we were experiencing, temperatures were mild, and there are places to eat and drink along the way. In summer, you need little more than shorts, a hat and suntan lotion. Some locals wear less… The first day is quite shallow, and needs a little water. We had just enough, but the first few rapids were a little scrapy as we got used to handling our laden canoes whilst our paddles banged off the stones a few inches under our hulls. Mostly though, we paddled on gently moving water beneath steep wooded slopes, with the odd small crag poking through the trees, and numerous villages and farms about.
Day two: St Chely-du-Tarn
The rapids became more frequent, and the valley sides got closer, and steeper, the river winding its way around a series of bends. The river was now classic easy pool-drop paddling, with no difficulties other than the danger of getting stuck on a shallow bit. We didn’t have a great deal of information about this first day, but ‘The Bible’, Pete Knowles’ White Water Massif Central guide, suggested a couple of harder rapids and our map even had some blue chevrons marked near Ispagnac. The first of these we passed unnoticed, just another one of the numerous little riffles. However, ahead the water was slowing and deepening, the classic sign of a steeper drop approaching. At a tight left-hand bend, we came to our first proper challenge.
Here warm limestone cliffs tower up to 600m above the river but, perhaps surprisingly, the river itself is amenable and almost all paddleable at a modest grade. I’ve been fortunate to paddle here several times, but my most memorable trip was probably in summer 2016 when a group of us paddled the four days from Florac to Le Rozier as a continuous journey, and this is mostly the tale of that trip, with a few photos and observations from other trips thrown in for good measure. It was the end of May and France was wet. Very wet. We’d arranged to meet and paddle on the Lot at Entraygues, a nice warm up run for the Tarn later, but it had been in full flood and conditions were cold and wet. Not what we’d travelled to southern France for. We were surprised to find, though, that RiverApp suggested the levels over the watershed on the Tarn were modest but sufficient, so we abandoned the Lot and headed for Florac. Just a two-hour drive, and we were on a campsite at Pont du Tarn, by clear bubbling water at modest levels. Perfect for our intentions. Florac is a small and likeable little town in the deep valley of the Tarn a few miles upstream of the Gorges du Tarn proper, and has all the facilities you need to stock up for your trip. From here we would paddle for 40 miles to Le Rozier, dropping around 150m on the way.
Florac to Castelbouc
Having dropped my car off at Les Vignes on the way over, we were free to paddle straight away in the morning, no faffing about with the dreaded shuttle run. Soon enough, we were ready to go with laden canoes. Fortunately, you don’t need too much gear for this trip, as even in the slightly disappointing weather
A longish rapid fell away below us, briefly steep at the top, before levelling off through a bit of a rock garden. Just below the initial drop, a large, slightly evil-looking, rock pushed out into the flow exactly where your canoe would be taken. We’d need to be careful and to commit to the move.
However, ahead the water was slowing and deepening, the classic sign of a
steeper drop
approaching
Luckily we have a couple of daft keen types, John and Peter, who always leap at the chance of things like this, so we sent them down first. Peter bounced off the end of the rock, John avoided it to the right but too close to hidden underwater rocks which spun him round and he finished the move backwards. Both were fine, thanks to their paddling skills and eddied out. It was my turn. This was the first time I’d paddled a harder rapid with a laden canoe, so I was a little nervous. As I dropped down the initial slope, the acceleration was alarming, and that tooth was definitely looking at me with a greedy expression on it face. I paddled hard to move to the right, and just scraped by with a heart-in-mouth moment as the upstream gunwhale dipped, before I recovered it. Phew, I eddied out on the right half-way down, to fulfil my role as photographer. The rest came down in turn. Nobody had a problem, but everybody had a little moment I reckon, either just missing the rock or spinning on hidden boulders if further right. We’d passed our first challenge, but I was hoping there would be nothing any harder ahead.
ThePADDLER 141