French Alps 2019 paddling trip
Day 2a The Upper Durance by Helen Siertsema
The Upper Durance is a good little warm-up river and confidence builder for the less experienced at paddling white water. Lots of easy bouncy rapids with more quieter stretches on which to take in the spectacular scenery. Today, was particularly enjoyable as the sun was out and the water blue.
We split into smaller groups of four to make our large mob of paddlers more manageable thus avoiding any unruly behaviour and the flouting of white water river protocol.
It was noticed that Kirk’s group were taking their time and faffing about on the river. However, Kirk was putting his group through the rigours of Line of Sight coaching which is essential when leading groups down white water. Nice one Kirkage!
The last third of this section is more interesting and presents us with more bouncy rapids and opportunities to do some eddy hopping in readiness for the afternoon’s paddle.
The get out is a steep boat carry before the barrage where the Durance slackens off before being sucked out by the energy companies.
In previous years, my Burn was relatively easy to carry up the steep narrow path, but now I have a heavy Machno, forget it, pffffffft!
