Vercors Week: Day 6 – Canyon des Ecouges II

Connor, John, Miranda, Scott, Steve, Tom, Yolanda

A leisurely lunchtime start saw us heading off around the Vercors to the Ecouges – a lovely canyoning run. The weather was baking hot and the canyon throwing up misty rainbows everywhere, the stuff of dreams. We split off, with John and Miranda fancying a walk following us down instead.

Once we’d found an actual get-in point which involved slithering under a boulder just upstream of the road bridge, we began the easy flattering abseils down the first few pitches. These were beautiful and friendly, with occasional glimpses of J&M perched on a ledge to the side. 

After a while the river narrowed a little and we had a few cracking jumps, as the river headed into more of a gorge. All too soon we were at the final pitch which was a fun little corkscrew, with the waterfall turning a corner partway down this was refreshing when under the full force of the washing machine. 

A sign pointed us up the slope warning of dangers ahead, and we made our way up the steep and knackering escape route. Back at the car, we realised John and Miranda were nowhere to be seen. We’d made the mistake of giving them our car key, and with Connor’s phone dead and Tom’s stashed safely inside the locked car, we weren’t able to get in touch with them. After about an hour we began worrying a bit more, and were in a sorry state sweltering in our neoprene in the afternoon sun – taking it off meant getting bitten by the hoard of horse-flies. 

As time passed we hatched a plan, borrowing the phone of a friendly French couple who were the last ones remaining in the car park, to call Rubee to get her to message Sophie to get her to call Miranda and tell her to phone the French phone to let us know they were okay. This of course was too complex to have actually worked, and instead we spread out hiking up any nearby forest tracks shouting ‘FORDERS! FORDERS!’. Not long after, they showed up having had a nap in the forest, which sounded very romantic, but we were all glad to be able to get changed and head back!