One Session on La Malate

I was left at the end of the last update with a dilema...

Do I surf La Malate wave with la Mat Dumoulin? Or do I choose the more sensible option which didn't involve travelling a good distance in directly the opposite direction to the airport without any feasible plan of how to get back in time for my flight...

A good few hours driving later, whilst trying not to think to much about my flight, we are on the banks of the Doube river and we are looking at a truly enormous hole with a suitably huge wave on the shoulder of it. This hole is as wide and tall as the Cuban in Uganda, but it has a significantly larger towback... The river is too high, and the hole is too big, but we hadn't come all this way to just to look at a river... so we paddled anyway!

Excited to be finally surfing one of the incredible French waves! Check this video of the session...



We paddled until dark and in true 'small and friendly world of kayaking' fashion, I meet Cedric who has also been paddling La Malate, a friend of a friend who happens to be heading back to Lyon and I am saved! Catching my flight is once again an achievable plan, if a little sleep deprived.

I have had a taste of the waves, and enjoyed learning French and hanging out with lots of cool Frenchies! Next year I hope to return, to learn French properly and to spend a few months surfing these incredible waves. Thanks to all the kind people who have helped me out whilst in France... come to Uganda and I will repay the kindness!