Page 67 - Wish Stream Year of 2019

below. This gave us a great boost until, after hours of climbing, the refuge didn’t seem to be getting any bigger. Unfortunately, the night at Refuge D’Asinao turned out to be one of our worst nights of sleep. Who knew it wasn’t a good idea to set up camp on a helicopter landing site?
The majority of us hit our ‘stretch zone’ on the fifth day, upon seeing a chain to help hikers climb the rockface. This section of the route was the busiest we had seen, due to the Village de Bavella attracting day hikers. We knew they were day hikers, as they smell much cleaner than we did! Luckily, the chain wasn’t nearly as daunting as it looked, and the group scaled the rockface with ease. From here, we steamed along the trail to the village, where we knew good food and drink awaited us. Sure enough, we ate our body-
weight in pancakes, paninis and ice- creams. After letting our food settle, we set off once again for the last few hours walk to the final refuge.
With most of the hard work done, the last night at Refuge D’Paliri was certainly entertaining. The refuge
staff held an ‘open mic’ style singalong after our evening meal. The group decided to purchase a few bottles of the refuge’s ‘homemade’ red wine, which was interesting to say the least. Our night cap complete, we went to bed that night in high spirits, ready to begin our final day in the morning. The final leg of the GR20 was straightforward, with a steady descent most of the way. All in all, the GR20 proved challenging but rewarding, with stunning scenery through- out. The group returned to the UK feeling fulfilled and full of achievement.
The first day of the expedition
saw an early morning filled
with excitement as we col-
lected our vehicles and loaded
them with the kayaking equip-
ment that would get us through
the week. The crossing from
Dover to Calais took place with-
out incident, arriving seamlessly the next day at our chalet in sunny Risoul, South France, which we would call home for the week. Our instruc- tor, Sam, set out the plan for the kayak training that we were about to participate in – taking into account our requests for what we would like to do and briefing us on what to expect.
Once we arrived at the lake, we paired off and practiced T-rescues, and those of us feeling more daring practiced a few rolls, to varying degrees of success. The rest of the first day was spent learning how to make our strokes more efficient and how to turn quickly. After a day of getting used to the water again we decided to call it a day on kayaking, but not before launching down a ramp into the lake. Finally, we headed back to our villa and had our dinner together, happy with
OCdt Milner
the progress we had made on the first day and looking forward to more challenging kayaking in the days to come.
For the following few mornings of the expedition we were pulling our kit off the lines early and setting out eagerly
for the lake. We started out by warming up, practising different paddle strokes and attempt-
The refuge staff held an ‘open mic’ style singalong after our evening meal.
Exercise PADDLE CADET
Once we arrived at the lake, we paired off and practiced T-rescues...
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