Lowri Davies

After the Europeans, I took? Tasha Isaacs for a holiday in the French Alps. At 14 years old, having only paddled for around 18 months and already junior ladies reserve on the GB Freestyle Team, Tasha shows a great deal of promise for the future. I was keen to make sure she knew there was more to paddling than man-made features though, so we picked up my van at Lyon Airport and headed back to Sault Brenaz WW Course as a warm up before hitting the ‘real’ rivers of the French Alps.

Here we met the Morgan family, who? are a lovely bunch, and a couple of multi-activity days of fun ensued; including…

playboating…?

hydrospeeding…

duckies…

…and what day would be complete without declaring war on the Germans and boarding their upturned raft like true pirates?

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With the sweet taste of victory still feeling sticky on our lips (or was that the ice cream?) we headed south through the mountains. “Is that white stuff up there snow?!” Tasha exclaimed as we trundled up one of the passes. “but it’s soooo hot!” Having braved mountain “bear dogs”, we made our way to Canoe Control’s alpine base where we would be camping for the week. We arrived to find a bit of a party with a who’s who of boating’s Old Boys chatting around a big BBQ. Rumour has it someone stole Slime’s beloved ‘Fluffy’, but I’d know nothing of that sort of terrible behaviour…

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Over the next few days we paddled the Durance, Gyronde, Onde, Upper Ubaye, Ubaye Racecourse and did several runs of Chatau Q. I even got a high water evening run on the Gyr and a blast down Fresquierre, thanks to John and Penny Allen.

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For me, the highlight of the week was not the paddling itself – but the company. All week we paddled with the Morgan and? Allen families, plus a couple of others now and then. Females always outnumbered the males on the water, with most girlies being under 18. Having such a young female dominance, the group dynamics were definitely different to the usual ones I paddle in and it was great to see the girls encoraging each other? and pushing one another to try new things.

Another girlie day out. Photo: Jackie Morgan

Some people are dubious about the benefits of ‘female only’ sessions, but if I ever had any doubts, this week quashed them all. I would highly recommend all females try? paddling with just other females? at least once.

More photos from our trip can be found HERE. Sorry that the photos are on facebook!