As usual the PGL bus set off at the unearthly hour of 5 am on Friday 7 June. For some it was the first time they’d ever seen that time on a clock, for others it would be the last.
We set off with high hopes of sun, sand and excitement, as had been the story in previous years. We didn’t believe the weather forecast, why should we, they’re not usually right.
Day one is usually a relaxed affair with the emphasis on getting to know your boat and your fellow paddler.
Most people did a good job of getting to know their fellow paddler, but some chose to totally ignore their partner in the boat and try and do exactly the opposite to what was expected. As you can imagine this made for some interesting turns, pirouettes and going backwards down the river.
Day two was a black day, forever burned into my mind.
It was raining when we got up, and it continued to rain until we got off the river. Hard as we paddled we struggled to keep warm as we made our way down the Mighty Mighty Ardeche river.
My day was brightened up by two staff managing to make a spectacular exit from their boat on one of the rapids. They somehow managed to jam their boat against a rock in the middle of the river, causing a mass pile up. They tried to blame this on the PGL instructor, and then proceeded to try and rescue all the pupils who then fell in because of them. The self proclaimed “Heroes of the River” successfully finished the day without further incident. All pupils should be commended for their efforts that day as they battled through the rain and cold to paddle 14 km to the pick up point.
The rain that followed us down the river let up for a little while but returned with a vengeance later on. The camp was flooded, thunder and lightning kept us on our toes and we were thankful of our raised cabins. Day three was beautiful, but the previous night’s rain had increased the height of the river by 7 metres which made it too dangerous to go on.
As we set off for the sunshine of the Mediterranean coast we were waved goodbye by another thunderous downpour. The Med proved to be drier and sunnier and we got on with sailing, snorkelling, sea kayaking, catamaran sailing, and some climbing and abseiling to make up for the cancelled windsurfing(another storm). The pupils were also offered the chance to experience some French cuisine in the form of l’escargot (snails cooked in garlic). I’m not quite sure if everyone tried it, but the expression on the faces of the faces that did was priceless.
Apart from a few errant teenagers, the trip delivered everything we hoped. The pupils experienced activities they’d not done before, and a lot of them were pushed outside their comfort zone, and actually enjoyed the experience.
Roll on 2011!
K MacDonald
