Millau is one of the best destinations in Europe for outdoor sports fanatics. It doesn’t matter if you are into climbing, mountain-biking, paragliding, bouldering or whitewater kayaking, Millau has positioned itself as the French capital of outdoorsports outside the Alps. Having been the host city of the Natural Games for over 10 years is just another example on how deep outdoor sports are rooted in this charming southern France town.
The Stade d’Eaux Vives de la Maladrerie, has one of the best & most reliable freestyle features in Europe. Paddlers from all over the continent travel here to fine-tune their freestyle tricks and combos. It really is the perfect place to work on your style and technique. Furthermore, only 20min away from Millau, Pinet Wave offers prime wave paddling at medium-high water levels on the Tarn river. Several other waves are also in reach within 100km. To round things off, the Tarn & Dourbie rivers, offer some of the best whitewater in Southern Europe. The lower sections offer easy class II-III rapids through beautiful lime-stone gorges, middle sections are sporty class III-IV over bed rock rapids and the uppermost sections shall remain reserved for experienced extreme kayakers only.
Weather in Millau can be quirky in early spring. Chances are that we will have a couple grey and rainy days and a few cold mornings. Yet, temperatures during noon tend to be around 12-18 ºC at this time of the year.
05.04.21 – Pick up at Barcelona Airport. Once everybody has arrived we have a 4h drive to Millau. We would provably be too late for a first session in Millau, but we would have still plenty of time to play a few board games and get to know each other in the evening. We would also need to distribute the beds and set up the working groups for the daily tasks.
06.04.21 -Introduction Day. We would go for a first paddle in the whitewater course. This first day would be all about getting used to the features. The coaches would do quite a lot of observation to start coming up with the strategies that will help you improve over the next days. We might start splitting the group for the afternoon session. Splitting the group allows paddlers to have quality time on the feature. Quality over quantity is key, specially when water is as cold as it is on the Tarn.
07.04.21 – Middle Tarn Excursion. The middle Tarn is a beautiful and friendly class III-IV section. The bedrock rapids alternate with long crystalline pools of flat water. You will be amazed with the clearness of the water allowing you to see deep under your hull. There will be some stories to tell whilst dinning today.
08.04.21 – Second day paddling the course. We will target different tricks according to your current level of skill. There will be competitive exercises to finish off each session; from a contest to see who can stay for longer in the feature, more spins in a ride contest, SKATE game… such exercises are designed to put you under slight pressure and help you master the mental game.
09.04.21 – Let’s find them wavezzzz… We will try our best to find some waves we can surf, we may need to drive for a bit. If the river gods have different plans than we have, we might need to stay and paddle in Millau. Or go for some river running depending on the mood of the group.
10.04.21 – Let’s put the 5th gear on. Absolute take over of the hole in Millau. You will work in pairs or trios and learn to correct each other, all of this will be supervised by the coaches, We will get very specific and ask you lots of questions to guide your learning. Also, we are going out for dinner. Someone said pizza?
11.04.21 – Depending on flight schedules we might have time for a quick bye-bye session in Millau. Then we will need to pack things from the accommodation and drive to the airport. We will help you with your check ins and packing your gear for the plane. Wow! What an adventure it’s been, can’t wait to go kayaking again and see my international kayaking buddies and coaches!
TRIP FEE
695,00 EUR
INCLUDES
LOCO PARENTIS FROM POINT OF DROP OFF AT DEPARTURE AIRPORT UNTIL HAND OVER AT RETURN AIRPORT.
ALL TRENSPORT ONCE THE CAMP STARTS.
AIRBNB STYLE ACCOMMODATION, MOST LIKELY IN THE GÎTE DE LA MALADRERIE.
WORLD CLASS, PERSONALISED, LOW-RATIO COACHING LED BY EWWS RESIDENT COACHES QUIM FONTANÉ & DAVID MCCLURE.
ALL MEALS EXCEPT 1 EATS OUT AT DESTINATION.
WHITEWATER COURSE FEES
YOU WILL ASLO NEED
FLIGHTS & KAYAKING GEAR.
SUITABLE TRAVEL INSURANCE.
ABOUT 50,00€ SPENDING MONEY.
WHAT KAYAKING GEAR DO I NEED TO BRING?
You will need your freestyle boat, don’t forget to bring your thruster! As mentioned earlier the weather in Millau can be quirky at the time of the camp, and the water will still be very cold. Long sleeve tops and good insulation necessary.
HOW DIFFICULT ARE THE RIVERS WE’LL RUN?
We will adapt our itinerary according to the level of skills of the participants as well as the water levels we find in the region. If necessary we will split the group to cater to all levels of ability and ensure that everyone has a good time on the water. Under no circumstance will we push anybody to run a section he/she doesn’t feel comfortable with.
WHAT’S THE ACCOMMODATION LIKE?
The accommodation is most likely going to be the “Gite de la Maladrerie”, a guesthouse only 200m away from the whitewater course which offers the perfect set up for our group; lots of space to store our kayaks and dry our gear, a well equipped self-service
kitchen, a large living room for meetings, playing board games and social life in general, big rooms with comfy beds… just a really cozy accommodation everyone loves.
WHEN AND WHERE TO FLY IN AND OUT?
Pick up from Barcelona airport the morning of Sunday 5th of April. If you prefer to meet us in Millau you will need to get there by your own means and arrive either on Sunday evening or Monday morning. The official start of the camp will be Monday morning at
9:00AM. The camp finishes on Sunday at 12:00AM. For those coming from abroad, return flight from Barcelona the evening of Sunday the 12th.
