By Nicolas Fayol
At the end of October 2017, my German friends, Valentin Illichmann and Paulina Herpel, made a brief stop in Béarn on the road to the German Surf Championships in Portugal. It was an opportunity to offer them a paddle into the heart of our watery playgrounds – three days in the heart of Béarn for a wild mission full of twists.
Wild adventures in the ‘Pyrénées Béarnais’
Stage one: paddling the summit
We first travel in the direction of the Ossau Valley for a paddling session on Ayous’s lakes; more particularly on the waters of Gentau, a mountain lake that overlooks the peaks to the south of Ossau, at a height of 2,887 metres.
We started our trip at Lake Bious-Artigues, where we came across many different environments alternating between undergrowth, plateau and mountainside rocky paths. It took us three hours to walk to the lake, with our inflatable boards and paddles on our backs. I have to be honest, our bags were full with all the paddling equipment, food, drinks, etc, which made it a little harder than the classic way of hiking…
Once we got there and after a small snack of goat’s cheese and ham from the valley, we inflated the boards and enjoyed a session in the glacial lake, in the middle of a landscape that struck all three of us speechless. We really had the feeling that we had paddled to the heart of the mountain, where we just felt connected and in harmony with all the elements.
At the end of the session and after packing up our equipment, paddles and deflated boards, we simply walked back with a huge smile, feeling very happy to have made it! On the way back down, we stopped in a cave to taste some cheese that was on offer and took a piece for the next day!
Stage two: two days on the river
The second stage of the paddle was to paddle downriver for two days from the city of Oloron-Sainte-Marie to Sorde-l-Abbaye (known for its abbey). We arranged a meeting in Sordes with waterman Alexandre Grégoire who joined us and after fixing our boards, we made the drive to Oloron to start our paddle.
As with every expedition, we had to think of every detail. We did a full list of what we needed, not forgetting the food, including wine, cheese and duck! The weather was not as kind as we were led to expect, but we felt comfortable with it!
We paddled for eight kilometres and then took a small break to eat and fortunately for us, the weather improved. The river had a varied nature along its course, offering little waves, small rapids and flat areas of water. At the start of the river, we had to walk to pass the hydro dam (be careful, the dam is really dangerous, so stay away from it). After 35 km we stopped just down from the Castle of Lass, after Navarrenx. A field was waiting us and we decided to stay there for dinner and then evening!
Atmospheric
After a restful night, we were back on the water with the atmospheric misty landscape due to the low temperature, and 12°C water, which made a cloud just above the water. After a few kilometres, the sun came up and the clouds disappeared. On that part of the river we really enjoyed the small rapids and took the time to enjoy the scenery (between Navarrenx and Sauveterre).
The weather on that day was quite typical of the area, light rainfall that never stopped, but it wasn’t too unpleasant.
Lunch break was around noon, just after the city of Sauveterre de Béarn, then it was back on the water, where the river become flatter, and at times quite shallow, with the boards dragging in the gravel. Around 5km from the end, we took an arm of the river called the ‘Little Amazonia’ and the change of scene is complete!
Finally, we arrived after nine hours and 45km of paddling for the second day – well done to us all!
