The alarms are set again. We have to pack the cars before we leave this
morning, as we are driving to Slovenia this afternoon.
I’m beyond exhausted. It wasn’t the best start to the holiday with
a swim yesterday and I’m not sure if I want to paddle today. The drive will be uncomfortable if my back is
playing up. We’ve decided to do the Salza
again, but a smaller section from just above the gorge to just below it. We get everything ready anyway and go on up
to the chosen put in with Tomas, Marta and Cici.
I have to decide.
I’m going for it. The river has
dropped again since yesterday so it should be a little ‘friendlier’, and it
will be nice to paddle with some new people.
Once we get on the water I’m shaking again, largely from having no
energy, but also yesterday’s swim is playing on my mind a little. Even the section we get on at is big pushy
water. I’m too tired to sing my way
through it, and I opt for just remembering to breathe as I go. I’m just about
coping but there is no rest for me on this river. Even sections between rapids feel like they
need concentration and I know another rapid is not far away. My back is causing me trouble again and it’s
giving me a painful ‘dead’ leg. I take a
few breaks, and I do well through the section that had me out yesterday. A little further down however, there’s a
similar situation of waves coming in from the sides, and I have another swim. I think I was pulling my deck before I was
even upside down. I don’t think I would’ve
considered rolling here even if I had the energy, but I certainly wasn’t going
to pull it off feeling so low. My boat
ends up in an eddy on river right and I had swum to an eddy river left, but
Matt tows my boat across and I’m getting back in again. I can’t help but start crying, but I keep on
going anyway. It’s not so much the swim
itself, I’m just frustrated. At this
point I’m just making it through until the put out and I can’t say that I feel
I’m enjoying it. Another dead leg and
pain in a later section of rapids, I had to eddy out and get out of my boat for
a minute. I’m gritting my teeth as I
encourage my leg to move and the pain eventually fades. Shortly after this I see some rafts getting
out on a near by shore. We’ve reached
the put out and I put every once of energy I have left in to paddling to it. My
notes after I got of the river read “F*ck this sh*t, I want to go home”. I’m fed up.
We have lunch on the car park again, and I’m
reassured a little as Rob said this is tougher paddling than anything I did in
the Alps last year. My memory of it all
is somewhat biased as EVERYTHING was scary last year. I’d hoped I would feel better this year, but
at the moment, I do not. I finally
decide to use the more powerful pain relief the doctor has given me. It has a couple of side effects, including
addiction, so I don’t like to take it often, but I don’t think I’ll manage
another 4 hours in the car without it.
It makes me a little drowsy, and as I’m already tired, I sleep for
nearly an hour and a half in the car.
I feel better after the sleep, and we briefly
stop for fuel before leaving Austria.
Rob has researched where the fuel is cheapest, and our fuel stops are
strategic! We pass through a little of
Italy on the way, and see a little bit of the Dolomites mountain range. The scenery has been beautiful in Austria but
it just gets increasingly more incredible the further we drive. It’s not too long before we are in to
Slovenia and at our house for the week.
The scenery has lifted my mood (as well as being
temporarily pain free), and knowing we are staying in one place for a while
helps too. We have finally had a journey
that has gone to plan and we have reached Chalet Soca in the daylight. Rob gives us a quick tour, and the view from
the balcony is just.... well.... I don’t think breathtaking even covers
it. It’s like it’s a green screen in a
movie, and it might disappear overnight!
There is still more to be done though. We empty Matt’s car in to the house and
garage while Rob cooks, and after dinner Matt and Rob go down to Trieste
Airport in Italy to pick up Clare (Matt’s partner) from the airport. While they are gone I wash up after dinner,
un pack Rob’s car, put food supplies in the cupboard (so it doesn’t get stolen
by the Puh’s*), put all our wet river kit out to dry on the balcony, had a read
of a couple of chapters of ‘The Little Prince’ with a cup of tea, as the light
fades behind the mountains, shower and set myself down to catch up on my
blog. I’m a few days behind, and I had
promised daily updates!!! I manage to
catch up with day 3 and 4 before Rob, Matt and Clare get back, and then we all
sit on the balcony to chat. We can’t see
the mountains anymore but it is beautifully peaceful in this rural area, and we
have found better weather here so it’s too warm inside!
It’s 1am before Rob and I eventually decide to go
to bed, Matt and Clare had gone not long before, and we don’t have any alarms
to set for the morning. We are planning
an easy section of river in the afternoon, after a lazy morning!!! Finally, a decent lie in!!!
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| * The note in the house about the Puh's |
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