I wasn’t sure what I was going to do on Thursday. It had seemed we had so much time to fit
everything in, but with just two days left there was just so much I wanted to
do, and nowhere near enough time to do it in.
After weighing my options and then sleeping on it, I decided I’d join
the group Mountain biking. They were
driving up to the top of the Galibier and then taking the off road route back
down, all the way back to the house. It
was a little chilly at the top of the mountain but I knew it wouldn’t take long
to warm up, and the further down we went the warmer it would feel anyway. The first bit of the route was on the road,
only a few bends, but I haven’t done an awful lot on a bike. I also didn’t know this bike well, and it was
a bit scary going round the road bends where the edge of the road turned in to
a huge drop, with no barriers to stop you going off the edge. I soon found that, as with many sports
(kayaking and horse riding most notably) I don’t much like being behind
someone. My fear being that I’m going to
crash in to them, and cause a huge mess.
I wasn’t particularly confident of the brakes on this bike
at the start, and I needed them quite a lot on the steep mountain road. When we got to the monument, just before the
route goes off road, we stopped for a couple more pictures and set off down the
gravel track. I dropped in behind Rob, and
headed off down the bone shattering route.
I’d have liked to go faster but it was so bumpy my arms felt like they
were going to get shaken off, and then the loose surface made slowing and
turning for the hairpin bends a bit more tricky. We stopped after a little way to make sure we
kept the group together as some were going at a more sedate pace. Everyone in the group was at different levels,
and had different things they wanted to get out of the day. Matt was also hiring a bike so was in a
similar boat to me with not knowing how it handles.
The track continued for quite a while being steep and rocky,
but I gradually started to get used to the shake, and got a feel for the
turning and so on. I’d also dropped in
to lead, which meant I wasn’t worrying about crashing in to anyone, and I just
hoped I wasn’t holding anyone up. Keith
and Trevor who were shuttling the cars for us had driven round so they could
get some pictures of us coming past (Keith would have joined us on the bikes
but his wrist was too bad). Having
checked I wasn’t holding anyone up I stayed in front after the road crossing,
and the next part of the path got a little different. It was still bumpy but now more grassy with
narrow ruts which I struggled with a little at first. I had a couple of wobbles where I couldn’t
stay in one rut and ended up going back and forth between a few of them. Once I got the hang of looking ahead a bit
further (This is something I’ve noted is necessary in kayaking and horse riding
too) I settled in a bit easier and eventually the ruts evened out a bit. We went through a herd of cows (slowed down
for them of course) and then the track started to get a little less steep.
It was still mostly downhill though, and now that I was more
comfortable with the bike I started seeing if I could plan my line on the track
better, and then rather than avoiding everything could I use a flat rock here
or there to jump off and so on. Teeny
tiny jumps but it made it really interesting for me. The scenery was stunning of course, as it has
been everywhere we have gone during the holiday, and it was very nice to be rolling
through the countryside. The route was
taking us somewhat parallel to the Guisane River, and at times we crossed some
little adjoining streams too. It was
quite welcome to have a little cool splash, with the temperatures getting warmer
now we were pretty much off the mountain.
Rob and I seemed to be reasonably well matched for speed, with him
having to overtake me where we came to any short uphill sections! I don’t like going uphill, it’s too much like
hard work and I never know what gear I should be in to make life easier!
We had caught up with a group of French cyclists on the path
and as both groups were stopping and starting to rest and let group members
catch up and so on, we decided to take a break on the side of the path and let
them continue so we weren’t constantly on top of each other. It was very nice to sit in the sunshine and
let our arms have a little break!
After this the route took us through a wooded section and
through a couple of little villages before we got on to a section of road. This had some uphill to it, so the group
overtook me and I caught up with them where the route went back off road again. It was at this point I realised Matt was not
here. I had thought he had gone past me
with the others, but he must have been behind me. We had taken a few turns and wondered if he
had gotten lost! After a few minutes sat
by the river side and a bit of phoning round and looking we found him and
carried on together again.
After this we came to the last couple of sections where the
path went along the side of a leat (surface water drainage channels). On the other side of the narrow path was a
steep drop and we were advised by those that had cycled it before, that if you’re
going to fall off, go for the water! It
was narrow and winding in there, with rocks and tree routes as obstacles. There were a number of times I had to stop
and put my feet down to ‘walk’ the bike round or over them before carrying on. It was really important here to keep looking
at the path ahead so something like this didn’t take you by surprise. Rob and I had gone to the front of the group
again and got to the end of the first section of leat. We waited here for some time, knowing that
not everyone would go through this so quickly.
I was quite surprised to have handled it so well and felt really good. After about 15 minutes we wondered if perhaps
the rest had taken one of the paths off to one side to head to the bottom so we
decided we would carry on and meet them further down. A few minutes later I got a call from Keith, Sam had wondered where we were but didn’t
have my phone number so had got in touch via Keith. They had taken a slightly different route to
head to the ski lift station for lunch.
We had stopped just above this when we were waiting so it was only a mix
up in how we were getting down there. At
this point it was going to be a long uphill slog for me and Rob to meet back up
with the group and we were only about 10 minutes from the end of the forest
track, so we agreed to just finish off the route now. We asked Keith to come and fetch us from
there with the car and bike racks, as I didn’t really fancy a hard ride uphill
back to the house; Rob didn’t take much convincing that this was a good idea
either!
We were much too late by now to go out and do the Via
Ferrata that we had discussed going to do in the afternoon, and actually I was
quite drained. Although it was downhill,
your core and arms get used a lot, and in the sun it still took a lot of energy
out of me. I headed upstairs for a
little lie down.... which turned out to be a long 3 hour nap! I was even more tired than I thought! We had discussed going climbing again if the
Via didn’t work out but everyone was totally wiped out from the day (and
probably from the last two weeks) so it was a restful evening in the garden
again before dinner.
And so, our final day was upon us. It seems to have come around so fast, as the
end to every holiday and adventure tends to do.
With tidying and cleaning in the house needing to be done we only had
the morning to get out to do some final activity. One group went out biking and the other went
kayaking. I went to join the group on
the water, returning once again to the Briancon to Prelles run. Sam hadn’t paddled since her swim on the
upper Guisane last Saturday, so felt quite nervous, and I felt a little nervous
too, but I couldn’t really figure out why.
Keith wasn’t paddling with us as his wrist was still swollen and sore,
but this would be the third time I had done this section of water and the
levels seemed very similar to when I had done it last and felt so good
here. In any case we got on the water, I
made an eddy on river left and waited for the group to be ready to go. Keeping space was less of an issue down this
river now, given its relative ease in comparison to others we had done, but I
still gave myself ample room from the person in front to help settle my
nerves. I soon relaxed and felt
comfortable, but again made sure that I concentrated so as not to ‘fall over’
on something simple.
The section I had lead last time was exactly the same as
before, although there may have been a small difference in the water levels it
didn’t make any difference to the wave trains or technicality of the
section. I kept well back at this point
to give myself chance to pick my own line again. This time it was a much cleaner run, it felt smoother
and I was quite confident as I went through.
I also went to the eddy on the other side at the end to make it a little
different. As the barrage was open (the
Dam was releasing) we had to use a get out a little earlier and walk a few
hundred yards down the road to the cars.
I felt great but also a little sad that this marked the end of an
amazing trip.
All that was left was to tidy and pack, ready for our
journey home tomorrow. Keith and I
walked in to the town to look for some presents to take home once our bags were
packed, and then the group went out to a local restaurant for the last evening
meal. I did take a few moments to look
back at the holiday. Every holiday and
adventure I go on changes me a little. I’m
certainly not the same paddler I was when I arrived, I’ve strengthened a few friendships
and met some new people, and I’m very happy that Keith and I had passed the ‘first
holiday test’. I suppose as this was a
big group holiday we did spend time apart when groups split up, but it was
still a lot of time to spend around each other.
Even the long trip home with us both exhausted (total 18.5 hours straight
as we didn’t do a hotel stop over this time) didn’t have any problems.
I’m already looking forward to next year!
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