Day five started with much confusion. The day before Kev and Pete had inspected the takeout for the Briancon Gorge, after which they felt that it would be run able the next day. Later on that evening after Iain’s trip to get a new paddle he had spoke to a group who had the same intention as us but had decided against it as after an entire day of rain and rain forecast all night, it was going to be rather insane. Not to mention that people in near-by campsites were being told to pack up their tents as the water coming of the mountains may sweep them away!
We decided it would be a good idea to go back and inspect the gorge in the morning to see if it still looked run-able (even though as it’s a gorge you can only see the exit!). Once we arrived we noticed that the grey water that was produced by high water was in fact now brown produced by flood conditions followed by a walk up to the Gorge which was flowing high and fast! We all were quite happy to walk away and find something else to paddle for the day.
Our options were limited as all the rivers were in a similar condition so we decided to turn to our good old friend the Lower Durance, and with high river levels came new challenges… Whilst the shuttle was taking place, Kev, Pete and Iain jumped on the slalom course for a paddle, which strait away showed that Iain buying some shiny new crank paddles having not used cranks before was a bad idea as he really didn’t get on with them!
After the lengthy shuttle all six got on for a gentle paddle down to the first stop St Clement. Before getting that far Iain decided that Kev and Dave’s lines were not adventurous enough so he picked his own line through one of the only stoppers on that stretch, needless to say it enjoyed his presence, had its fun then spat him and his boat out separately. Although on a fast stretch, Kev soon got to him to offer a tow and Pete scouted ahead to find an eddy for a problem free rescue.
Once through St Clement (and throwing Gordon to one side) the five remaining continued on to the Rabioux Wave on a now even higher river as the sluices were fully open on the Guil which increased river volume dramatically. Once at Rab, Kev and Iain paddled on down first as it was their turn to take pictures then through came Dave and Pete. Unfortunately Dave took a swim resulting in Pete solo boat chasing down a stretch we have not done yet! Kev was strait back in his boat and hot on their heels, and fortunately a raft had just set off. The friendly raft guide pulled Dave and his boat out the water, sorted him out and threw him back in on his way. Now all we had to do was get to a road and get some transport home! We paddled on down towards Emburn having contacted Gordon to get the transport rolling and after a successful roll from Dave under a bridge we got to a road bridge and got out. A few minutes later we met up with Gordon and were on our way back.
An eventful day after high water conditions!
