ADRENALINE
Adventure full of thrills and spills
was reassuring on the drive up to Samoëns 1600 – the sister ski hamlet overlooking Samoëns village – to hear my paragliding pilot Laurent had 33 years’ flying experience under his belt and that the village had pioneered paragliding as an alpine sport.
In any event, my nods of approval clearly encouraged Laurent to deliver me a maiden flight designed to make or break me.
Maybe we were just lucky, but moments after take-off, which saw us rocket to 2,100m on a well-judged thermal, Laurent spotted a bearded vulture below us.
He informed me in excited shouts that this creature, with a ten-foot wingspan, eats nothing but bones and was one of just four breeding pairs in the whole Grand Massif. After that he decided to give chase!
After a quick lunch, the adrenaline fix was resumed with a 5km whitewater rafting trip along the Giffre from the neighbouring small village of Sixt fer a Cheval. Sylvain, our entertaining guide from Ecolorado Rafting, explained how heavy rain from the previous night would ensure a thrillingly fast ride. Wetsuits made the freezing water refreshing rather than unpleasant. The highlight was the 500m Gorge des Tines. Barely wider than our raft which bumped its way through the channel, any thoughts of paddling were abandoned – the COSTA BLANCA: Hire Villa Colbryca in Moraira for £299pp including car hire. Price based on six sharing. Fly from Birmingham on May 5. Search jet2holidays.com or phone 0800 408 5594. DEVON: Pay from £109 per room per night (two sharing) at the four-star Buckland Tout-Saints beauty had us spellbound. The next day we were happy enough to be faced with nothing more than a gentle cycle ride, broadly following the river course.
But no ordinary bikes awaited us. Instead we were presented with the latest Bosch-powered E-fat bikes.
If you’ve ever ridden a mountain bike and loved it, you’ll definitely want to try one of these.
With four levels of power available at the press of a button, together with knobbly balloon tyres that would embarrass a tractor, even 1-in-3 gradients were a doddle. I had more fun than I’ve ever had on two wheels.
So was our adrenaline-packed three days better than a week on the beach? We felt so recharged and relaxed we’re already planning next year’s trip. And we’ve joined a gym to make sure Indiana Parc won’t beat us next time. THAILAND: MAURITIUS: GETTING THERE: Fly to Geneva from £50 return with easyJet. Book at easyjet.com
WHERE TO STAY: Villa Rose, Samoëns, above, opens from July 1 until September 30 with rooms from £196 per night including breakfast. Book at villarosesamoens.com
ACTIVITIES: Further info about Indiana Parc adventure trails at indianaventures.com
For rafting with Ecolorado see ecoloradorafting.com
For paragliding with Pegase Air visit parapente-samoëns.com
E-biking trips were organised by Xtreme Glisses. Learn more at xtremeglisses-samoens.com
To discover more about Samoëns, pictured below, visit summer.samoëns.com