This webinar is aimed at anyone looking to paddle in France and covers the opportunities to paddle throughout the country, including types of environment available and grades, visa requirements and byelaws, logistics of getting to and in and around the country, as well as local guide top tips.
Please note, the information in this presentation is correct at the time of recording in February 2023. You will need to double check the requirements before making any travel plans.
Presented by Bob Timms, who has been kayaking and canoeing for 41 years, having started aged 11 in East London. He has worked in the Outdoor Leisure Industry since 1988 in both Paddlesport and in the Mountains (walking, climbing and biking) as a Leader, Guide, Coach and Trainer. His paddlesport passions span sea kayaking, canoeing and white water kayaking and have taken him to Peru, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Nepal and India, but it is Europe, and especially France, that has always held his passion since he first visited to work on the Ardeche River as a canoeing Instructor in 1989. Over the following couple of years, he fell in love with France – skiing, climbing, ice-climbing, white water kayaking and rafting, sometimes working, or just for fun.
Bob relocated to the Ardeche in France to work as the full time technical advisor for PGL Travel, the UK’s biggest Outdoor Activity company. He has remained there since, working for PGL full time and private guiding and training in his own time. Bob remains an active white water paddler and professional, having gained French equivalence for his UK Qualifications for advanced white water leadership and training, road and mountain biking and International Mountain Leading. You can find him paddling in the Alps and Verdon in the summer and waiting for rain at home in Joyeuse (Cevennes) in the winter.
Check out the Paddling in France factsheet for all the information you could need.
