ‘my tummy hurts so badly – why did I do this to myself?!’
BON ANNIVERSAIRE
One highlight of this meal was that there were a couple of birthdays in the restaurant. We knew this because a very cheesy ‘BON ANNIVERSAIRE’ was played on the tannoy whilst all the staff came out to sing to various children and bring them cakes full of candles. One child was sat on the table next to ours so of course we joined in at full volume and he looked genuinely delighted by this. 6 rowdy Brits (all looking a little bit overfed and sweaty) screaming with terrible French accents BON ANNIVERSAIRE at him! What more could a 6 year old want from life?
The journey home!
6am wake up call
I suggested that for this last day we get up at 6am and just drive! I am very much a morning person and can deal relatively well with a lack of sleep. I woke Patrick up to let him know it was time to leave. He looked mildly concerned at 6am Del waking him up, ‘how are you still so happy at this time?’ If you ever come on a trip with me – I should definitely warn you that I do really like mornings!
I drove for 6 hours until we got to Calais. We had one stop for petrol and coffee half way, then again for petrol in Calais before we got to the Ferry port. By the time we got to the Ferry – I was done! Amazingly the Ferry was far less faffy than expected and we managed to get on an early one! We were one lane apart from the van when queuing for passport control so of course this resulted in some friendly rivalry between our vehicles. The French couple in the car between our lanes were loving it!
The joy of a ferry crossing!
It’s been years since I’ve been on a ferry so of course I was very excited to go out on the deck. As a child ferry crossings were spent looking for mermaids and convincing myself I’d seen jellyfish. As an adult, it was pretty similar. My lovely friends took it in turns (after some persuading) to take me out on walks on the deck to sea the sea. I was very excited!
We arrived back in the UK and Jude smashed out the drive back to Nottingham. I was very grateful to him as I was no longer very functional. Mid afternoon tends to be when my energy levels finally drop off! We arrived back in Notts early evening and said our goodbyes.
Our favourite things
For my first trip out to the French Alps, I couldn’t have asked for a better week. Perfect levels, weather and great company. I asked the boys for their favourite thing from the week and this is what they said!
Jude: The whole Durance gorge, the slide on the lower Guisane and the happy birthday song in the buffet place!
Joe: The whole week. I loved it all.
Josh: Sharing the Durance gorge with friends who hadn’t paddled it before.
Graham: Finding reblochon in the shop!
Patrick: A week of fun with friends (especially Del – she is the best).
Del: And for me? So many favourite things, I couldn’t even list them all! Beautiful rivers, incredibly mountain backdrops, good company, finding the 4 leaf clover on the first day, spending quality time with friends and generally being made to feel very loved and supported all week. So thanks guys – I really appreciate it! ❤️
