An Autumn Morning on Embalse de Negratin

   I got back to Embalse de Negratin with my folding kayak yesterday.  The weather has been very changeable recently, but the forecast of light winds and a zero chance of rain looked promising - however, I hadn't expected fog!  As I approached the reservoir at about 8:30 a.m., and could look down into the valley, I saw a bank of dense fog lying over the water.  Fortunately, by the time I reached the bathing and picnicking area (where I launched on my last visit) at the foot of Jabalcón, it didn't look so bad at the waters edge.  By the time I had assembled the kayak, and was ready to go afloat, the early morning fog was dispersing nicely and blue sky was appearing.

Plan for the day was to paddle down that big offshoot of the reservoir, which runs to the north west, opposite  Jabalcon.  One of the two areas of the reservoir I hadn't covered on previous visits.

I'm headed right down there.

Low cloud and some fog was still hanging around in the upper part of this offshoot.

Nearing the top, the water was getting very shallow and it was necessary to be watchful for submerged obstacles.

Must have been some big trees here before the valley was flooded.  Stumps like these were only just below the water surface in some places.

Couldn't get much further than this.  Too shallow and too many obstructions to look out for.  The water level has dropped by about a metre since I was last on Negratin, mid August.  I had expected to get much further up the valley than this.
Might have to make another visit next spring, when winter rains might have topped up the reservoir again.

Turned round and looked back towards Jabalcón.  A haze around the mountain gave the impression that fog might be reforming.  I believe that keen photographers would call this 'an atmospheric shot'.

Herons have built nests in those part-submerged dead trees.

There they are.

I had paddled into this stretch of water following the north shoreline and was paddling out along the south side.  A couple of hours had now passed, it was time for leg stretch and a coffee break - but where to stop?  This shoreline was muddy.

Another of those 'atmospheric shots'.

I finally found what looked like a firm bit of shoreline - but I was wrong!  Stepped out to find, too late, that a shingle surface hid the sticky stuff underneath.  Much cleaning up of kayak later (couldn't avoid carrying it back into the kayak on my sandals) but I had my coffee break regardless.

Blue sky, just a few clouds and not too hot - it was turning out to be a lovely day for a quiet paddle.

Lots more nests as I came back out into the main part of the reservoir.  The herons like these dead trees and there's plenty of dry twigs around.

   

Heading back to my starting point, at centre picture.  The haze had cleared from Jabalcón by early afternoon. 

Before I got there I came across this sticking out of the water.  From a distance it looked like a sculpture in steel.  It leans towards the shore and, to me, gave the impression of a multi-headed creature that had risen out of the water and was trying to reach the shore on spindly legs.

But it's just the top of an old electricity pylon!  Surprising that this was left standing when the dam was completed and the valley flooded.  I didn't see this the last time I passed this way.  Perhaps the water level was high enough then to cover it.  A hazard to watch out for in the future.








Time on the water was near enough four hours, including the coffee break.  Distance travelled was 11.5 kilometres.  It was a lovely day out.  Only a very small part of Embalse de Negratin now not seen.

The C15 camper van conversion (re. previous blog post) came into its own - could have a bit of a siesta on the sleeping platform before the drive home.  Quite comfy!

Maiden Voyage of The Halibut.

   I just couldn't wait for cooler days in order to try out my recently purchased Gumotex Halibut kayak.  So I left home very early yesterday morning so as to be on the shore of Embalse de Negratin soon after sunrise, when it was still nice and cool.  I used the same launching place, at the foot of Jabalcón, as my last kayaking trip.  Unloading, inflating the kayak and preparing it for the water took less than 45 minutes.

Loaded up ready to go.  Bear in mind that the Gumotex Halibut is designed for anglers - so it has plenty of easily accessible stowage space.

Spare paddles and my 'what if' bag stow nicely behind the seat.

 Jabalcón, the Los Banos restaurant and the Banos de Züjar (Züjar Baths) adjacent to the restaurant.  I have paddled this route before, but this side of the mountain was in deep shade on that occasion.  The Baths is a public swimming pool through which natural thermal waters flow - in which to relax and benefit from the water's therapeutic properties - so it is said.  The restaurant is also said to be pretty good.

Feet up, anchored in a shallow bay for a coffee break.  This, of course, is a 'staged' picture - it was really far too early in the day to have lunch laid out!  It's just to demonstrate how useful that 'thwart', which is intended for mounting fishing rod holders and perhaps a fish finder, is going to be for a picnic.  Those plastic sandals (Crocs) are also new.

The view ahead of my 'picnic table'.

At anchor.  The Halibut has an anchoring system favoured by anglers on their sit-on-top fishing kayaks, it's called an 'anchor trolley'.  The anchor warp is attached to a loop in an endless rope that runs through rings at the bow and the stern - thus allowing the kayak to be anchored by the bow or stern, or all points in between, at will.  I didn't think I would ever need such a thing, and considered doing away with it, but had to try it out first.  When I anchored in the bay, by the bow, a gentle breeze blew me round until the sun, still low in the sky, was shining in my eyes - but a few tugs on that endless rope soon had me anchored by the stern and more comfortable.  I'm converted, the 'anchor trolley' stays.  Not that I'll be anchoring very often on this reservoir, most of it is far too deep for that.

My anchor.  Because Embalse de Negratin is a flooded valley, and who knows what debris and snags lie on the bottom,  I decided against a conventional anchor, which was liable to get irretrievably entangled, and settled for a heavy weight.  If I ever fail to retrieve this one, and have to cut it loose, I'll only loose a 3 euro, heavy duty plastic, wide necked, screw top container, a bit of sand and cement, a bit of old rope and an hour or so of work.

 My 'turn back it's getting uncomfortably warm' point.  I passed these rocks on a kayaking trip on June 7th. this year, but on that occasion I didn't look back and notice how sculptural those great big rocks are.

 Back at the start.  Distance covered on this trial paddle was 3 km. and time on the water was 2 hrs. - but quite a bit of that time was spent experimenting with anchoring.

Verdict:  The Halibut is quick and easy to assemble, it's very stable, very comfortable and paddles a lot better than I expected.  However, I don't think I would like to paddle it against a fresh headwind for very long.  For a bit of quiet, lazy pootling around on sheltered water it is going to be ideal.  I now have a kayak for every occasion.

   

An Early Start, at a New Location

   An early start from home saw me standing on the shore of Embalse de Negratín, at a new launching place (for me) at the foot of Jabalcón, at just before 7:30 a.m. on Friday morning.  It was nice to find that is was possible to drive right down to the water here - and even nicer to find it was still cool in the shade of the mountain.  The summer heat is now building up steadily in southern Spain.

   By 8:40 a.m. I was afloat and paddling into a gentle headwind towards the top end of the reservoir.  This was all new territory for me, and I could have gone in any direction - but that wind was the deciding factor.  It was forecast to freshen  in the afternoon, so, if that forecast was inaccurate and it freshened early, I would have the wind behind me coming back.

About an hour later I was at the head of the reservoir and following a winding channel through thick vegetation - sort of swamp land.  It's possible this channel was created by the The Rio Castril which flows into the reservoir at this end.  I paddled up this channel through very silty water until it became barely wide enough to turn my kayak around, and it wasn't until I had turned round that the strength of the flow into the reservoir became apparent.  Getting back to open water took no time at all.

Fish were busy feeding on flies on the surface of the silty water in the channel.  Some were so intent on feeding that they didn't notice me quietly drifting down on them - and more than once they only took evasive action at the last possible moment.  At times I was sure I was going to run some fish over.

Nearly back to open water.

Open water and the wind has died away now.  Calm enough to decide to head back down the reservoir on the opposite side to where I had launched.

This end of the reservoir is less barren than the dam end.  The slopes of Jabalcón are cloaked with pine forests, there is a larger variety of wild flowers along the shore and much more bird song.

That building on the opposite side caught my attention.  I'm sure it's the same building I've seen in photos of Embalse de Negratín on the web - with just it's roof sticking out of the water.

A break here for coffee and cake at around 10:00 a.m.  Shoals of tiny, tiny fish passed along the waters edge as I sat there, always heading in the same direction - towards the head of the reservoir.    Even crumbs of home-made carrot cake didn't distract them from their journey.  Perhaps these small fry are programmed to get to the head of the reservoir where all that vegetation will offer them shelter to grow large in.

Later, somewhere along here, I saw a fox out in the open.  I assume it had been down to the water for a drink and was heading back to the cover of trees.  I stopped paddling as soon as I saw it, but the fox must have already sensed my presence - it peered at me over its shoulder before disappearing into undergrowth.

My launching place earlier this morning is on the opposite shore, just left of centre of photograph.

Up there is the other arm of Embalse de Negratín, where another river feeds the reservoir.  That will be a trip of its own - some other day.

No comment - just another photograph with nice reflections on glassy calm water.

Packed up and ready to leave.

Up there, at the top of a concrete ramp, is a landscaped picnic area and some amenity buildings - which I've never seen open.  The gangway at the bottom of the ramp leads to a floating jetty/pontoon - or it would be floating if the reservoir was full.  I've yet to find out if this place has a name - at the moment it is just a red cross at the foot of Jabalcón on my map of Embalse de Negratín - shown on the previous blog post.

That opening on the other side of the water is the other arm of the reservoir - but that will be a trip for the autumn, it's getting too hot to spend much time on the water now.  Today's paddle was a three hour one which was plenty long enough - nice and cool when I started early but roasting hot by the time I was ashore, packed up and ready to leave.






   My gps thingy recorded only 4.9 kilometres paddled, but it must have been more like 9 kilometres.  About an hour into my trip the gps unit showed a low battery warning and after that it kept turning itself off.  I hadn't found anything in the manual about what happens if you ignore the low battery level, but now I know - it goes into battery saving mode, by turning itself off!

A Change is a-comin'

   Thick cloud hid the top of Jabalcón as I approached Embalse de Negratín yesterday morning and a light wind ruffled the surface of the water as I assembled my kayak at Playa de Freila.  A weather forecast of 0% chance of rain, with the light wind of the morning freshening in the afternoon, made Thursday the best looking day this week for a bit of a paddle.  This was to be my last paddle, for now, on this part of the reservoir.

   I launched at 9:50 am and set off along the Playa de Freila side of the reservoir towards the headland nearly opposite Playa Nudista.  I was extending a previous trip along this side to the limits of what is comfortably possible from this launching site.  Inlets for the first few kilometres were ignored as I'd already been into them.

A grey and hazy start, and Jablcón had its head in the clouds.

Further on a splash of colour, among the green vegetation and the various dull hues of rocks and stones, caught my attention.  The poppies have been magnificent in this area but it is unusual to see them so near the water.

Well on the way towards that headland - and the badlands on the opposite shore are getting greener .............

............ and greener.

Now getting near the headland which is my destination - but I spy an inlet that requires investigation before I finally reach it.

Coming out of the inlet again.  It was quite a large one, well worth a look.

Just past the headland and looking back down the reservoir.  The dam and Playa de Freila are way down there somewhere.  I've now paddled all round the edge of that area - and crossed it a few times.

Looking the opposite way is uncharted waters for me and my kayak.  Which means trying a different place to launch on my next visit.  Change is a-comin'.

Around midday, after crossing over to the Playa Nudista side for a while, I stopped here for refreshments.  I would have paddled for a while down the opposite shore but the wind freshened (as forecast) and, if it freshened much more, a return crossing might have been tricky later.

This lop-sided face watched me while I snacked!  Brings a whole new meaning to the term 'rock face'.

And this creature looked on!

Heading back and the clouds have now lifted from Jabalcón.

The wind did freshen considerably as I made my way back to Playa de Freila - and the clouds started to look threatening.  It was a head wind, so a bit of care and effort was needed to make good progress.  My plywood fore-deck came into its own - it's not a thing of beauty but it does effectively keep the sun, and on this occasion dollops of spray, off my lunch bag.






   All in all not a bad day for a last paddle on this part of the reservoir before moving to pastures new.  The weather behaved much as forecast (it never did rain), in fact the Spanish met office forecasts have always been pretty reliable for this area.

Time on the water 4 hrs. 10 mins.  Distance paddled 13½ kilometres.