Plenty of smiles!

 Monday comes around, I’ve had an early night but I’m still stiff and tired.  We’ve made a plan today to go over and paddle the Lech in Germany.  It’s a longer drive but we’ve known all along we may not have a huge amount of choice in the Landeck area with the levels being quite high, so a couple of long drives were on the cards.  Two hours isn’t too bad though, and the journey goes fairly easily.  I know I probably need a day off, but this river is definitely one for me. It’s a 1-2 and from talking to some locals it’s a good one to warm up on, or for me one to get back my confidence.  We go to the get out first, this was one of my demons yesterday, knowing the get out was difficult, and I’m pleased to say there were several choices of get out here, all of them were fairly easy too.  On the drive up we can see various parts of the river that look almost flat (this can be deceptive so although it helps it’s not a certainty that all will be tame), and the get on looks simple too.  It’s a really hot day and I’m pretty drained, we decide to have an early lunch at the get on, then run the shuttle while lunch goes down. 

While waiting for the shuttle I get bitten by an insect, and I’m getting bombarded by big flying things if I try to stay still.  My confidence is still quite low so even these small things are rattling me.  Walking up and down to avoid the insects is sapping my energy further and I wonder whether to cry out, but the grade is definitely in my ability and I need a good paddle.  I really do need at least some glimmer of hope that I’m not crap at it, and it can be enjoyable.  When the others get back, we jump on the river.  I’ve already spotted a few eddies on the other side to go for, and when we get on that’s where I go.  I’m happy that it worked and felt reasonably easy, and once a running order is decided, we’re off. 

As it’s a 22km run we aren’t going to hang about too much, there’s the odd rock to go around and a couple of drops that are avoidable on the left, but other than that it’s bouncy wave trains.  I have two moments of ‘oh, sh*t!’, one where I go past a stopper quite close and have visions of my swim yesterday and one where there’s a bigger rapid, with a stopper I punch through.  I knew something was coming on the bigger rapid as Chucky broke out into an eddy while Rob paddled on.  I had one person to follow and one ready to help me!  It went just fine though, and soon after this the rocks to dodge disappeared and it was just wave train after wave train all the way down!  I really got to enjoying myself.  Smiling a lot once I was over the initial ‘warm up’ and jitters from yesterday’s paddle.  I had some moments where I was playing with my edge over the waves and whooping as I went.  *whee, woosh, splosh, spish, swish*. 

I know for some of the others this was dull as dish water, but I had such a great time so I’m grateful we went.  We did the run in under two hours, which is pretty quick.  As we hadn’t stopped much, or for long we just flew through it.  After we finished, Brian and I waited with the kit, while Rob and Keith went to do the shuttle, dropping Chucky and Matt off to do the shopping in the town on the way. 

Tuesday’s paddle is one that’s not for me.  I’ve got my paddle gear in the car just in case plan A doesn’t work out and Plan B becomes something I can do, but I’m happy for a day of rest.  It’s a fair drive over to the Loisach which is a grade 3/4 run in Germany.  We stop along the way to do some inspection and there’s a few parts that look like they would be runnable for me, but they would be type two fun, I can see further down there’s parts that are just no fun, and there’s plenty I haven’t been able to see of which we know there’s some good grade 4 from reading the guide book.  It all looks good for the boys though and after finding the get out, we go up to the get in for them to get ready.  While kitting up a German guy comes over and asks if he can paddle with the group.  He is there to paddle it solo but it’s safer to paddle in a group if possible.  He’s paddled this run before too so it could be beneficial for the group. 

Once they are all ready to go, I head down to the get out.  I was considering stopping to get some pictures on the way, but I feel I should just let them concentrate.  Keith has had some head games to get around lately, so I just want him to enjoy the paddle.  I’m sure they will tell me all about it at the end.  While I wait, I sit at the get out eddy and read my book, dipping my feet in the water from time to time to keep cool.  It seems to be a popular spot for people to come to, even without kayaks as there’s people playing on the small beaches and walking dogs up the paths alongside the river.  It is a beautiful spot and it’s perfect for some ‘me time’.  It’s not too long before they arrive at the beach, all smiles.  AND, they’re ready to go again! 

Matt decides he’s happy with one run, but Keith, Brian and Chucky go for a second, so we sort the shuttle quickly, get them a snack bar each and get them back on the river!  After take two it’s all smiles again.  It’s taking about 45 mins per run and the drive over hadn’t taken as long as we thought so it’s only just lunch time.  At this point I’ll just mention what a life saver it is to have Rob’s camping fridge out with us, so we have a hope of keeping some meat and cheese cool for lunches.  We take the fridge down to the bigger beach area, just up from where the boys got off at the local kayak club and enjoy some shade by the river.  It’s been high 30’s here (Celsius) for a few days and the temperatures are set to continue.  I’ve got some awful tan lines with all the different kit I’ve been wearing, and my feet remain lily white! 

After lunch Chucky Brian and Keith go for a third run.  I’m really happy that Keith seems to have got some mojo back for kayaking having enjoyed this river so much to paddle it again and again.  After the third run though he can tell he’s feeling tired and it’s time to call it a day.  In the time we’ve had lunch a tree has fallen across the river too, although just passable so it’s caused them no problems.  Chucky and Brian decide not to waste the opportunity of having such amazing white water available and go for a fourth run!  It must be a really enjoyable river, living up to all we’ve read about it being a popular spot and favourite river for many!  Rob sorts the shuttle for them and Matt chooses to wait with them, so Keith and I go to get the shopping for the evening meal.  Brian was supposed to cook tonight but as he’s having so much fun I opt to take tonight’s cooking.

The sun goes behind the mountains as the evening chatter goes on.

It’s great how a good days paddling gets everyone talking in the evening, as recounting the days events leads to other memories surfacing and being told.  Being a shuttle bunny, and watching the videos back is almost as much fun as paddling myself.