We got in the river in the middle of Oloron and headed for about 2-3 hours towards the Atlantic. It's surprising how little ground you can cover when you are meandering with the river, even though the river was swift.
There were a few 'energetic' moments as we navigated rapids. We completely messed up our entry into one section, got the front of the raft caught on a rock and ended up going sideways into some pretty reasonable waves. I was perched on top of the side of the raft that was now heading downstream and nearly fell in when we hit our first wave!
Much of the video in this post is in relatively calm water because when things got a bit wild I had to wedge my camera in behind my lifejacket.
At the end we landed at a beach we didn't even know existed just 5 minutes drive from my parent's place. We have been back several times for a few swims.
The "Gave d'Oloron" is the section of river that is created when the "Gave d'Aspe" and "Gave d'Ossau" meet in Oloron. Those two rivers flow from two valleys in the Pyrénées. The Gave d'Oloron later joins the Adour river which flows out to sea near Biarritz.
The water wasn't particularly warm, but very clear. They are quite a picture as they flow through Oloron over waterfalls and under bridges.
No comments:
Post a Comment