French Adventure / Bushcrafting Trip

[giancarlo]

Was hoping someone might be able drop a few ideas in for me.

Me and a few friends (another 3 or 4) are planning to go to France around the end of May for a week or so.
We're planning to do some rafting / canyoning etc.
We've been looking at this site: http://www.aboard-rafting.com (english vers, top right )
Which is down in the South and seems to do the kinda things we're after.

We're already planning of camping, but I want to try make into a bit of a bushcraft / wilderness type thing. Where we could camp out around the area, perhaps move down river and then setup and stay the night, move a bit further or go off and do something else the next day.

I've emailled this lot to find out if they could do something like this but i don't have high hopes.
Does anyone have any ideas? been to places in France where we could do something like this (we're not set on the region yet, so that can change).. we're only thinking about 3 days or so like this.
The others are more up for the "adventure" / "activity" stuff, rather than the wilderness side, so need to please them too.

Just don't want to be stuck in a normal camp site, not allowed to make fires, lots of people / kids about etc... then to go off for a day to a stunning canyon... then back to that.

Any ideas welcome

Cheers :shock:
Carlo

 

[sargey]

due tothe danger of bush fires, you might well find that fires are a no-no full stop, even as early as may. in some campsites you're not even allowed barbeques.

cheers, and.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Hi, Giancarlo

Take a look at this site: http://outdoors-magazine.com/

I think it's run by Jean-Marc (JMS), a member of the British Blades forum.


Keith.

 

[giancarlo]

Cheers for the info fellas, still need a bit more though.

Sargey, i think you're right on that... but i was hoping perhaps there was somewhere on a trail it may be allowed
If it was an organised activity in which they have an area which they use where they have permission to do to all this etc.

Ta Keith, I've had a look though that site (had it bookmarked for a while now). Can't really find anything that i think can help me though.

I'll keep searching!

 

[Tony]

Giancarlo

Jean-Mark is a great guy so a mail to him may well be worth it. I'm sure he will have some advice for you

 

[JM]

Hi guys, Giancarlo, Tony,

Wild camping in the Verdon area is basically difficult, and close to NoNo, specially forbidden arround the lakes in that area.. Wild fire is on the same set, specially in May if the weather continues like that, fires, even garden fires may be forbidden here by the 15-16th of May, if not sooner.

Unfortunately, due to past excesses, wild camping is not well perceived, and simply stricly forbidden on a lot of villages domains. Basically, this district is closely watched for its wilderness, ecologists are strong, and there is a will to preserve it. You may bivouac, but hardly camp.

However, if you are ready to trade the wild fire for a butane thingy, you may find some good places, specially in the high verdon (which in my opinion is the most superb). I would recommend calling a tourism office to check.

I would suggest a post in the provencal forum of www.routard.org to locate such places.

I do not know if they work like in the Mercantour, where you can camp, butane/alcool fire only, from just before down to 8:00 only (or sooner, cannot remember the exact time), and trust me you get fined if the gears are not packed by that time. But the Mercantour is a national park with rangers. In the verdon, there are only policemen, and policemen do not go outside the tracks (hint hint!).

Same thing, due to the ecological sensibility arround these places, bushcrafting may turn difficult on anyplace not private, if it leaves any trace in the environment...


You may also find some rafting in the Pyrenees, with different (probably more permissive) conditions for camping.


try this also:
http://www.aventurerafting.com/

Ciao ciao