#frenchbroadriver

The first weekend of being back to school and we were off again. After visiting Ashville last year, I had wanted to return to kayak the French Broad River and this was the perfect time to go.

We stayed at the Clarion Inn, just located near Biltmore. It was within walking distance of the small village which had a couple of restaurants to entertain us. Always convenient to be able to just park up and then walk to a local restaurant.

On Saturday we headed out to do a hike to Linville Falls and gorge. This wasn't too strenuous and did give lots of pretty photo opportunities on the way. We first stopped at Linville Caverns which was pretty cool. We headed underground to the mystical world of stalagmites and stalagtites - always a beautiful spectacle.

We enjoyed both the caverns and the hike and also the mexican restaurant in the evening!

On Sunday, we headed to the French Broad river. After a brief demo, we were bundled into a minibus to head up to our starting point. This took about 30 minutes and gave us time for a quick get to know you conversation with the other participants. Once at the point of departure, we were given some warnings about rapids which terrified me!

Now, the rapids might not have been anything at all, but there were several moments when I thought I might end up either stuck on a sandbank or tipped over after hitting a rock not just capsized by the 'lage ripples of water'. It took a couple of hours to kayak down to our point of exit and it flew by. The peace and tranquility of most of the morning was a real treat and I was disappointed when it was time to pull up to the edge and clambour out.

On our way home, we enjoyed a drive on the BlueRidge Parkway. This is a beautiful scenic drive and a great pleasure to just take in the vast greenery of this area.