Beating the Heat

   The purchase of a lightweight, single-seat, inflatable kayak (see My Kayaks and My Kayaks Photo Gallery pages) has enabled me to get back on the water again for quiet paddles ........ just for short periods.

   Early yesterday morning I had a trial run with it.  Left home just before 7 o'clock and was on the water, on Garrucha sea-front, a few minutes past 8.  Unloading, inflating and carrying down to the water took about 15 minutes, which is a lot, lot quicker than with my folding kayak.  I was off the water and heading home again before the day got uncomfortably hot.

   On the water, despite its small size, the Twist performed well.  It was comfortable, rode reassuringly easily over swells and can turn on a sixpence.  It does yaw a bit when paddled hard, which is only to be expected of a kayak only 2.6 metres long (even shorter waterline length), but, with my quiet paddling ethos, that is inconsequential.  Although not a contender to my Valkure 1 folding kayak, the Twist looks as if it will be a fun craft for any opportunity of a quick paddle.

   Sorry there aren't any photos of the maiden voyage.  The Twist does not have a secure, dry cockpit like that of its predecessor.  Stowage of a camera needs a bit of thought.

Not Such a Quiet Paddle on Embalse de Negratin.

   Actually, yesterday's paddle did start and finish quietly, but the bit in the middle wasn't what was expected.  The weather forecast for the area seemed reasonable - temperature not too high and just a bit of wind from the north-west, which should have made the north side of the reservoir, under the steep cliffs of the badlands, sheltered.  The plan was to cross the reservoir from Playa de Freila, delve into a couple of large inlets directly opposite the Playa and then pootle eastwards along the badlands shore to the next big inlet.  Explore that inlet and then cross back to the south side and head straight back to the start point and lunch - sounded simple!

   In the inlets there was a fresh breeze funneling down the ravines and gullies but it didn't spoil quiet paddling and, if anything. made it even more pleasant by keeping the temperature down.  So, all went well until  emerging from the shelter of the last big inlet and finding that the wind had chosen to ignore the forecasters!  It had backed round to the south-west, so it was blowing directly up the reservoir from the dam, and had freshened considerably.  The open water crossing now looked tricky with closely spaced waves and deep troughs in between, and some waves were breaking.  Running with the wind and waves was fine, but I didn't want to go that way, nosing into the waves was doable but wet, but I don't 'do' wet these days and in any case I didn't want to go that way either.  I wanted to cross more or less at right angles - which really didn't look so feasible.  The only option was to retrace my route, plugging away into the wind while hugging the shoreline, where there was a bit of shelter from that wind, in the hope that conditions at my original crossing point (which at least is one of the narrowest points of the reservoir) would be better - and my luck was in.  By the time I reached the shelter of a big inlet opposite Playa de Freila, and had a leg stretch walk ashore, the wind had abated and shifted and any thoughts of spending hours trapped on the wrong side the water quickly dissolved, and the crossing back to my lunch box was just fine.

Here is a collection of photos from yesterday's paddle along what is most probably the most rugged bit of the badlands of Embalse de Negratin :-

   Cliff falls are evidently common, as you can see by the pile of debris at the foot of the cliff in the above photograph.  Vertical cracks further along the cliff face show where the next great chunks might break away.

Ready to cross back to Playa de Freila - and lunch.

   Unless we get some really cool spells, there's unlikely to be any more paddling on Embalse de Negratin until the autumn.  To beat the heat it would be necessary to be on the water soon after sunrise and off and packed up again by mid-morning.  That would mean leaving home at some unearthly hour of the morning, middle of the night even!  Today the temperature at our home was well above 30°C in the shade by mid morning - and temperatures can be even worse further inland.  And it is going to get much hotter yet!

A Blue-Sky Morning on Embalse de Negratin.

   Friday May 19th.  A beautiful morning, not a cloud inn the sky and hardly a breath of wind.  Launched from Playa de Freila at about 10:15 am with the intention of being back ashore before the day got too hot to be messing around on the water. The target this time was to reach the dam, paddling straight to it and then delving into any inlets, not delved into on previous visits, on my way back.

   I nearly got sidetracked when I spotted a tower on a headland.  The presence of a noticeboard indicated that it could be something of historical interest and worth a closer look - but I passed on, for now.

Looks interesting.

     Nearly got sidetracked again when passing a nice clean looking, gently shelving, little bit of a beach.  Was thinking about a stretch legs stop - then wondered what sort of big critters might live in those holes!  So, gave it a miss and passed on again.

Holes for big critters?

As I rounded another headland the dam came into view in the distance :-

Still a long way to go - the clarity of the air makes distances deceiving.

Getting closer.

   The little white building to the right of the dam is a pleasant bar/restaurant.  Some years back Susan and I stopped there for a drink and tapas.

And close enough.

   If that slipway to the right of the bar/restaurant is for public use, then I might just have found another good launching place.

Those badlands again.

   Delving deep into one of the larger inlets on my way back, I could see a humble looking little property.  In that location, and with some imagination, it has the potential to become a des res :-

Nice spot for a des res.

That potential des res again.

Parked up for a run ashore.

   I parked here to scramble and push my way through brush and undergrowth up to that tower I had seen on a headland earlier.  Emerging near the tower I saw numerous spent shotgun cartridges scattered around on the ground.  This is obviously a popular spot for hunters.  Note to self:  In future, in such wild areas, make a lot of noise (whistle or sing, maybe) and wear some high viz. clothing when pushing through scrubland.  Could be a hunter in a hide somewhere, just waiting for something to move!  Wouldn't like to be mistaken for a wild boar!

Torre del Maruq.

Torre del Maruq

   According to the nearby noticeboard, the tower is known as Torre de Maruq and it is a watchtower of Arab origin.  Little else seems to be known about it.  Anyone on the tower, back in the days of the occupation by the Moors, would have been able to keep a watch on much of the river valley which became the reservoir after the building of the dam in 1984.  These are the present views from alongside the tower :-

View to the left.

View further round to the left.

View to the right,.

   The adjacent headland, seen in this last photograph, is the one where I landed on my last trip to have lunch in the shade.  I have since discovered that it is called Playa de Majuelos.  However, I can't imagine that this beach gets much use by the public, as access, via a dirt track from the main road, is tricky - as I discovered when I tried it that afternoon.  The track was fine for our trusty little Citroën C15 van, but anything with less ground clearance might just get into trouble.

   It was just getting uncomfortably warm on the water when I got back to the beach at Playa de Freila around 1:45 pm (and still not a cloud in the sky) after an enjoyable morning of quiet paddling.

 

Another Quiet Paddle in the Sun.

   Yesterday I went for another exploratory paddle on Embalse de Negratin.  I launched again at Playa de Friela and did a direct line open water crossing from the concrete slipway, turned left at the other side of the reservoir and headed towards the dam, paddling between islands that aren't obvious when looking across from the Friela side.

Playa de Friela (a picture from a previous visit).

  The smaller islands probably wouldn't exist if the reservoir was full (it's now at about 50% capacity) but the two big islands will always be there.

   Both islands have been colonised by seagulls, which seems a bit odd when the nearest coast is about 90 kilometres away, as the crow (or in this case seagull) flies.

   Looking back to Playa de Friela, with the Sierra de Baza in the background:-

That's one of the islands on the right hand side.

   Until I crossed Negratin I didn't know that the Sierra Nevada is visible from the water.  And there is still snow on the tops:-

Snow on the distant Sierra Nevada.

     One of Granada's claims to fame is that it's possible, at certain times of the year. to ski on the mountains in the morning and swim in the sea in the afternoon - or vice versa.

   The shoreline on this side of Negratin is extremely desolate, very rugged and steep sided - and there are very few places where it is easy to land.  It's an area to be treated with respect, especially if solo paddling.  I did make the mistake of going ashore once, only to step out into sticky mud and shingle which was impossible to shake out of my sandals when I re-boarded.  I didn't land again until I was back on the other side of the reservoir!

Any sort of civilization is way up over that ridge.

   Wind and rain has eroded and sculptured cliff faces into dramatic shapes:-

   By lunchtime it was getting uncomfortably warm on the water, so I re-crossed Negratin to look for a shady spot to go ashore:-

Looked a promising place ...........

............  with a shady lunch spot ..........

............  with a nice view while eating a pack-up.

   Note to self:  try and keep pack-up in the shade while paddling, or use an insulated container.  The slices of cold pizza just weren't cold anymore, and the muesli bars were droopy!

   From there it was an easy straight line paddle, past inlets I've previously explored, back to Playa de Friela.  I hadn't expected to get as far as the dam on this trip. I thought there would be too many distractions on the far side, but I did see it in the distance and I should get to it next time.  I need another day of very light winds - I've never been on Negratin on a windy day but I can well imagine that it could be tricky with gusts funneling down canyons and valleys around the sides.

So ended another enjoyable day of quiet paddling.

Back to Embalse de Negratin

   I've been back to Embalse de Negratin this week for another bit of quiet paddling.  Tuesday, when light winds were forecast for that area, seemed a good day to go.  I still have a lot of the western end of the reservoir to explore, so I launched again at Playa de Freila and followed the shoreline to the east, delving deep into every inlet on the way.

Playa de Freila (the mountain in the background is Jabalcón)

A very basic map of Embalse de Negratin, Granada Province, Spain

   The red crosses on the map are places where there is good public access to the water.  There may be other places, lesser known ones, but I have yet to find them.  Yes, Playa Nudista is a nudist beach - but there is a separate beach area nearby for more modest folk.  At the moment, after a few years of very little rainfall, the reservoir is down to 50% of its maximum capacity - so the shoreline I followed looked a bit different in shape to that depicted on the map.  The spits of land where I stopped for a mid-morning snack, and later for lunch, would normally have been submerged.

Landed on this spit for the mid-morning snack.

........ and on this one for a picnic lunch.

That's Jabalcón in the distance.

This is as far as I could get into one of the inlets:-

If the reservoir had been at full capacity I might have been able to paddle a lot further up that little valley.

   It was strangely quiet around Negratin on Tuesday, only the occasional screech from a few seagulls broke the silence - there was no other birdsong, anywhere.  And, until I glimpsed some small critters scuttle down a bank and plop into the water, I thought I wasn't going to see any wildlife at all along the shores.  A bit of patient waiting and watching revealed those critters to be little terrapin.  With the help of a basic photo guide book to Mediterranean wildlife they were later identified as baby stripe-necked terrapins.  Mine were 'photo shy'.

Terrapin Inlet.

Reflections.

   Much of the terrain around Negratin is pretty wild, rugged and desolate.  More 'stuff' gets added to my 'What If' bag (sounds much nicer than 'Survival' bag) after each trip on Negratin; decent footwear is next to go in.  Plastic sandals just wouldn't be up to the job should the need ever arise to beach the kayak and walk to a road or habitation - not that there are many properties visible from the reservoir.  I think there is a bit of extra 'be-preparedness' required for solo paddling in areas like this.

Bandit country!

   The straight line return leg back to Playa de Freila was a lot quicker than the inlet hopping outward one.

   I'm glad that I went when I did.  Later this week the daytime temperatures soared to above 30°C. (n the shade). I wouldn't want to be on the water for very long when it's that hot, especially when it's flat calm and mirror-like.

   This was only my third outing in my Neris Valkure-1 folding kayak, so it is still too soon to be writing any sort of review, but the kayak is living up to expectations and proving to be pretty ideal for the sort of paddling I want to do.