Alex Walls Paddling: Southern France, August 2014

Just over a 24 hour drive from London gets us to the Ardeché in the South of France, where we spend most of our summers. Mainly running Police Cadet DofE trips down the Gorges but i'm only there for a quality easy going paddling trip in the sun. 4 Days down the class 2 river is such a pleasure in the warm waters of the gorges, with 500m cliff faces on either side of you, it's no real wonder why its a protected National Park. But after 2 and a half weeks in the Ardeche we travelled a couple hours north over the Massif Central mountains to an area called Haut-Allier.

The river Allier is where i first fell in love with more technical white water, with different sections varying from class 4/5 all the way to comfortable 2/3 it is the perfect river for a large group of different abilities. We usually travel over there with both Canoes and Kayaks, and usually go about our own business whilst also coming together to run the easier sections. One section is perfect for an over night bivouac in the forest covered shallow gorges, which usually results in a river side rave and lots of hang overs the following morning. With rather large levels this year, and a smaller group of Kayakers (3 of us) we decided to run the Monistrol to Prades section (3+/4). Which is where i made this video.

the video : Haut-Allier