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The Dordogne with the taps open

The Dordogne with the taps open

27K3,045
Contributing Member
27K3,045

    Nov 05, 2019#1

    For some time now, I've been trying to find a spare few days to head over to see Mark and Louise in Cajarc in the off season. With their canoe hire finally closing down for the season at the end of October, and me having a few spare days, the time had come. I wanted to paddle a French river in the quiet season. Mark just wanted to paddle and escape, something hard to do for somebody hiring out canoes for a living, all over the region.

    There were a few options, but we settled on a simple overnight trip on the Dordogne, a river I'd not paddled before. The run down from Argentat to Beaulieu, linking two beautiful ancient little towns, is often done as a day trip, but at around 26km, makes a overnighter. We chose to paddle most of the trip one day, leaving just a short paddle for the morning after.

    Flying into Toulouse to be picked up by The Butler, I had a fine view of Cahors and the river Lot. Louise and Mark's Canoe Massif Central business is loosely based on the Lot, further upstream at Cajarc, but more often customers will be paddling the Cele, Dordogne, Allier and Tarn as well as other options. I would be fully equipped, bar sleeping bag, with canoe and camping gear, meaning I was travelling very light.








    After a pleasant evening relaxing in Cajarc, on the Wednesday morning Mark and I loaded up a couple of boats onto the van and headed north. Its not much over an hour to Beaulieu, about an hour and a half to Argentat. Here we drove past the normal put ins at the town itself, as Mark knows a quieter alternative just upstream where we could easily leave the van. Not that there was anybody about at all; it seems that when it is "off season" its pretty much empty. A slipway was equipped with the usual sort of "you're going to die" sign!










    Now, anybody who knows the Dordogne might, at this stage, notice it looks quite full. According to Pete Knowles's bible (Best Canoe Trips in the South of France), the normal summer flow rate is something around 20 cumecs. According to River App data, that's actually a little higher than the average. As we arrived, thanks to the huge dam upstream opening its taps, the gauge was showing 187 cumecs. OK, that would give us something to think about...what is normally a typical clear French shallow river with riffles, beaches and islets, was basically a huge boily brown thing the size of the Thames, flowing noticeable downhill at some pace.


    What's more, I was in a canoe that I've not paddled on moving water before, Mark's Mega Outlander. A great canoe, but with somewhat less freeboard than the Prospectors I'm more used to.






    I'm afraid the photos don't really show this very well. There are a few reasons for this. One, its hard to capture moving water like this anyway. Two, as I'd flown in, I didn't have the DSLR in a Peli StormCase, it was just in its case in a normal drybag and therefore much slower to get out, and especially to open. Three, there was only one eddy on the whole river that I remember, the rest of the time we were either bouncing along or fighting swirly stuff whenever it got interesting, so there are pretty much no pictures at all of the bouncy bits!


    We took a few minutes to familiarise ourselves with both the canoes, with moderate levels of camping gear and red ballast aboard, and the water. We could just about paddle against the flow, here, but clearly this was an easy bit. The biggest problem seemed likely to be finding anywhere to pull up if obstacles or hard rapids appeared ahead. As we set off, there was a tiny little wave train just downstream, so I decided to use it to see how dry my ride was in such a thing. This taught me to avoid wave trains as much as possible in the Mega with camping gear aboard...

    Fortunately, I had a bailer.



    Just round the corner, and Argentat itself came into view. Its a lovely little place, with stunning buildings crowded along an ancient quay.















    Beyond, troubled and swirling waters were hard to predict, and it was actually pretty hard work keeping in a straight line. Some of the boils we found were very confused, as were the wave patterns. IT was one of those trips where your paddle blade needs to be constantly doing something.












    Also, there were no banks, as such, just trees and bushes through which the water was rushing loudly.









    We were also approaching our first named rapid. Le Malpas. Mal being bad. In summer, an island forces most of the river right where it pushes against rocks forming a grade 2+ rapid. Left of the island is too shallow. Normally. Today, large waves marked the right hand run, not somewhere we wanted to be today. Creeping up on the left, we hoped the channel there would go. It did. An initial wave train was hugged just to the left, before a move right was needed to avoid a second set of bouncy confused stuff. Though a few splashes came aboard, on the whole the Mega handled it just fine. Where the other channel flowed back in, constant changes of angle and line were needed to keep the canoes going where we wanted. Then it was all over, and I could finally take a photo looking back up....to a rapid that is now out of sight round the corner...









    Here we found The Eddy, pretty much the only one on the whole trip! Some stretching of knees and ankles commenced for both of us.









    With Le Malpas behind us, we could relax a little. The rest of the afternoon was mostly about choosing the best line through fast grade 1 stuff, plus the constant fighting of swirls and boils that meant we could rarely totally relax. However, now we could enjoy the scenery a little more, with the autumnal colours starting to show in on the wooded hillsides all around.


















    We were looking for somewhere to stop for lunch, as at this rate we'd be finished before we'd eaten and that is never going to happen on one of our trips. However, most of the time the water was up in the trees, so it took a while. Eventually, a gap in the trees appeared and we could slide easily onto grass.






    The Butler cooked us one of his specialities, a Crocked Mister. Or cheese and ham toasted wrap. It was mid-afternoon, and we weren't quite sure how long it would take to get to camp, so pushed on.


    The day was brightening up, and at times the sun broke through. Though the paddling was still constantly involving, there were no difficult sections in terms of technicalities. It was, though, surprisingly tiring, with constant draws, prys, heaves, hauls, back and forward paddling. Some of the boils were really weird, and we tried to take the narrow line between the wetter bouncy stuff and the bordering boily areas on the inside of each bend. The scenery was getting better and better.
























    We stopped where some deadfalls were visible in a rare slow bit, and picked up a little firewood.









    We were flying along. With the village of Brivezac marking the approach of the campsite, any worries about running out of daylight were long gone. We were doing about 6-7 mph without trying...















    Here another longer rapid kept us on our toes.






    Round the next bend and we arrived at camp. It had taken us just 2 1/2 hours of paddling to cover about 19km...






    All the campsites are closed at this time of year. However, Mark has been using them for both groups and himself on and off all summer, so had mentioned to Rik at La Berge Ombragee that we might want to camp there - no problem. And a lovely spot it is, a typical riverside site, with grassy terraces shaded by trees. Here we ate superb fillet steaks, with aligot, and burnt stuff, whilst demolishing the red ballast.












    The forecast for the next day wasn't brilliant, and it rained for much of the night. Despite this, the river actually dropped a little during the night, though only about 10-15cm, thanks to the taps being sightly closed presumably. After bacon and coffee for breakfast, its always good to have a Butler along, we watched the rain for a while and when it eased off, we were quickly ready to go.









    It was only 6km to the finish, otherwise known as less than an hour. The rain, mostly, held off.









    One final obstacle lay in front of us. Le Battut is a broken old weir to the left of an island, that looked big and swampy, with a curling stopper that might well cause us trouble. The "easy line" to the side was well underwater, but the right of the island, normally too shallow, might offer an option.










    And so it proved. Cautiously we made our way down the right hand channel, sneaking through what would normally be a shallow rocky bit, and adopting a slow approach until we could see if we were going to be swept into trees round each corner. Easy enough, but not one to treat without respect.






    The water slowed, for the first time since we left Argentat, as we approached Beaulieu. Here a large barrage (dam/weir) backs up the water, allowing the old town to be reflected in its water.












    Here we got out river left, and a small figure wandered out of the trees. Louise had driven up to help with the car shuttle, whilst I waited on the banks.









    As I waited, a lone other paddler, the only person we saw on the water at all, paddled into view.









    Once the shuttle was run, and the canoes and gear loaded, we did the decent thing. We went to lunch.


    Huge thanks to Louise and Mark, the Butler and the Maid, for looking after me once again on this trip, and for the next few days in Cajarc. Its a lovely part of the world to visit, and its very good of them to live there so I can :)
    SMopencanoePaddler,blogger,camper,pyromaniac:

    Blog: Wilderness is a State of Mind

    Paddle Points - where to paddle

    6,0511,094
    Contributing Member
    6,0511,094

      Nov 06, 2019#2

      Who's the skinny bloke in all those photos?

      Looks like a great trip. Well done guys.
      Big Al.

      Only when the last tree has died
      and the last river been poisoned
      and the last fish been caught
      will we realise we cannot eat money.
      ~Cree Indian Proverb

      1093
      Member
      1093

        Nov 06, 2019#3

        Nice! The river sure looks different with this much water.
        --
        Martin
        Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris (If Caesar were alive, you'd be chained to an oar).

        86654
        Member
        86654

          Nov 06, 2019#4

          A butler, lots of water and no tourists... That's all you need .
          And you even had a bit of sun.

          SMbigthumb

          2,71819
          Member
          2,71819

            Nov 06, 2019#5

            Beats 4 hours in the car from Ilford Mal!

            778202
            Member
            778202

              Nov 06, 2019#6

              Excellent adventure. The high water adds a level of anticipated disaster ! Thankfully the reality was washed out features and great progress.
              Marks cooking adds anticipated drool. with the reality living up to the hype.
              I want to add my appreciation of Mark and Louise's great service.

              Keep paddling
              Nick

              1,153716
              Member
              1,153716

                Nov 06, 2019#7

                That's an impressive rate of knots! Looks like a superb trip.

                2719
                Member
                2719

                  Nov 06, 2019#8

                  A good read Mal and great photos - makes me wish I was back in France for a paddle too :)

                  1,553465
                  Member
                  1,553465

                    Nov 06, 2019#9

                    Cracking stuff Mal......enjoyed that.
                    A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope - Epictetus

                    27K3,045
                    Contributing Member
                    27K3,045

                      Nov 07, 2019#10

                      Big Al. wrote:Who's the skinny bloke in all those photos?

                      Looks like a great trip. Well done guys.
                      Well it ain't me, especially after all that wine!

                      phonkee wrote:Nice! The river sure looks different with this much water.
                      Having never paddled it before, it was somewhat different to what I expected to experience when I first paddled the Dordogne.

                      Digger wrote:A butler, lots of water and no tourists... That's all you need .
                      And you even had a bit of sun.

                      SMbigthumb
                      Exactly, I don't know why everyone doesn't have their own butler service.

                      elveys wrote:Beats 4 hours in the car from Ilford Mal!
                      Whilst Ilford (probably) has its good parts, the difference between Cajarc and east London was somewhat obvious!

                      Mr Nick wrote:Excellent adventure. The high water adds a level of anticipated disaster ! Thankfully the reality was washed out features and great progress.
                      Marks cooking adds anticipated drool. with the reality living up to the hype.
                      I want to add my appreciation of Mark and Louise's great service.

                      Keep paddling
                      Nick
                      Cheers Nick. As you have experienced, high water and high standards of food go well together.

                      JimHou wrote:That's an impressive rate of knots! Looks like a superb trip.
                      Tis indeed. You need to get over to the Massif sometime Jim, Suzie too. Loads to do as well as paddlin' and dirt cheap once you get there.

                      ictoaun wrote:A good read Mal and great photos - makes me wish I was back in France for a paddle too :)
                      Cheers mate. Far less photos than usual too. Had me wondering whether to ship a Pelicase over there sometime, so I can still capture some of the action.

                      Patterdale Paddler wrote:Cracking stuff Mal......enjoyed that.
                      Cheers Dick. Pretty much the opposite to ditching, this time.
                      SMopencanoePaddler,blogger,camper,pyromaniac:

                      Blog: Wilderness is a State of Mind

                      Paddle Points - where to paddle

                      20K2,260
                      Administrator
                      20K2,260

                        Nov 07, 2019#11

                        I can see why you made time for the trip. Especially since you would have staff for the trip ;)
                        John

                        Every time a canoe trip is not blogged on SotP, God makes a new kayaker.  SMopencanoe

                        1,683287
                        Contributing Member
                        1,683287

                          Nov 08, 2019#12

                          Lovely blog Mal, not paddled on the Dordogne since I was a kid :)
                          Life's too short not to!

                          889
                          Member
                          889

                            Nov 08, 2019#13

                            Lovely river, and likely my favourite one - the Périgord is stunningly beautiful (although I have to admit that I have only seen it in autumn).
                            Never seen the Malpas like that, always with a good portion of the rock/island thingy sticking out of the water.

                            Cheers for the account!

                            2,274293
                            Contributing Member
                            2,274293

                              Nov 21, 2019#14

                              Thanks Mal, for another great blog. Story telling and photography is up to your usual standard.

                              I must tell of Autumn reading a quiz question about the Dordogne and she called it the Dondodgy. She gave me a withering look when I laughed, She got that form her Mum and Nanna. I've seen that look many times before, now, from all three of them.

                              Great trip that I must visit Mark some day.

                              Doug
                              When there's trouble on shore, there's peace on the wave,
                              Afloat in the White Canoe.
                              Alan Sullivan