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 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.
