Tuesday morning, I wake up my usual grogy, achy self. The long journey and a long full first day
yesterday have caught up with me. I’m
not even sure I want to paddle. The
paddle we’ve decided on today is to carry on from Wildalpen and go down to
Saggraben. This stretch of river then
includes the sections we paddled last year, and I don’t have particularly happy
memories from it. Pain, cold, swims,
massive waves and boily gorges. I know
it’s head games, because aside from a couple of waves catching me out I paddled
it well and nothing bad really happened, but I had heart racing adrenaline,
eyes on stalks for the whole paddle (both times we did it) and it felt
generally unpleasant. Starting the day
feeling rough isn’t helping me today. (For
more on my previous trip check out last year’s blog here.)
I had to have a serious talk with myself. The others had some shopping to do so I
stayed at the apartment to get my head together with a little space for myself,
I did some yoga, got my breathing and nerves under control, and took some
painkillers to ease the back ache and the headache. Then I went through every reason things WILL
be better this year in a positive talk way.
1)
I have a new boat, which is much more forgiving.
2)
I have 12 months more paddling experience in a
boat that had made it hard work for me. My skills are DEFINITELY better.
3)
The water levels are much lower this year, so
big curling waves are less likely, and boily water will also be less.
4)
I’ve been here before so even if I don’t know
the river well, areas will be familiar, and I roughly know where the end is!
5)
I have 4 strong paddlers with me, they will all
be very comfortable on this river and I know they will all have my back as I’ve
paddled with them before.
Right, I am getting in my kayak today and I am fighting this
silly head game.
The others come back, we get cars loaded and head to Wildalpen
after dropping Keith’s car at the get out.
We’ve had to use the get out at Kalter Graben as the car park at
Saggraben needs a parking pass and we can’t find out where to pay! I get kitted up and head down to the get on
at the bottom of the slalom course. I’m
not going to get straight on to that, especially when I’m already having head
games. The others came through the
course and met me at an eddy by the bridge.
This section of river being a bit bigger than the others, we
have a plan in terms of a running order.
Brian is tail end Charlie (his favourite position), I am always some
where in the middle, the other three will rotate the lead from time to time and
I can generally choose where I want to be. I’m getting in my boat while we are discussing
this and then we head off. My memory is
already fading a little but there’s bouncy wave trains all the way down where
we mostly float roughly in an order and then the odd rapid where we all slot into
a line and give each other appropriate space.
My heart is racing but it’s not the same, jumping out of my chest, feel
as last year. I’m constantly talking
myself through things, considering my line through the rapid and trying not to
blindly follow whoever is in front of me.
I keep myself breathing as much as possible but at times deep breathing
is difficult, as is keeping my eyes fully open.
There are LOADS of flies hanging over the river in places, even over the
white water where none of us expect them.
We all end up either eating one or one in our eye by the end of the
river. At one point I end up having to
make an eddy with one eye shut (fly) and the other blurred (water splash) in
the middle of one of the biggest rapids. I have to sort it quickly as I have
taken an eddy that is too small for everyone and the others continue on a short
way to a big eddy.
I ask for a leg stretch stop at an island near where we got
on last year. My legs are going a bit
numb and my head games are reminding me I had little opportunity after this point
to relax and wiggle my legs as the waves get more continuous. So far I’ve been feeling pretty good, it’s
taken a little to warm up and settle but I’m getting a bit of a flow now so I
use this to boost myself ready for the next part. We carry on down and very quickly we are
coming near to one of the places I had a swim last year. It’s not until we are through the rapid that
I realise where it was. I recognise more
by where I had to walk after taking the swim, as when I was capsizing and
swimming all I could see was the water!
The levels being so much lower mean the rapid is actually nice to paddle.
(And I try to remind myself that I’m a better paddler too). As we go on to the more difficult rapids the
wave trains get more diagonals in so the waves are coming in from the sides as
well and it makes it a little more tricky to ride out. None of them trip me over this time and
although it’s taken a lot of concentration and a good dose of adrenaline, It’s
good fun (type 2 fun). For those of you who don’t know about type one and two
fun, check out this blog here).
We have a stop in an eddy, just before a little rapid that
goes around a corner, and as we go out of the eddy I capsize…. WHAT!???... I
literally fell over nothing… you know those times when you’re walking along a
flat surface and you trip over thin air??? I’ve been practicing putting on plenty of edge
when I break in and out as one of the things that catch me out when I’m trying things
on bigger water is that my boat goes a bit flat and the up-stream edge gets
caught. So even on flatish water I’ve
been practicing over doing it a little just to get it to become habit for when
I get my confidence up to try something new.
I over did it a bit too much so when I went to take a paddle stroke, I
just fell over…. Pfft…
Anyway, I’m quickly recovered, and my boat is just one eddy
down so I scramble along the side and try to make light of it by joking that I
was a bit hot and needed to cool down…. In actual fact my confidence has been
knocked…. *If I can’t even break out on flat water, what chance do I have
further down? I know that boily gorge is coming up…. STOP IT! It was a mistake,
everyone makes them! You’ve been doing great! Get in your boat and keep smiling…* I’m in, I’m sorted, let’s go…
I’m all shaky again, it’s like starting the day all over
again, but now I’m tired, the foam under my seat has moved, I’ve had the little
shock and I have to grit my teeth. I’m
attacking this now, I’m not enjoying it, but I must get past it. Rob breaks out in another eddy and I get
Keith to help me sort out the foam under my seat. He tries to make me feel better and give me a
hug but I’m still not past it and on the verge of tears. *oh, great, here we go, the bloody Salza is
going to be etched in my brain as a nemesis.
No, keep going, the levels are good, it was only a silly mistake, keep
going, get past this, it will pass* We’re
off again and gradually, wave by wave, rapid by rapid, I’m easing back in to a
flow. The rapids are a little bigger and
more technical in this section but I’m not getting tipped, shunted or otherwise
thrown off by anything. *I’ve got
this!*
As we move on a little further, we come to some rapids we
believe are the ones just before the gorge.
This was where my other swim was last year. I have a little flutter of anxiety but remind
myself the with the levels the way they are, had I not recognised the scenery,
I could’ve been convinced I was on a different, much easier river. Rob is leading and asks to have another
strong paddler behind him then me then the other two. Keith Backs Rob up so I’m now following
him. I try to keep a focus only on Rob’s
line and picking my own line. I’ll not
go into the explanation of this too much but Keith and I usually stay separated
when I paddle anything that’s a little difficult for me. This is strategic based on the psychology of
partners/family doing sports together. I discuss it a little in this blog here. Here’s
an article if you fancy learning more about the difference between a coach and a friend.
As we get closer to the gorge and into the gorge itself
there’s a lot more boils in the water, these are even mid rapid, so there’s a
lot going on, and yet still so much more enjoyable than before. I’m pretty sure at a few points I even have a
little woop and a slightly nervous laugh at how the water moves me around! The paddle is nearly over now and it’s not
long before we see the raft get out at Saggraben. I recognise it well as the moment I was
allowed back on dry land! This year I’m
quite happy to be continuing a little further.
I know from the guides we’ve found the river steadily gets easier after
the gorge so there shouldn’t be anything nasty on the last little unknown bit
of river. It’s some nice bouncy
(straight) wave trains to the end. Once
we’re off we scramble up to the cars, Matt goes for an intentional swim in the
river, and Keith and Brian head off to shuttle.
While we wait with the boats and kit a thunderstorm rolls in. None of us have packed anything more than a t-shirt
for the day. When we set out this
morning it was 36 degrees!!! (C). Rob
and Matt use dry cags for shelter, and I use the rubber changing mat to keep
from getting my dry clothes soaked in the pouring rain. It doesn’t last long though and then Brain
returns to collect us.
Once we’re all back, and the kit is drying it’s time for
dinner. We’ve all had a great few days
and we get our bags packed ready to move on in the morning. It’s our last night here and we move on to
another area of Austria tomorrow.
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