Paddling to Pont d’Arc

This morning we paddled from the campsite and under Pont d’Arc, which is said to be the world’s highest natural river arch with a river still beneath it. The 6 kilometre section of the Ardèche that we paddled today is really just a warm up paddle for the 2-day paddling and camping adventure in the gorge, which John’s planned for us.

We set off bright and early, inflating the packrafts on the river bank. A few people in sit on top kayaks floated down the river while we got ready, but it was fairly quiet. In fact, although it was busier later, it wasn’t the sea of plastic that we’d heard about, and much of the time we had the river to ourselves.

The Ardèche was initially wide and shallow with some small rapids, but nothing scary, even for me! After we reached some high cliffs, there was a small wave train where a couple of commercial photographers were sitting, which was fun.

Then there were 2 bigger rapids with names… la Ribeige and Le Charlemagne. We stopped and had a little play at La Ribeige as it was easy to carry the packrafts back up the stony beach and run the rapid again.

Our book says Le Charlemagne is the hardest rapid on the Ardèche to navigate. We got out and had a look at it, then paddled the turns through the rocks with no problems, grinning as the rapid ended with a bouncy wave train. Easy! I think I had a smile on my face all morning and I now feel more confident to tackle the gorge.

We then drifted down through the huge rock arch, towering above us, and full of holes, paddling into some shallow caves to one side of the arch, before stopping on the beach opposite for a swim and a snack. The river is lovely and clear, and full of big and little fishies. The temperature was perfect for swimming and cooling off.

We did paddle a bit further, thinking of going around a huge bend in the river and walking back over the Pas de Mousse at the narrow neck of the bend. However, we couldn’t find the path across the neck of the bend and John’s sandals had failed, the sole coming first off one, and then the other! 🤣

Instead, after a couple of ripply rapids, we pulled the packrafts onto the beach, deflated them, and packed everything away into John’s rucksack and a couple of dry bags. We then walked up to the road to get the free shuttle bus back to the campsite. It was boiling hot by now and I struggled with the temperature after getting off the water. Therefore, a big beer was needed while we waited for the bus. 😆

Now we’re back at the campsite. The kit is drying in the sunshine, and we’ve also done a load of washing. Tomorrow we’ll cycle into town to find a new pair of sandals for John, then explore a route along an old railway track, the Via Ardèche.