Ardeche May 2006

 Me and Darren set off through the pipe to France, found a campsite on the way down to the airport at lyon, to pick up our better halves, and had a pretty horrible ride through the rain towards the Ardeche. Fortunately it stopped raining before we got to our Gite , and the sun came out

It was in a very nice area, so we settled in before a canoe trip for 3 of us down the gorge the next day. Unfortunately, no digital photo's of the trip down the gorge. It was excellent fun,and very hot, and, as Laura had made me use sun cream, I was ok, however we met lots of french canoeists on the way back to the start of the gorge on the bus, and I have never seen so badly sunburned people!

   That evening, we relaxed in the Gite after a nice meal and some booze.

Next day was touring time...

and had a look at the sign that showed the flood level, that was roughly 25 foot above normal

Pont du Arc, the size is deceptive, but you can make out canoes in the foreground

After taking Laura and Alison back to the airport, we headed into Switzerland on the way north, and had a very expensive meal in a posh restaurant in the Alps, as we needed to dry out due to some more horrible weather.

  Back into France, we found a nice campsite

then next day we popped into Belgium to have a look at the Menin Gate

And after a quick shopping trip in Calais, it was off home to England

   Great trip.