Another Equinox Paddle

I couldn't let the Autumn Equinox pass without doing a bit of kayaking somewhere. The weather forecasts for any coastal kayaking looked a bit iffy, so I opted for the Embalse de Negratin, which I still haven't tired of. Even for there the forecast wasn't perfect – light easterly breeze in the early part of the morning but getting much stronger towards mid-day. So I took The Smart One, a better kayak for windy conditions, and planned to start early from Playa del Freila, follow the east shore into any wind at that time, then return with the wind behind me if it did get a bit strong.

New for today was this piece of wood decking I've made. Somewhere to keep a map case within easy reach, with a small waterproof bag on the back edge to keep snacks and bits & bobs in. It will also keep the sun off my ankles. One of the drawbacks of kayaking in a hot climate is getting sunburnt legs if you don't keep them covered. So I've taken to wearing very lightweight trousers, but I've sometimes ended the day with sunburn on exposed ankles. I've been looking forward to trying this deck out.

Water in the reservoir has got quite low during this unusually hot summer. It's currently at about quite 20%. At this level, particularly close to the shore, the tops of many small trees and woody shrubs are exposed, and sometimes extending quite a way out from the edge. Sometimes it is possible to pick a way through them.

And sometimes you can't!

The exposed bits are pretty harmless, generally quite soft (waterlogged) and bendy. Thinnest bits break off easily. It's the thicker bits hidden below the surface you have to watch out for.

The next hazard, a couple of hours into the trip, was mud! I'd reached a little bay, with what looked (from a distance) like a gently shelving sandy beach. A good place to stop and get out for a leg stretch, I thought. When I reached shallow enough water, I swung my legs over the side of the kayak, and started to stand up – only to discover I was about to step out into deep, sticky, soft mud! Retracted feet very quickly before my Crocs could get left behind in this gooey stuff. Didn't want feet, very heavy with mud, in the kayak so I backed away with both legs dangling over the side. It took a lot of rubbing and rinsing before feet and Crocs were clean enough to come aboard again.

But there was a good side to this mishap. I discovered that sitting sideways in this kayak, with both legs dangling in the water, doesn't make it  heel much nor feel unstable, even when reaching over to wash feet. Wouldn't like to try it in choppy water, but in calm water it is just fine – and surprisingly comfortable. And the new bit of deck was an ideal place to dry those Crocs.

My turning back point was this pylon, which was also my turning back point when I came this way on the Autumn Equinox last year. More of it was sticking out of the water that time, so this must have been a slightly better year for the capacity of this reservoir.

The reservoir might only be at about 20% of capacity – but there's still plenty of water for kayaking! My starting point, at 9:30 am yesterday morning, was way, way down there on the left hand side.

Rocks can be quite sculptural.

1:30 pm and I'm back at Playa del Freila. That easterly wind never did get anywhere near as strong as the weather forecast suggested, so my return to here, with just a gentle easterly breeze behind me, was a lot quicker and easier than the outward leg. Here I had another little mishap – a dip into the water as I landed! Swung my legs out when reaching very shallow water, was very unsteady on my feet after 4 hours sat down, tripped on a rock and fell over. Floundered around in the water until I could stand up! Fortunately I fell backwards into deeper water, the water was quite warm – and the only two people on the shore were too far away to see a very wet kayaker dragging his craft up the shore.

Kayak back on the trolley ready for the last lap.

Pushing it, still very wet, back up that slipway! Some people do bring vehicles down to the shore (as you can see), despite prohibited notices, but I wouldn't like to risk getting bogged down on it myself!

It turned out to be a very nice day, apart from the involuntary swim, for a paddle. Got a bit hot just after mid-day but was pleasantly cool to start with. Time on the water was 4 hours and distance paddled was 11.0 kilometres. Another Equinox suitably celebrated – and the deck worked perfectly. No more very red feet or ankles.

Not Done Much So Far This Year

My second paddle of 2022 was on Friday June 10th.   Just 1½ hours on the sea at Villaricos, in my Twist kayak.  Conditions were good for a longer paddle (I covered 4.5 kilometres) but despite getting on the water at 8:45 am it got too hot to stay there much longer.  The summer heat started early this year - and it's been relentlessly hot until now.

So, mainly due to the relentlessly hot days, and the lethargy induced by them, my kayaks haven't  seen water again - until now:

Yesterday was the Autumn Equinox and I thought it would make a fitting start to getting afloat again - and, if I made an early start, I might see the first sunrise of autumn.  So I took my Halibut kayak to Embalse de Negratin, hoping that there was still enough water in the reservoir to get a decent time on the water.  Like a lot of reservoirs in Spain, and most of Europe, reservoirs are very low.  Negratin is currently down to 19.75% of full capacity.  This time last year it was 27.2%.

Thanks to a recent birthday I also had a new bit of kit to try out:

The Eckla folding Beach-Rolly.  A fine bit of German engineering.

It's a cart.

It's a seat.

It's a kayak trolley.

And I can take it with me, if I want to.  Stows quite nicely, with the wheels on or off, on the back of my Halibut kayak.  The wheels can be detached very quickly.  Saves taking it back to the car - and provides a seat ashore if I have a lunch break.

Back to yesterday:

When I reached Playa de Freila, the only place with easy access to the water now that the level is so low, I was pleasantly surprised to see there was still a good area of water for kayaking - but not so pleased to find that the concrete ramp now stops short of the water!  Fortunately my new trolley coped with the last stretch of rough ground admirably.

  

 

Not far from Playa de Freila (that's the playa in the background) I came to a new island.  Just a little one.  Was I the first to circumnavigate (and I did do that) this island I wondered.  From here I paddled towards the head of the reservoir, into a fresh breeze creating a bit of a chop on the water.  If the breeze continued all day, or even freshened, at least I would have it behind me when I turned back.

Most of the side inlets, which I used to delve into, are dry now.  So, a couple of hours later, without those distractions, I was quite a way towards the head of the reservoir.  In June 2018, when the water was a lot higher, I  paddled a long way up this valley in my Neris Valkure kayak!

This photo was taken in June 2018, as I paddled out of that valley.  See blog post Fri. 8 June 2018.  I wrote then:  Coming out of that inlet again.  It was quite a large one and well worth a look.  It is going to take a lot of winter rain, maybe over several years, to get the water that high again.

Next I spotted this, standing 4 to 5 metres out of the water.  Never seen it before, so a good indicator of how much lower the water is now, compared to my previous visits.  You never know what is lurking beneath the water in this reservoir.  I guess it is an old electricity pylon, but I'm surprised it was left standing when the valley was flooded.

The wind had died away by now and it was getting warmer on the water than I would have liked, so it was time to turn around and pootle back to Playa de Freila.

Back at the playa.  Getting the kayak onto its trolley and all the way up that concrete ramp to the car park looked daunting - but it wasn't too bad.  Just needed a few catch-yer-breath stops on the way.  It's a good trolley.

It had been nice to get back on the water again and I did see the first sunrise of autumn.  Hopefully there will be more days like this now that autumn is here.  Time on water was near enough 4 hours and I paddled about 11 kilometres.  No lunch breaks ashore on this trip so I didn't get to use the seat of my Eckla Beach-Rolly until back in the car park - where it was much appreciated after all that exercise.

P.S.  My Neris Valkure kayak is still for sale (blog post June 14 th. 2022).  Any plans to replace it with anything different are currently on hold. 

  

An Equinox Paddle

 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.