Season Start in Europe

Mid-March and still well buried under many meters of snow. Quite literally. Although winter season was still at its very best, when you’ve been skiing non-stop for already six months, you find yourself praying for all the white to melt away. But since it did not seem like it was going to happen anytime soon, we left.

Easter time is indeed a really good time to tour around and paddle in Europe. Rivers are on the rise, temperatures are warming and the stoke is always high. We packed up and left Norway, heading south…

We do this gig pretty much every year, yet it never fails. Just as we tip over the border to Germany, we thank for free roaming and look up water levels. For slalom, options are endless, but for freestyle, the choices are relatively simple; turn left for Plattling, Cunovo, Prague, Graz, Salzburg (…); stay straight for Lyon, Millau, Makinito, St-Pierre-de-Boeuf (…) or turn right and take the train ride to Nottingham, Hurley (…). For some reason, staying straight has been the winning option for us in the past years.

Southern France has a certain charm I must admit: friendly people, good food, fairly steady weather, kids friendly spots to paddle, tones of fun off-water family activities to choose from and gorgeous along-the-water campsites –perfect! Within two weeks, we managed to rack up at least two sessions a day in all from easy slalom courses to fun river descents to top freestyle spots and even got Hawaii sur Rhone at prime level! ‘Till next year, beautiful France!’