The autumn equinox on September 22nd. was another good excuse for a kayaking trip. By starting out early I had hoped that on my way to Embalse de Negratin I might see a memorable equinox sunrise, but it was a bit of a grey morning and the sun was quite high in the sky before it eventually broke through the clouds. After such a hot summer I didn't know what to expect regarding the water level in the reservoir - so I went to Playa del Freila, where the water is always accessible, and I took The Twist, the lightest of my kayaks. Both turned out to be good choices.
On the water about 9.00 am. Bit of a breeze coming from the N.E. so I paddled along the shore in that direction. If the wind continued, or even got stronger, I would at least have it behind me on my way back. The water level was the lowest I've ever seen it, so the inlets, which I ducked in and out of , looked totally different to previous visits. A secondary reason for hugging the shore into the inlets was looking out for a yellow kayak and a red kayak. Earlier I had met a Belgium couple, who had left their kayaks on the shore at Playa del Freila and had come back later to find them gone. May have been stolen - or maybe just pushed out into the reservoir. I had said I would look out for the kayaks.
This a good indicator of how low the water has dropped. I may have seen tips of the branches above the water on previous visits - but never as much of these trees as this.
After 1½ hours of shore hugging paddling I stopped for a leg-stretch. Even an inflatable seat pad feels hard after a while! By now that north-easterly breeze was dying away. I had new batteries in my Garmin GPS thingy - so, when in the shelter of inlets, I'd checked out paddling speeds: 3 k.p.h. gentle paddling, 4 k.p.h. steady paddling and 5 k.p.h. if paddling hard, but only for a short period.
By the time I got back to my starting point the wind had died completely and there were the usual stunning reflections on the water of the mountains. Time on the water had been 3 hours and total distance paddled was 6.7 kilometres.
It's now a very long way down to the water. Fortunately the concrete ramp still reaches it. The Twist is light enough to carry on my head and taking it down to the water was simple - the return wasn't as easy! I'm glad I didn't take a bigger kayak, on a trolley. For now I can't see my bigger and heavier kayaks getting much use here.
After packing up the kayak I had a trial run with a birthday gift of Brew in the Bag gourmet coffee - just add hot water. Strength of the brew can be controlled by the amount of water and different brewing times. I compromised by filling it to the 'mild' level but letting it brew the extra minutes for 'strong' coffee - which gave me a good size mug full of very acceptable coffee. It works well, but you do need to be careful where you hold it when filling with near boiling water, and finding somewhere safe to stand it while it brews for several minutes. This one was organic, roasted coffee from Ethiopia. I have four more like this, with coffee from other parts of the world.
It says that the bags are reusable, but I found that it took a lot of water to flush out the used coffee grounds and the inner filter bag dried very slowly - maybe not worth the effort. But for a cup (or mug) of good coffee, without the faff of a percolator - excellent.
Where has all the water gone! Before heading home I went to an access point I've used previously at the top end of the reservoir. I've launched from here and paddled (to the right) 3 kilometres or more to the upper end where a river flows in. Now, other than a shallow pool, it is mud flats.
Apart from the high ground in the distance, this would all have been water twelve months ago. Now long-legged wading birds are walking across what water little there is in the middle.
Again, apart from the distant high ground, this used to be all covered in water. The old bit of road, on the left, was visible a few months ago, but four years back even that was under water. According the the website of reservoirs in Spain, this one is now down to 31% of capacity. It is going to take an awful lot of winter rain and mountain snow to bring the level back up. Each spring, for as long as I've been coming here, the level has been progressively lower.
So, my 'welcome to autumn' paddle was quite eventful. The low water level could be quite a game changer for my kayaking. The only spot where the water is still accessible is Playa del Freila - but that long concrete ramp, rather steep at the upper end, is a bit daunting for a solo paddler! My bigger and heavier kayaks might be 'mothballed' for a while and more use made of The Twist, and the coast.
Shame about the Belgium couple and their kayaks. When I last saw them they had reported the loss to the police and were about to go to a viewing point on the other side of the reservoir, where they might spot the kayaks from high ground. They were in the area on holiday and had to return to Alicante before the weekend.
