End of Summer Time

 Sunday October 29th. and I reached Playa del Freila, at Embalse de Negratin, at 8:30 am. It would have been 9:30 am if Summer Time hadn't come to an end much earlier that morning. The water level in the reservoir is still going steadily down, so Playa del Freila is the only place where access to the water is still reasonably easy. Now the water doesn't reach the other two places towards the top end of the reservoir, where the Castril and Guardal rivers flow in (when they aren't dry). On 25/10/23 it was recorded that the reservoir was down to 19.26% of capacity. Fortunately, even at that capacity, there is still a more than adequate area of water for a good morning of quiet paddling.

This time I thought I'd meander down the Freila side of the reservoir to the dam. Hadn't been as far as that since May 2017. Hardly a breath of wind when I got on the water but a fresh wind, from the direction of the dam, was forecast for later in the morning: a wind which would be behind me on my return journey.

Approaching the dam.

Near enough for me. Getting too close to a dam makes me nervous!

A few facts about the Embalse del Negratin. The dam was constructed in 1984 and opened by the previous king of Spain (King Juan Carlos) in 1985. The max. surface area of the reservoir behind the dam is 2170 hectares and the maximum capacity is 567 cubic hectometres (which, if converted to litres or gallons gives a mind boggling figure). It is the fourth largest reservoir in Andalucia and the largest in the province of Granada. According to tourist information the length of the reservoir is 22 km, but on our maps it scales 16 km. Maybe the 22 km. includes the length of a very long, large inlet at the upper end of the reservoir. Since late 2016 I've paddled the entire perimeter of Negratin – some stretches of shoreline several times.

And about turn – my starting point is several kilometres past that headland on the right hand side.

Nearly back to Playa del Freila. Autumn colours are starting to appear among the vegetation. That's the Jabalcón mountain in the background – and reflected in the water. The fresher wind that was forecast never did amount to anything, so it was a good morning for reflections, and a nice morning for another quiet paddle.

Time on the water was 2¼ hours and distance paddled was 9.0 kilometres. Mornings are much cooler now. In fact it was quite chilly when I first got on the water – after such a long hot summer, and a warm start to autumn, I'd nearly forgotten what 'chilly' felt like!

Fresh Water Paddling, for a change.

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.

Another Good Day on Embalse de Negratin

   Last Thursday looked a good day for another paddle on Embalse de Negratin.  A forecast of very little wind and 0% chance of rain was a brief kayaking friendly window in a period of iffy weather.  Plan for the day was to launch as usual from Playa de Freila, head down to the dam, and delve into a large inlet close to the southern end of it.  This inlet was one of the few places, at that end of the reservoir, I hadn't reached on previous visits.  If time allowed, and it did, there was a couple of other largish inlets on the opposite shore still to visit.

9:45 am. Thursday May 31st.  Kayak loaded up and ready to trundle down to the water.

I was soon passing the Torre del Maruq (see blog post 21/05/17), the remains of a watch tower from the time when this area was occupied by the Moors, on my left hand side ....... ...........

.......... and what I call 'the badlands' on my right hand side.

That's a little island dead ahead.  It wasn't there the last time (May  2017) I passed this way.  After the winter rain the water level is higher now, so it must be all that remains at the end of a spit of land.  The water was  certainly very shallow between it and the mainland.

Getting closer to that inlet.

Nearly there - have to turn left just past that big rocky outcrop near centre picture.

Going in, to what turned out be one of the largest inlets I'd delved into.  It was getting quite hot on the water now - being able to pause in the shade of the cliffs was pleasant.

This is as far as I could go.  Traffic noise from the road on the skyline disturbed the tranquility.  Apart from the road over the dam this is the only place where a main road passes anywhere near the water.

Many little bays and sub-inlets made this inlet interesting.

Heading back out towards into open water.

That little island again.  By this time I had looked into two more largish inlets and was looking for somewhere I could land, stretch my legs and have some lunch.  All the inlets I had been in were steep sided and places to land were very limited.

Stopped here for lunch.  Sizable fish were cruising the shallows - but weren't interested in bits of cold pizza.  But they would come up and take little beetley things which were scooting about on the surface of the water.  Earlier I had seen one fish come well out of the water to snatch something edible off the shore.  I've never seen a fish do that before.

Fed and watered and heading back towards Playa de Freila.  Clouds were now forming in the distance and reflections were getting interesting.  The clouds were  heralding a change in the weather.  It deteriorated again the following day.










   And so another nice quiet paddle on Embalse de Negratin came to an end.  Time on the water was approx. 3½ hrs.  Distance paddled, according to my Garmin GPS thingy, was 10½ kilometres.


   

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.