DP in the Alps: Part 6

<-- Part 5

Part 6: The end

Day 16
Four hours later, I was definitely still drunk but it was surprisingly easy to get up and packing. My tent was quick to go down, the others followed suit. Everything was packed and we left the campsite by 8:15. So quickly in fact, that I didn't even take a photo. I got the camera out on the journey back to Calais though.

DP in the Alps: Part 5

<-- Part 4

Part 5: the part where I got back to kayaking (a bit)

Day 13
Another early start, we were woken up at 8 and left at 8:30. Back to kayaking again (for a change), today was Guil day. I have finally lost the dunce shirt! Hannah had forgotten her helmet. Most people (except Will, Kelvin and Izi) left from the start (the Upper-upper Guil). The river was really low and had several rocks about. Although I scraped a few I didn't go in. Right at the end of the upper-upper there was a weir, which we all had to get off for. I hit a further rock at the start of the eddy which almost tipped me over, but a late executed low brace saved me. The dunce shirt changed hands again, for Rachel had left the bung out of her boat (apparently not her fault). Priyanka, Emily and I were to paddle no further, but the rest carried on with the more complex upper Guil. After that a few experienced ones successfully paddled some of the more complex parts of the river (Château Queras and the Triple Step).

DP in the Alps: Part 4

<-- Part 3

Part 4: the part where I did no kayaking whatsoever

Day 11
It was by far the hottest day of the trip so far, and we didn't have any rivers planned. A few went to the Durance gorge, but most stayed at the campsite and either paddled on the lake or just sunbathed. I've developed a pretty nice dunce shirt tan. Needless to say, there are no photos of those tan lines - I hope.

DP in the Alps: Part 3

<-- Part 2

Part 3: the part where I do more sightseeing than boating

Day 7
Chill out day today! Some people went on a river, but the majority wanted to take a day off to visit Briançon. We went to the bridge overlooking Briançon gorge, which the experienced ones had paddled on Sunday. Afterwards we found a café and had the nicest of coffees.

DP in the Alps: Part 2

Part 2: the bit where I actually do some kayaking.

<-- Part 1

View Larger Map
This was our campsite, the Durance runs right past it, so the site is always full of kayakers. There's also a slalom course and a flat water lake, for leisurely happenings.

Technically, this is day 3 already because it took 2 days to travel here, so anyway:

DP in the Alps: Part 1

Part 1: Concepts, Definitions and the Journey to the Campsite

I went white water kayaking in the French Alps with the canoe club. Seeing as I'd never paddled any white water before (at all), I wasn't sure exactly how much time I'd spend kayaking and how much time I'd spend sitting around waiting for the others to finish kayaking on rivers too difficult for me, but I went all the same. This is what happened.