Tackling the wild Rhône on a bikerafting adventure in France

Travelling on two wheels is terrific: you cover more ground than on foot, but go slowly enough to take it all in. I’ve had a great time on cycle rides from London to Amsterdam, and Bordeaux to Bilbao. But, dare I say it, after a while cycling can get a bit … samey. Proper long-distance cyclists will no doubt disagree, but I find that my neck starts to ache, my padded shorts aren’t cushioned enough, and sooner or later I’d quite like to stop pedalling and do something else.

Enter bikerafting. On a recent trip to the Savoie Mont Blanc region of the French Alps, a group of us set off from the Shana hotel in Chanaz, a picturesque canalside village, by bike.

Just as the charm of the peaceful country lanes was starting to wear off, and I was beginning to notice the weight of my backpack, we stopped by a river. Out of the backpacks came our packrafts: inflatable, one-person boats. We pumped them up, took the wheels off our bikes, strapped the lot to the boats, jumped in and set off down the river.

Voilà – we were still moving under our own steam, but in a different way. Aches were forgotten and boredom was banished as I concentrated on paddling the boat and scanning the scenery from a new vantage point. I was on a guided bikerafting adventure with Blue Secret, run by Antoine and Sophie. The couple have been on expeditions all over the world, and now introduce people to bikerafting and packrafting (where you hike rather than bike between paddles) in France.

While humans have been travelling by dugout canoe for millennia, modern-day packrafting dates started in the 1950s, when adventurers used small inflatable boats to descend the Copper Canyon’s Urique River in Mexico. Commercial packrafts appeared in the 1970s and were used in the first Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic adventure race in 1982. Long-distance packrafting spread from Alaska across the US, and eventually to Europe, becoming especially popular in Scandinavia.

In the past few years, packrafting has taken off in France. Blue Secret runs bikerafting and packrafting adventures from Lake Annecy to Lake Bourget, and Lake Castillon to Lake Chaudanne, plus explorations of the Fier and Daluis gorges and the Verdon canyon. Antoine helped design the boats they use, which are lighter and more compact than inflatable kayaks and canoes (they weigh less than 4kg), but durable enough for the toughest white water.

On our Discovery of the Old Wild Rhône trip, we rookies didn’t have any rapids to worry about. We meandered down branches of the Rhône known as lônes – there are more than 250 along the river’s length. These peaceful backwaters are something of a secret habitat, with few human visitors but many protected species hidden among the alluvial forests, willow groves and reed beds. We kept a lookout for beavers, otters and kingfishers.

After a couple of hours, we stopped by a weir and picnicked on a grassy bank. Then we reassembled the bikes, deflated and packed up the boats, and cycled off-road through a forest before hitting a stretch of the ViaRhôna, an 815km (506-mile) cycle route from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean.

On the full Wild Rhône trip, participants stay in cabins by the river and do a second day’s bikerafting. But we were just having a taster before visiting more of the Savoie Mont Blanc region. After another morning with bikes and boats, we went e-mountain biking around the Jongieux vineyards before tasting the wines at family-run La Cave du Prieuré. We also swam in Lake Aiguebelette, the smallest and warmest of the area’s four lakes, and had a walking tour of Chambéry’s medieval, Italian-influenced old town.

We stayed at L’Auberge d’Aillon et d’Ailleurs, a modern mountain inn and spa in the Bauges massif. The restaurant serves a contemporary take on Savoie cuisine, showcasing wild herbs, such as wormwood, tansy and meadowsweet, plus vegetables from the kitchen garden, fish from mountain lakes and cheese from neighbouring farms.

By the end of the trip, packrafts had transformed the way I think about cycling – and walking – holidays. Any area with lakes, river or canals is opened up to adventure. Two-person packrafts are available, too, so one person could carry the boat and another the tent. I even heard of someone taking a paraglider packrafting, so they could trek up mountains, paddle across lakes and fly back down … One thing’s for sure: it is anything but boring.

The trip was provided by Savoie Mont Blanc Agency. Blue Secret has half-day packrafting trips from €50; the two-day bikerafting trip is €385, next trip 21 September, blue-secret.com

Four more packrafting and bikerafting trips in Europe

Mountains to Sea, Conwy, Wales
Starting in Betws-y-Coed in Eryri (Snowdonia), the first day of this two-day trip is spent hiking through the hills and the Gwydir forest, and paddling across lakes. After a night of wild camping, learning skills such as tarpology, fire-making, foraging and outdoor cooking, the next morning’s hike is down to the Conwy valley floor. From here, participants paddle all the way down the River Conwy, finishing outside the walls of Conwy Castle. The trip is suitable for ages 12 and above – the journey isn’t difficult, but it covers about 12 miles a day. The company, Tirio, also runs half- and full-day adventures (from £70, ages eight and above).
£290 for two days, tirio.co.uk

Argyll and the Isles, Scotland
Argyll has a two-day, self-guided bikerafting trip that starts and ends at railway stations – ScotRail’s Highland Explorer carriage, on the West Highland line from Glasgow, is designed for cyclists. The first day’s route is from the village of Taynuilt to Port Appin, including crossings of Loch Etive and Loch Creran. On day two, bikerafters take a ferry to the island of Lismore, perfect for exploring by bike at nine miles long, paddle to the small island of Bernera, then take a ferry to the finish point at Oban. Each day covers about 25 miles, so good fitness is essential. There are shorter routes on the Wild About Argyll and the Isles website – the region has more than 40 lochs, lots of slow-flowing rivers, good gravel trails and quiet single-track roads, making it ideal for bikerafting.
wildaboutargyll.co.uk

White water, Montenegro

This four-night packrafting expedition navigates the white waters of the Tara River, in one of Europe’s largest canyons, on the border of Montenegro and Bosnia. No experience is needed – the group is given a crash course on day one. The longest distance covered is 20 miles (32km), on day three, but there are lots of stops to stroll, swim, enjoy waterfalls and look for chamois, deer and even wolves and bears. The fastest section of the river comes on the final day: a four-mile stretch with a number of grade-three rapids to tackle. The first night is spent at a riverside chalet, then there are two nights wild camping on remote river beaches, before a final night in a hotel in Nikšić, the second-biggest city in Montenegro.
From £743 for four nights, muchbetteradventures.com

River and sea, Albania

This week-long packrafting adventure travels down the Vjosa River in Albania, Europe’s first river national park. The week starts in Tepelenë, near the border with Greece, for a hike, a trip to a hot spring and a night in a guesthouse. Then there are four days of packrafting between nine and 15 miles a day, with nights spent wild camping by the river. On the last full day, participants switch to kayaks for the 23-mile journey to the Adriatic. The final destination is a sandy beach for swimming and relaxing. After breakfast on the beach and a last swim, there’s time for lunch in the Unesco-listed town of Berat before departure.
From £1,064 for seven nights, responsibletravel.com