Euro Paddler

If you’re a Brexiteer and easily offended, stop reading now as you’re not going to enjoy the first blog of the year. An email earlier today announced a protest to oppose Brexit taking place in France. Ok so you’re not worried yet, only it’s not just the French protesting. It’s the British who work there – ski industry in the winter and a mix of water sports and mountain professionals in the summer.

http://www.boardsportsource.com/2019/03/29/anti-brexit-demonstration-in-bourg-saint-maurice-eurostar-gateway-to-the-alps/?fbclid=IwAR1K5Vw-_byH_T-yolP5yTOI0Q63bbyC0IDR4G7Df47tA19rPzhSLZvVVso

6th April being chosen as this marks the date of the last Eurostar of the season in the direction of London. Highly symbolic, we may lose our last connection with the civilised world. Let’s face it, the UK is no longer a civilised country, not since the far right has been allowed to grow something nasty between its legs and become legitimised. Neo-Nazi has gone mainstream.

Bourg Saint Maurice holds special memories for me – both on and off the water. It is traditional for paddling Brits to head to Briançon, back in 1992 Bill and I headed for Bourg instead. What a trip! The weekend before leaving we had just failed our BCU two star test. Proof that the new British Canoeing Personal Performance Awards are long overdue and much welcomed. How could we fail a flat-water test and then go off to the Alps and paddle grade 3 and 4 water? Just shows how poor the old test was. I failed on support strokes – couldn’t scull with my ear on the water. Screw that, if I’m that low in the water I’m setting up to roll or bailout.

We survived Bourg without much money and with only one car. We also paddled with some amazing paddlers from the UK and France. It was with the local club we ran the lower gorges. Alpine grade IV was terrifying to someone more used to Jackfield and Llangollen Mill. I ran it in my old white dancer, Bill in a Master – hardly performance boats. When I later sold the boat, I threw in the paddle and deck. A colleague called Lynn thought she had a bargain, but couldn’t understand why the paddle had a bend in it and it sent her in circles.

In the gorge, the only option was just to keep paddling and not swim as rescue would be near impossible. This was the first time I had seen slabs of water slide over rocks and still rates as one of the most intense experiences of my life. We shuttled with a French kid’s parents and devoured a packet of rice cakes without the need for butter. Paddling turns you into a food monster and I’ve seen anorexics demand chips after a hard paddle. We then turned to pizza and beer in Bourg and the waiter laughed that the English were in town because of the amounts we devoured.

My next trip to Bourg was in 2001. Only in May rather August. This gave snow melt and high levels. The gravel quarry with a friendly wave where Bill and I played was flooded. The bacon slicer unseated three of our team of five. The two of us that made it did so more by luck than judgment. I got off the river after this.

So, the anti-Brexit protest? I can’t be there; but you have my full support. River don’t respect borders, so why should paddlers. Which brings back to the UK, we are now into an access battle on the River Severn. A Landowner in Ironbridge has decided to exert her rights over the river bank. If you need further details or would like to fill in a Rights of Way form, please contact me.

Plans for this year’s paddling haven’t materialised yet. I missed the winter season due to illness and injury, but I’m biting at the shed door to get the kit out and back on the water. I’ve spent a lot of time underwater playing with the sea creatures and now feel it’s time to get back in touch with the spirits of the water and caress their gentle flow once more. Call me if you want a guiding on the river, learn some skills or just want to paddle.