BLOG : Our daily adventures,
Weeks 61 - Roanne to Diou
September 3rd to 9th 2023
- Day 421 : September 3rd : Exploration and kayaking preparations in Roanne - Still 5257 km
Still 5257 km
- Day 422 : September 4th : kayaking down the Loire: Roanne to Les Gravieres - 13 km
It is time to start our kayaking adventures down the Loire. This morning started quite well: we were walking heavily loaded with our backpacks on and both holding one handle of a giant drybag filled with our kayaks, paddles, life vest and food, pausing every 5 minutes to switch the carrying hand when, about half way from our little Airbnb, a very friendly nurse took pity on us and offered to drive us to the docks where we were planning to start our paddling cruise. Sweet! We are super excited and a tad anxious: our new goal for this next 3 weeks is never to capsize...We are blowing up our inflatable packrafts and loading them with our gear...our oversized drybags are barely fitting on our boats but they'll do. We found the perfect sandy launching spot.
Funny coincidence, as we were filling our kayaks with air ...two germans aus Berlin arrived in a taxi and started to prepare their own boats: foldable kayaks...They were quite curious about our unconventional vessels...We start paddling together for a little while until they passed us...incredibly faster than us since their kayaks were definitely more speed-friendly designed...
We quickly understood that our crusing speed will be quite slow...but in exchange way more comfortable...leaning back on our seats, feet up, drifting lazily (my arms were already sore after a few meters)...We enjoyed the perfect sunny weather with no weigh on our backs...pure bliss!
13 km done for a total of 5257 + 13 = 5270 km
- Day 423 : September 5th : kayaking down the Loire: Les Gravieres to somewhere close to Melay - 15 km
15 km done for a total of 5270 + 15 = 5285 km
- Day 424 : September 6th : kayaking down the Loire: Somewhere close to Melay to Somewhere close to Bonnand - 20 km
20 km done for a total of 5285 + 20 = 5305 km
- Day 425 : September 7th : kayaking down the Loire: Somewhere close to Bonnand to Digoin - 18 km
Very first obstacle to our navigation of the Loire, the channel bridge of Digoin...after the bridge a threshold of rocks is awaiting the careless paddler ...luckily we knew in advance that we'll have to disembark and walk past it in order not to crash our precious packraft ...quite a hassle to carry our load back and forth... Let's hope we'll get more efficient for the next tricky part..it took us at least half an hour this time.
18 km done for a total of 5305 + 18 = 5323 km
- Day 426 : September 8th : kayaking down the Loire: Digoin to Somewhere close to Saint Agnan - 15 km
15 km done for a total of 5323 + 15 = 5338 km
- Day 427 : September 9th : kayaking down the Loire: Somewhere close to Saint Agnan to Diou - 14 km
14 km done for a total of 5338 + 14 = 5352 km