Canoeing the Ardeche Gorge: Day 1

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The paddle through Pont d’Arc and down the Gorge de l’Ardeche has got to be amongst my favourite paddles - anywhere. It is the combination of enough whitewater, most of it very easy, along with spectacular rock scenery and, of course, the spectacular Pont d’Arc, where the river has carved a 60-metre rock arch through a limestone ridge.
If you enjoyed this then consider supporting the channel by making a small donation at: www.buymeacoffee.com/RayGoodwin
Many thanks to Ian at Adventure Ardeche for sorting us with camping, bivi tickets and the shuttle adventureardeche.com or
email: info@adventureardeche.com They can help sort for folk and even provide boats and instruction.
There is a wonderful guidebook to the area by Peter Knowles, Best Canoe Trips in the South of France. Published by Rivers Publishing

Paddling the Afon from www.venturekayaks.com
Paddle is the WW Big Dipper by freebirdpaddles.co.uk
PFD and Gear by www.nrs.com
My website: www.RayGoodwin.com
Signed copies of my illustrated book 'Canoeing', are available direct from me or from Amazon. It covers far more than my RU-vid channel.
Outside of the UK the cheapest way to get my book is via the Book Depository which does free postage worldwide: www.bookdepository.com/Canoei...

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Опубликовано:

13 авг 2022

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Комментарии : 56

@dedehsuryani2832 11 месяцев назад

Beautiful place , make me remind , i have been in ardhece was in 1987 , i did canoe , felt down in black rock , ..

@RayGoodwinCanoe 11 месяцев назад

It is stunning. One of my favourite places

@bobhoye5951 Год назад

Now that I'm 85 and no longer paddling watching this vid is a treat. Some nice drops, with the river at a good level.And then there is that arch. Spent a couple of decades paddling white water in Southern British Columbia and Washington State. Sigh,

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

Hi Bob, thank you so much for your very kind comments on this video. I hit 70 this year and my body is beginning to struggle, knees are shot and I have a heart problem. For the time being I can continue to do stuff but I am beginning to limit some of my ambitions. I can see that there will be an end to it as well so all I can do is create memories for my daughter and myself. But it sounds like you did a lot of good stuff in your time. Thanks you so much for watching and appreciating. Keep well.

@--Taz-- Год назад

What a great place for adventures.

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

It is tremendous. One of my favourite places.

@suetadman3530 Год назад

Excellent, as always! A group of us did this in June, it was fabulous but levels were already down to August levels. They really could do with rain like that now. I love Lina's motherly advice to Maya on the Via Ferrata, "Forget about the commentary and think about what you're doing". Good advice! LOL

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

Thank you Sue. Appreciated. Yep it was a good one from Lina.

@michaelpickford4294 Год назад

Brings back memories! Have done the Ardeche twice with Acorn Adventure. Both times I managed to blag an open canoe instead of a sit-on-top and had a great time!

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

I used to do some staff training for Acorn many years ago.... in the Ardeche. Wonderful times. And well done on blagging a canoe, far nicer to paddle down the gorge.

@MTJ999 Год назад

What awesome childhood memories that girl will have, thanks for sharing with the rest of us. 😊😊 Wouldn’t mind doing that trip on the SUP. Off to Glan Llyn for a few days in the morning with the SUP’s and canoe, busman’s holiday 😂😂 Hope to bump into you on the lake.

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

I may miss you. Off to the Mawddach Estuary today. It is work but Maya is coming with me.

@BlackWoodFilmmakers Год назад

what an interesting place! i hope to visit so soon!!

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

You should! It is fantastic

@michaelwolf8781 Год назад

That’s a beautiful place

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

It is stunning.

@KartsHuseonica Год назад

A very interesting and entertaining video. I Googled that area. I wouldn't be bored exploring there Maya has stepped up nicely supporting the narration. Her paddling skills are really good; I'd be willing to have her duo with me anytime. You're a good teacher Ray.

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

It is fantastic down there. Love the place. Great restaurants and lots to see. If you are early in the year there are normally lots of rivers to run and the crowds haven't started. In the main season you can have 1500 people per day descending the gorge and low water, the bad weather kept it quiet for us. Yep Maya is good and I am finally getting her to to speak to camera. She is very shy, believe it or not, so it has been a gentle process. Any Keep well Karts and maybe one day we meet/paddle together.

@crusaderscruise8774 Год назад

I live here, it's a beautiful place !!!!

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

It really is. But now I am really envious. A great place to live

@mannatuu Год назад

Can't believe this . Just got your book a day ago and now you're doing the very river I wanted to do with my 14 year old son this year. I'm going to have to settle for pebbles , but the Ardeche is awesome . Done it twice before.

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

It will be great doing it with your son! I have no idea how many times I have paddled it but love it every time. I hope you enjoy the book.

@mannatuu Год назад

@@RayGoodwinCanoe Yes , thanks again . Just sorting my kit for Peebles .getting a hard box for the drone ( which I suspect is the black box on your table at camp lol ) Looks like you've got the best site . Where is it again Ray, I must keep it in mind for when we go . Book excellent by the way. Many thanks.

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

@@mannatuu It is the Gornier Bivouac.

@tonywrobleski5185 Год назад

Thanks

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

Welcome

@bobhoye5951 Год назад

Should have included that my last white ware tandem boat was the Dagger Caption--outstanding!

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

Now that is a lively boat! One of the great designs.

@bobhoye5951 Год назад

@@RayGoodwinCanoe Yeah--14 feet long--rigged with rodeo straps that with the relatively hard chines turned beautifully. At the time it was competitive in events. Not that I was a competitor. Had a girl-friend who was outstanding as bow paddler. Sigh,

@bertheemskerk3273 Год назад

You're from Wales.. Torrential French rain won't stop you from paddling 😅

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

Absolutely! Mind at the moment it feels like they have moved North Wales down into Spain. Distinct lack of water here.

@philschaefer4651 Год назад

Looks gorgeous Ray. I'll add that one to my to-do list for when I make it to that side of the world. Also, I know a great video on spotting rocks in the river that Maya can watch. ;)

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

Thanks Phil. Yep it is a great river. Will recommend video to Maya.

@philschaefer4651 Год назад

@@RayGoodwinCanoe I'll bet some of those rapids get pretty exciting at higher flows. Is the Black tooth rapid one that you had pictures of in your book?

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

@@philschaefer4651 Most of them become easier because the rocks disappear and it is all pretty wide but there are some big waves. Rapids like Black Tooth become very easy as the rocks are well submerged: and well spotted.

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

@@philschaefer4651 Well spotted Phil. Yes it is. After I have done part two of this I am going to do a 'technical' video looking at three rapids. As well as the film I have I will use the photos of Black Tooth to illustrate a rapid going wrong along with another swim captured on video. As ever thanks for watching Phil. I am working on the water running a course at the moment but off from tomorrow. Watching the videos of your Yukon trip are on my list.

@philschaefer4651 Год назад

@@RayGoodwinCanoe Looking forward seeing Part 2. I'm slowly working to cut my footage down to a reasonable length and add voice overs. Then on to music selection. So many things I wish I'd captured in hind sight, and way too much boring action cam video. Guess I'll have to go back next year. ;)

@jimmysqueezyronin5623 Год назад

Looks amazing. Did you wild camp? -soory just seen the camp site bit🤭

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

It is fantastic. yep it is not possible to wild camp, the fines are huge and quite rightly. It is the only way to preserve the gorge. You can wild camp on sections of the river further upstream.

@mistymountainrambler61 Год назад

Hi Ray, that was great. I’ve done it twice with rental companies and will definitely revisit one day with my own canoe. Was that this year, I thought the water levels were too low? How did you get the canoes back to your cars? Many thanks.

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

It was at Easter this year after we had been working on the Drome Canoe Festival. I arranged a shuttle through Adventure Ardeche (link in the description below the video). Because there was a group of us with multiple vehicles we could have driven a couple of cars through to the end and then paddled down to them. Just thought paying for a shuttle made life easier. It is one of my favourite trips.

@mistymountainrambler61 Год назад

Thanks Ray. I was gutted to realise that for all these years I’ve missed the Drôme canoe festival , it’s not that far from me 🤨. I’ve put it in my diary for next year. Hope to meet you then. Cheers

@reddeercanoe Год назад

What’s a rain to you Brits!

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

🤣 a mere nothing.

@solitone 14 дней назад

Hi, I noticed your friend has a dog with her. I’d like to paddle the Ardèche with my son and our dog, but I read that dogs might not be allowed in the natural park. Do you have any information on this? Thank you!

@RayGoodwinCanoe 14 дней назад

I just checked with a friend of mine that operates on the Ardeche. Here is his response: 'Dogs must be on leads at all times when walking in the gorge or staying at the bivouac. They must also be in a bouyancy aid if on the water. Oh, and not tied in, in case of capsize.' Hope that clarifies.

@solitone 13 дней назад

@@RayGoodwinCanoe that's good news, thank you!

@solitone 7 дней назад

@@RayGoodwinCanoe Did your friend have any problems getting into the Gournier bivouac with her dog? I heard you can bring your dog there if you are a hiker, but not if you are a paddler.

@BuckMckawtheotherone Год назад

'Poor horses!' (Who cares about the French Mayor, right?) lol

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

That made me chuckle. But I do believe the mayor survived

@isbao Год назад

Triste de voir l'Ardèche avec un débit aussi faible. 🙏

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

And it gets far lower than than most summers. At least we were not scrapping down huge sections. I have paddled it with much higher water and it is just a bundle of fun then. Thanks for commentating. Using Google translate: Et il devient bien plus bas que la plupart des étés. Au moins, nous ne supprimions pas d'énormes sections. Je l'ai pagayé avec de l'eau beaucoup plus haute et c'est juste un paquet de plaisir alors. Merci pour le commentaire.

@mannatuu Год назад

I take it you took your own canoe , so that would have been a long drive.

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

Yep certainly did take our own canoes. A couple of days in the Ardeche followed by working on the Drome Canoe Festival then back to the Ardeche for this descent. The Drome is a wonderful river but needs to be paddled in April or May.

@mannatuu Год назад

@@RayGoodwinCanoe Spotted one at go kayaking the other day . We got a Star rave 2 , but I've got my eye on one of those when I ve sold my Old Towns. Fantastic for kids down there. Thanks for sharing.

@RayGoodwinCanoe Год назад

@@mannatuu You are most welcome