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| Alex having fun on the Rio Ara! |
The team headed out to the Pyrenees over Easter with the rest of Imperial College Club for some pre-expedition paddling/training/fun! While most of Europe was experiencing drought conditions, we were lucky enough to find water in two of the valleys on the Spanish side - the Rio Noguera Palleresa and the Rio Ara. After catching the ferry from Dover we had a long over night drive across France, finally stopping in the town of Foix on the French side of the Pyrenees. We paddled a leisurely couple of hours in the sun on the slalom course on the river Ariege before hitting the road again, reaching Sort in the early hours of the morning.
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| Read and run boys - upper Noguera Palleresa |
We found some great paddling on the Noguera Palleresa and paddled three different sections of the river. The upper section above the dam, being our favourite, we paddled twice! The upper section was 10km or so of great continous read and run grade 4 with a couple of harder rapids thrown into the mix. Below the dam we paddled 35km of grade 3-4 over two days, with a spectacular gorge to finish off the river. The slalom course in Sort proved to be a good play spot!
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| Good luck to yer family boys! |
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| This was one of the last river trips for the Jackson Rocker before it's savage end - Adam paddling |
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| Uh Oh.. |
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| Tom on some big water below the dam on the Noguera Palleresa! |
The second half of the trip we based ourselves in the beautiful Ara valley, camping in the town of Torla. We paddled two different sections of the Rio Ara - the upper and middle. The middle was about 8 km of read and run grade 4.
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| Rio Ara |
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| Tom exiting an exciting gorge on the Noguera Palleresa |
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| Derf on the Noguera Palleresa |
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| Alex doing some hucking |
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| Tim enjoying the sun, but not the sunburn! River Ariege |
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| Deep gorges in the Pyrenees - a precursor to the Cotahuasi? |
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