The Ardѐche is a ruggedly beautiful area. The main highlight in the vicinity is its gorge and the river that runs through it. Many companies offer canoeing and/or kayaking trips along it, and it’s actually the most canoed river in all of Europe! Naturally on one of our days off we decided to attempt to canoe the Ardѐche River. I say attempt, because, well . . . let’s just say we weren’t the best at it. We managed to capsize 5 times which resulted in several mishaps including the loss of one of my favourite flipflops (which effectively meant that I had loss two flipflops, because one is just not as good as two!), the loss of my canoeing mate’s (Tom) water for the day, and the complete and utter drenching of our sandwiches that we were supposed to have for lunch. It also resulted in some of the ugliest bruises I have ever had on my legs in my life! One was longer than the length of my hand and ran up my thigh! I think my favourite tipping incident was when we were trying to canoe to the left, but the current swept us to the right, and we got wedged against a tree with our canoe at just the right angle to allow water to sweep into it! I just remember looking back at Tom and seeing him sitting there looking down as the water rushed into the canoe and him just sitting there laughing . . . not even attempting to bail out the canoe!
Cool species of animals that I saw included geckos (see picture at left, lizards, toads, and scorpions! The towns we visited were also equally amazing. Really cute and really old. I also loved the French way of life - very relaxed with excellent food and wine! Who knows? Maybe I'll buy a villa in France some day!
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