Yesterday me and my Gumotex Halibut kayak went to the Negratin reservoir in Granada province. Hadn't been there since September 2022 (blog post 24/9/22), when the reservoir had got down to 19.75% of full capacity and the water no longer even reached the bottom of the slipway at Playa de Freila. According to the website of Spanish reservoirs, the capacity had crept back up during the winter to 25.22%. Hopefully launching and recovery was going to be easier than last time.
From a distance Negratin doesn't look much different at 25.22% to 19.75%. However, it was very different at the bottom of the slipway. Oh joy! - the water did now cover the bottom of the concrete slipway. The difficult bit this time was paddling into a stiff breeze, creating very choppy water, blowing up from the dam end of the reservoir. Had to paddle hard to make any headway until I could duck into the first of the many sheltered side inlets. Spent the morning dodging in and out of those inlets. Straight line return journey later, with wind and waves behind me, was a lot quicker.
Nice and calm in this first inlet. It was a lot different further out past that headland on the right. A low sun (it was about 10:00 am) accentuates the features of the 'badlands' side beautifully.
Even calmer in this inlet. The beauty of paddling Negratin is that nothing ever looks the same as the last time. Inlets appear, change size and shape, even disappear entirely with the change in water level. Even little islands come and go. Every trip here is a new little adventure.
The hazards of navigation on Negratin – you just never know what is lurking below the water! I've passed this way several times over the past few years and never seen the top of this tree exposed – and the water is quite deep here.
And there's worse in those side inlets. Like this:
Or like this beauty. Sometimes covered, sometimes fully exposed. But it's the ones lurking just below the surface you have to watch out for.
When I could see the dam from around this headland I turned back. From here to the dam, on this side of the reservoir, there's nowhere to shelter from the wind. Fortunately the wind had eased considerably by this time.
Back at the car at Playa de Freila. That water looks placid from here.
Despite the wind it was an enjoyable paddle and good to find that The Halibut can handle such choppy water with ease. It was nice to get back to Negratin again. Launched at 9:30 am. Time on the water was 4 hrs. and I paddled a total of 10.5 kilometres.
