Firsts

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After almost two months where all my paddling had been mental (courtesy of colds, busy schedules and awful weather connected in clever succession) I did some of the real thing on Thursday. Despite unpromising forecasts, the weather behaved very reasonably and it turned out a lovely outing.

Upon some idle musing, I noticed that a really substantial number of "first times" were happening for me on this particular paddle. Not only it was my first in 2008, more relevantly, it would also be my first longer than 20 km. Substantially longer in fact, as we were aiming for a bit over 42 km for the round trip. I was also going to be trying my brand new Chota mukluks, paddling with gloves and visiting Bolarque Reservoir for the first time and, while I had already paddled with Jaime (aka Borrasca), the other two members of the group I knew only from the forum and hadn't met in person. Oh, and it was just by chance, a matter of a couple of hours, that I wasn't using a completely new paddle as well.



With some many experiments going on at once, I was half expecting one or more to go terribly wrong. Well, I'm happy to report that didn't happen. Due to a delayed put in and a desire to get back in the car while some daylight remained, Jaime and I ended paddling a bit less than 40 km (Sergio and Arturo, our more eager and faster companions, added some 5-6 extra kms to that), but I didn't feel particularly tired and, to my surrprise, neither arms nor shoulders were aching (not even sore or stiff) the following day. I did "notice" the trapezius, rhomboids and obliques, though nothing really serious either. Arturo and Sergio proved to be very nice chaps. The mukluks performed splendidly, keeping my feet dry and warm and, while I didn't particularly care for the feeling of increased loom thickness elicited by the gloves, I found it an acceptable trade off for warmer hands.



Bolarque turned out to be a beautiful place. Lonely, quiet and peaceful, it sported great landscape, clear waters and abundant bird life. There were coots, mallards and cormorants by the hundreds, but also gadwalls and a few pochards, numerous grey herons, kingfishers and vultures in the steep rock walls on the banks. The fog that prevailed for most of the day lend the area a melancholic air which I thought enhanced its looks. Jaime and Sergio sought to register the sights in a number of pictures, including those they have kindly lent me to illustrate this entry.

All in all, a very enjoyable paddle. I'll take it as a good omen for 2008.