Day ten 3rd July
Sunday, we had booked a day out canoeing on the Dordogne, we got picked up from reception with several others and drove what seemed like a long way to me, before backing down to the river (I have no idea where, though but it was probably Siorac-en-Périgord, about 7 miles or 12 K away by road and slightly more by river).
This is a very calm stretch of the river, which was good for us as we were new to all this, all we really had to do was sit back, steer the canoe and let the current take us back to the site. Saying this, the others that came with us started to paddle off into the distance and you just can not help but try to keep up or even pass them (can you?), also it would take a very long time to get back to the site just drifting. Dot took loads of great photos along the way, whenever I tried to take any, the boat would list form side to side, so I stopped doing it. As I have said this is a very calm stretch but the first slightly ruff bit we did come to (lets call it a rapid), we ended up coming out the other side of it going backwards (I don't suppose everyone possesses the skills required to do such a manoeuvre).
The rest of the paddle was uneventful, very scenic, very quiet, very relaxing but very, very hot. Uneventful that is we had to beach the canoe back at the site, there were people walking and swimming in the river just where we had been asked to come ashore, luckily we managed not to kill any of them and got in safely. One tip if you are going to do this, either take something soft to sit on or, if you are a good swimmer, sit on the lifejacket, I promise you, you will thank me for this.
We had been looking forward to having something to eat at the restaurant when we got back but as it was Sunday it wasn't open until tea time, so we had to have something in the van and then went back over for a meal and drinks in the evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment