Facing my Fear of Heights!- Canyoning in Gorges Du Loup 😮
River Canyoning in Gorges du Loup!
Hi friends! In the last post about my travels in the South of France, I shared with you the beautiful town of Grasse and mentioned that if visiting this picturesque destination, there are some possibilities for adventure not too far away!
Two of my visits to Grasse have been a sort of layover- where we stopped, bought some food, had a little look around and then boarded onto another bus which took us on a twisty, turny ride around the stunning mountains to our final destination- the jaw-droppingly scenic Gorges du Loup.
The views are just incredible, and once the bus dropped us at our destination, we found the most amazing little village along the road, with the most idyllic school I have ever seen perched on the road above the river.
On my first visit here I paid for an excursion to do river canyoning. To be honest I wasn't exactly sure what that entailed when I signed up but I eagerly journeyed there, keen for an adventure!
We arrived at the booking office, and our guide took us to get changed- they provided wetsuits and helmets, which did make me wonder if I had agreed to do something crazy!
We then walked together, down a path which took us underneath the road and into the lush green forests which surround the river, the mountains looming above us.
Throughout the day, our awesome instructor guided us as we climbed to find various spots from which we could jump into the water, and also slide into the water down rocks which had been worn away to create sort of water shoots.
At first, the prospect of either of these activities was a little daunting as I am not the biggest fan of heights, but we slowly worked our way up from small jumps to big ones so it wasn't so scary 😊
The last jump of the day was 10 metres, which doesn't SOUND that high, but let me tell you- when you're standing on the edge of a cliff looking down at water and rocks it seems an incredibly vast distance! For all my new found confidence with heights, I chickened out on that particular day, but actually only a few of our group braved that height.
- (Not the 10m jump!)
The Return Visit!
Not content that I had hurled myself off of enough rocks, I returned to beautiful Gorges Du Loup, but this time we travelled solo.
It's a little more difficult without a guide, we were told on the tour that the guides know if there have been any changes to the pools as rocks may fall from the cliffs and mean jumping can be dangerous.
For this reason, we started off just doing little jumps. Even though the temperature was the high twenties that day, the water was the coldest I've ever been in, especially as this time I was sans wetsuit- it was literally like jumping into a bath of ice!
But it was so crystal clear and refreshing, and utterly invigorating to plunge into.
After we had done a few little jumps we stopped to have a snack, and as we sat on a big rock admiring the gorgeous views, a canyoning group came along and began climbing up the rocks adjacent to us.
Then one by one they all leaped off of the highest point, some even diving in head first, and most of them not wearing helmets.
Well, we thought- if the instructor allowed them to so frivolously plummet from such a height, I'm SURE we will be fine!
Once they had left we psyched ourselves up to take the leap.
This was definitely MUCH higher than anything I had attempted but what the hell?
A few moments of freaking out atop that boulder, and then- I did it! I know that it's not exactly a bungee jump or a skydive but I was pretty proud of myself I must admit! Sadly I didn't get a photograph of my moment of bravery...
Maybe next time 😊
I really can't recommend making this trip enough, it's so much fun! But even if the sound of jumping off of rocks into freezing water doesn't appeal to you, the stunning views of the mountains, forests and rivers and the incredible scenic journey make this a must for anyone travelling near Grasse.
I hope you enjoyed this post, if you did please upvote, comment, resteem and follow me on @lolzwithlisa for more travel posts and veggie food ideas.
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Wow wow wow!😀 you are strong women. Wonderful places
Beautiful photos... Great job on the high jumps, it does look scary!
This looks like a really beautiful part of the world.
great photographs nice watterfals
Thanks so much, they were really amazing!
I absolutely love your posts. So much info and detailed experiences, it almost makes me sad to have never travelled to these places so close to home.
You know you could enter the #culturevulture challenge with all these?
Thank you so much, what a kind thing to say- you have made my night :) I know how you feel, I see so many amazing posts and yearn to travel more but there is always time, we are so lucky in Europe to have so many wonderful places nearby. Ah I think you mentioned this challenge before but it completely slipped my mind! Next time :)
That is stunning. I once used to live not very far from this place, in Toulon that is.
Ahh you are fortunate to have lived in such a beautiful country, if only I could master the language I would surely live there!
What a gorgeous place. And yeah, 10m is high.
Haha yeah! I totally wimped out on that one!
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Beautiful place. nice swimming.