Canoeing in the Alps

My partner and I joined up with our local Canoe Club trip to Guillestre. In the Alps this August, the area is renowned for its white water kayaking opportunities and whilst exploiting this was the focus of the club trip. We had also taken our Old Town Packs along to see what the area had to offer the canoeist.

We managed to canoe several sections of the stunning Durance River whilst we were there. Our trips included paddling from the lower Guile to the bottom of St Clements and with the exception of the St Clements slalom course this is a gentle grade one paddle which takes in some of the absolutely stunning scenery of the Durance valley.

If you are looking for a more challenging single bladed paddle I would recommend the aptly named Sunshine run, also on the Durance this trip runs from St Clements down to Embrun. It is worth noting that this run includes the Rabioux wave, but you can always portage this if you wish.

After the rest of the club had gone home, we paddled the Durance from St Crepin to St Clement with my active partner doing the shuttle on his mountain bike. This made for a slightly longer grade one trip and the cycle ride back to the van was very scenic too.

Later in the week we had a great day paddling and exploring on Embrun Lake, we spent the day canoeing in and out of the coves on the end of the lake towards the Ubbaye Gorge. I used this opportunity to do some swimming and practice my deep-water rescues.

This lake would be a superb venue for a romantic multi day expedition in some stunning scenery with great weather almost guaranteed.

This is a superb area for active people whether they are into white water kayaking or canoe touring, so I hope to see more canoeists out there next year.

By : Joanne_Sindrey