A Monster?

Was it a monster that left those tracks on Soonwaldsteig this Sunday? Or was it only an angry Wahli?
The latter is unlikely because the weather was so fine that day. All of November was so dull and dark, this sunny day had us out on the open right after breakfast.
We hit the trail at Ellerspring summit. Looked romantic enough for us to decide to give it a longer visit next time :-)

Meyrueis - Fete de St. Michel

driving the RV to Meyrueis was the slowest drive so far. I hardly managed to get into 4th gear, so steep and curvy was the road. Nevertheless, the landscape was worth the drive! I was going around the causse, while Peter rode the motorbike across it. I had the better scenery :)

The last Sunday in September is dedicated to the Fete (Fair, Feast, Celebration) of St. Michel.

Unknowingly we arrived there just in time to participate. On this day, the Lozere-Region carries all culinary declicacies it has to offer up to Meyrueis.
Bread and cakes from many bakeries
Chestnuts in all forms, mashed, boiled, in bread, in Sausages
Sausages - oh, so yummy! Wonderful Chorizo, raw hams and other dried sausages, mainly made of porc. Extremely delicious.
Cheese. OMG. So many kinds of cheese.

All restaurants are open and offer buffets, special menus and, and, and.

The whole village is part of the Fete.

After a frist stroll we bought dried raw ham, goat's cheese and bread and went up to the Causse (the high plateau) where we had a fantastic local lunch with vultures circling above us in the sun.

natural table a la Causse. Notice the Opinel-knife :)

The afternoon we drove the tiniest road to Nants via Treves and the Trevezelle-canyon.

On our way we came across Cantobre, an ancient village perched on a rock like an eagle's nest. Very lovely!

Ispagnac

Three days in Ispagnac, at the entry of the Gorges du Tarn. We settled on the Camping Municipale. Our arrival-day was spent with orientation and revisiting (we've been here before some years ago, with Riva still alive)

Second day we went biking, along a trail pointed out by the nice lady at the trourists' office.
And what at trail it was! My first real single-trail and right away a STS S2 ranking (see the trail at gps-tour.info). It was much fun - and sweaty. We stopped for a sandwich for lunch in Blajoux and returned safely on the street to Ispagnac.

Ispagnac is a very nice village with old houses and a nicely conservated old village with tiny streets. It is not a tourist-village, they have a school, medical care and all you would need to live.

In the afternoon we could watch some 15 paragliders landing near the bridge of Quezac.

France! Today.

Three weeks of vacation right ahead. I can safely say that it is well-deserved for both hubby and me.
RV packed, kayaks strapped onto the roof, bikes - with & without engine stored somewhere and off we go!

If all goes well we should sleep near Pierrelatte and meet up with friends on a 4-star.camping at Vallon Pont d'Arc tomorrow.
A week of lazy lounging in and around the Ardeche, a bit of hiking and biking - such are the plans for the first few days.

--
sent from my mobile

Friday. STOLEN

Today we decided to paddle from Fachwerk down to the lake downstream of Palfau.
It was great fun! Very wet, yes, with much white water. The Sevylor is not quite made for WW II and the water cannot drain quickly enough, making Peter's job as a pilot hard while it drains. Still, we managed all waves and rocks until we stopped for our resting-point at the forking of the streets Wildalpen / Palfau.

Years ago the Sevylor had a defect air-chamber which we had repaired. Today, the same air-chamber gave up on us, denying us the joys of paddling the second stretch with our group. We assumed that the already repaired bit had given in (again).

Disappointed, we hauled the boat up to the street, where there is a parking for paddlers. we stripped the boat of the valves and seats and put it to the side, to pick it up on our return.

With Hermann's car we drove to the exit and waited for our group to arrive. On our way back, we stopped to pick up the defect boat but - incredible - somebody

stole our boat!!!

There is a code of honour among paddlers. You just don't steal stuff!

Saturday will see us on our way home...

Wednesday, paddling solo

With the water from the heavy rain receding, it's time for yours truly to go paddling in my red WTF?!-boat (a Prijon Forte, great riverrunner).

There was still quite some more water than on sunday and admittedly, the 5 km stretch was tiring due to the constant whitewater and rocks to maneuver. I survived :) Some of my fellow-paddlers really wanted to know it and hammered their boats through all holes and big waves they could get. Everybody was having lots of fun.

Monday, august 4th: hiking

Climbing up the Wasserloch-Klamm a steep & narrow canyon with marvellous waterfalls.
Arriving back at the car, I treated myself to a well-deserved Salzatal- waffle. See picture :-)

Sunday, august 3rd

After sleeping for13 hours, We paddled some 13km from above the campground down to exit Fachwerk in our inflatable Sevylor. Was lots of fun! Great landscape.
The evening hit us with a massive downpour and so we hit the sack around 10pm.

Arrived

We started late Friday, 10:30pm and given the prognosis for that weekend,the ride was ok except for a few accidents.
Unfortunately, when we left the autonahn, we meandered a bit around with our GPS devices dying on us.
After 13 hours we arrived and set up the tents.
First surprise: Ravier is missing his wallet. After intensive search - he insisted it had been with him AFTER we went restocking in Bad Hall - we called the supermarket. Surprise: it is there. Great relief!

There is a play-spot right at the campsite and some where already paddling that day. We were too tired. Managed to carry through the day and keeled over at 7pm.
--
sent from my mobile

Boats :-D

All Set go go - straps still scarce ...
--
sent from my mobile
--
sent from my mobile

The woes of being sloppy

Today's the day on which we plan to load all boats onto the trailer.

To do so, you need lots of straps to secure them - that is, if you wish to move the trailer with the boats w/o losing them immediately.

Unsually all clubs have loads of straps.
So does ours.
Well...

most of the time.

A few weeks ago, we began to miss the box that was home to the  huge ravel of straps - including the straps themselves.

They never came back. Probably they moved to another club where they hoped to feel more valued?

Looks like we have been too laid-back about this issue. I had not realized one could actually be TOO LAID BACK!
But
We may have crossed the line between laid-backness and sloppiness. Dang!

To make the long story short, we will not be able to load the boats for our Whitewater-trip unless we can activate enough members to come and offer their own straps.

Local shops failed to provide us with much-needed equipment (3 hardware stores, 2 outdoor-stores and a sports-supermarket - big fail. 3 straps at best available)

We may have to postpone the work until Friday and start an expedition first that will provide us with enough material to tie down some 22 boats...

Only time will tell

---

Captain Ducky, bane of the rivers, has his own strap, but refuses to share :(

Packing for Whitewater :)

Next weekend will see us heading for Austria, the small village of Wildalpen where our club will spend a week fully dedicated to (almost) nothing but  whitewater kayaking.

22 active paddlers, 31 persons altogether - we won't be the smallest group around.

This weekend I set up the RV, added some boxes for more structured storage and switched on the fridge. Wednesday the boats will be loaded and Friday night will see us on the road.

The RV will be jam-packed as we are taking 3 paddlers with us. Meaning 3 Tents and luggage and neoprene inside the good ol' RV. On the upside, there will be 3 drivers so we can leave late and arrive in the morning to do some shopping and then settle in on the campground before 10 am. (at least, that's the plan).

Tomorrow we'll be shopping for food, deep-freeze some meats because last year that made everything so much easier. For even more streamlined packing, this time the meat will be frozen in rectangular boxes, to the small freezing-compartment in the RV can be put to optimized use :) This is important because Peter insists on taking along some ice-cream as well.

As an aside:
Last night somebody accidentally switched off the freezer/fridge when closing it and nobody noticed until... well, until the watery-ice had melted and dripped into the fridge-part, overflowed, flooded the living-area of the RV (as much as 1 l of liquid can flood an RV...) and EVERYTHING was sticky and in need of a thorough wiping.
Guess, who did that?
Right.
I hated it.
If that should ever happen again, ice-cream will be officially banned for life.

Lessons learned

Now that we're back home, I'd like to give you some insight.

what we took along:

Tent (Vango Sprecre 300)
2 sleeping-bags
2 silk mummy-liners
2 Therma-Rest TrailLite
2 waterbladders 2l each
2 folding cups 250 ml
1 cooking-pot 1,7 l
1 drinking-flask 0.7l
1 folding java-drip holder
1 gas-burner 2700 Watts
1 container butane (470g)
1 stablight (200 lumen)
2 mobile-phones
3 cameras (GoPro Hero2, Nikon AW 100, Nikon AW120)
Loading-cables
2 plates
2 sets of cutlery
2 inflatable cushions
1 boat-trolley
1 mini-table, folding
2 mini tripod-stools, folding
2 large towels (microfiber)
1 large towel (terrycloth. PETER!!!)
2 hats
750g bread
125 g butter
700 g cold-cuts, canned
200g coffee
2 bags instant-noodles w/ sauce, 2 servings each
8 bags instant-soup, 250 ml each
underwear
washcloths (terrycloth)
soap (solid)
shampoo
long pants (1 each)
t-shirts (4 each)

And yes, all this fits into two Pyranha Fusion crossover Kayaks!

What we learned:

• forego washcloth made of terry-cotton. It takes too long to dry. Next time, I'll use some microfiber-cloth.
• Full-size microfiber bathing-towel is probably only necessary when used by a hairy guy. Body hair holds back a lot of moisture that you need to wipe off. less hair -> smaller towel
• if you take along liquid soap or dish-cleaner etc., test the containers in advance! Ours were small, cheap squeeze-bottles but unfortunately they were designed to be stored standing up. They were NOT leak-proof. could have caused trouble when not separately packed.
• Alternatively, use solid soaps wherever possible.
• When warm, take along 3 sets of underwear: one you wear, the next is drying and the 3rd is ready to use on the next day. Wash while you shower -> no extra work.
• When you plan to travel light, use functional wardrobe, not cotton. Cotton takes too long to dry
• pack less food, unless you are really out in the wilderness. You can buy bread etc. almost everywhere.
• use small, soft bags to make better use of compartment-shape and have clearer thematically grouped bags.
• Take along some PowerBars. They do make a difference!
• add a bit of lime-juice or lemon-juice to the water in your water-bladder. I'll kill any trace of plastic-taste and is less boring to drink. But only a bit, else it will scratch your throat.
• I missed a small folding-shovel. It is much more polite when in the open and you *really* need to go, if you can dig a small hole and bury all that s*** before you leave. I will buy one tomorrow. (this is true for hiking, too!)

Thanks!

I want to say that the organisation of the tour was absolutely perfect!
Every club that hosted our large crowd outperformed with heartfelt warmth and outstanding hospitality.
They fed us and they organised guided tours, some even washed our sweaty clothes!

You were fantastic!

VKD Dresden
SG Meißen
SWV Riesa
KC Torgau
WSG Lu.-Wittenberg

Special thanks go to the Zeiler-Family, who made the whole thing possible.

Alas, we could only join the crowd for a week. Most of the 120 participants will paddle for two more weeks until they reach Hamburg.

Have a great time, all of you, you were great paddling-companions!

Friday, 58 km

The ultimate test for yours truly.

Never before have we paddled such a long stretch (again, I know).

We told our Folks not to wait for us at noon, because we did not want them to wait for us. Next, we decided to stop only for a leak, if necessary.

We took off at 9 am with the sun already blazing down on us.
We paddled and then paddled some more. After one hour we allowed ourselves to float for 400 meters. After 25 % of the day's tour we had a Power-Bar each - which meant another floating-stretch of 800 m.
Lunch was taken at 30 km and we decided to eat afloat, avoiding to lose time. We ate the last 5 slices of bread, the last can of coldcut and a can of herring.

Shortly after we passed our gang who where enjoying their own lunch-break on a sandy beach along the Elbe.

We passed the DLRG for the second time this day, only to see them speed by a few minutes later.

This happened two more times and we learned that they had some trouble with their engine. I offered them a tow, but they did not take kindly to this.

13 km to go: the ferry at Elster forced us to wait until we could pass. A welcome short pause during which we had another PowerBar.

And then, finally, we arrived at Lutherstad Wittenberg. Historical site of the Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses onto a church-door, birthplace of Protestantism.

Again we were greeted warmly by the club that was to be our host for the next two days.

Thursday, 48 km

Sooo, now we're talking distance. At least for us. This is going to be the longest stretch we've paddled on one day. Ever. (I believe I wrote that before ...)

We could pack a dry tent (again, good) and were almost good to go when we realized we still had the tent's footprint unfolded on a line to dry :) 

The sun was alreday warm when we set off and it stayed that way. We took off before the rest of our gang, trusting that they would catch up with our slower boats rather quickly. Or, at least, before noon so we could stop for the traditional noon-time sip of Sherry.

As usual, you can count on the VfL-folks when you really need them and they arrived well before noon.

Please be assured this is the only alcohol we were consuming while on the water. And it really is only a sip.

The afternoon went by without much excitement. The only Situation was when the DLRG-guys with their boat were so busy watching some riders at the river-bank that they almost touched my boat. Shouldn't have happened, but we all survived. Work, don't play / gawk!  <scnr>

At Torgau we didn't bother to check out the premises of the kayak-Club - we immediately pitched the tent on the river-bank's grass. Then we ate. Boy, was I hungry! And tired. We had a nap and then decided to see what the city had to offer in terms of  (more) Food.

Dined at a local steakhouse (small menu but everything was very delicious) and fell into a coma before 10pm :)

Wednesday, 25 km

Today the valley is widening significantly and the river is broadening. Tonight was so warm that we could pack a dry tent. After a relaxed breakfast we went off for the shortest trip of this week.
River Elbe languidly flows along through a rather flat landscape. The roads. are far away enough so you hear nothing but the soft spades of paddles and birds happily twittering. A very relaxing day.
Bootshaus Riesa sports a dock that facilitates unboarding and - although among the last we managed to find some space to pitch the tent.

Now we're chatting away the afternoon (unless yours truly is blogging ) at J's Bay.
Cheers!
--
sent from my mobile

Tuesday 34 km

After a resting day on Monday Tuesday afternoon saw us arriving at Meissen. Passing Dresden on the river was marvellous. All the best skylines in plain view for us.
Almost no big boats, we had the Elbe all to ourselves.
I had switched to a Werner Shuna after all. It was reduced for some reasons :-D and the effect was immense.
The river was never very wide and the scenery lined with hills.

Due to the rather short distance we arrived at Meissen before 4 pm and participated in a sightseeing. Where Dresden is posh, Meissen is enchanted with narrow, thousand-year old streets and picturesque houses. You can tell it is the home of a famous China-manufacture: China-shops all along the roads. Like most cities, there is still a stark contrast between freshly restored houses and those that have preserved the run-down looks of 40 years of utter neglect.

As always, we were received warmly with yummy local beer and food.

The night was very calm and we slept well.

We have reached a state of popularity because nobody is willing to believe that we can store our stuff in our boats :-D people are watching us pack with big eyes.
--
sent from my mobile

An aside: philosophy

Waking along the Elbe we noticed many snails trying to cross the pavement. Some trying to cross from left to right, some the other way 'round.
The grass on the other side appears to be greener.
We haven't evolved much further, in some respects...
--
sent from my mobile

Sunday, July 13

We transferred to Schmilka a stone's throw from the Czech border. From there we returned to Dresden, where all the tents were still waiting. 44 km.
Never before have we paddled that far in one day. And honestly, we could have done w/o the final 3 or 4 km. Peter was acting from hip to toe and my arms were weak as a baby.
It was a nice tour. We were just bone-tired .
A bit strange is that the lifeguard is going to be with us all the time. But then, if they fancy tagging along...
Unfortunately not everyone is actually wearing their flotation-device and despite all the warning one managed to collide with a buoy - luckily he did not capsize.

All arrived in great mood.
--
sent from my mobile

Arrived

After a completely un-exciting trip, we arrived well at VKD where we were warmly welcomed.
Tent was quickly pitched and now we're enjoying a sunny afternoon at the riverside. Picture: VERBOTEN. This is Germany after all :-)

Packing...

Honestly, that's the part I detest.
Luckily this time, it'll be split up in two parts - at home we will do only the basic 'throw it all into the trunk!' part while once we arrive in Dresden the truly painful act starts: stuffing it all into the boats.

Right now I feel a bit like back in Sesame Street with Grover (Grobi in Germany):

New tent: larger < -> old tent: smaller
New sleeping bags with additional silk-liner: way smaller than old warm ones
microfleece towel: smaller <- >terrycloth towel: larger, bulkier.
New sleeping-mat: much smaller (1/4 volume)< -> good old use-car-transport mat: bulkier

BUT: These sleeping-mats will be inside the boat now - the old ones were soooo buly, I had to strap them onto the bow of my boat where they did interfere with my paddling at times. Cumbersome.

My boat's bow will be loaded with food - at least that's what I'm planning: easy access and small enough to be stored behind the footrests.

Weather reports

Hopefully, weather will be better next week in the east than it is this week here. Right now, reports for Dresden look well weather Dresden

Last night, we had thunderstorms all over the province combined with heavy winds.

And yes! Rain does bother you even when doing watersports. Wind is even worse. Just think of packing a wet tent - ugh.

Guess I'll do a bit of a no-rain-dance tonight :)

It's all about weight...

As with all sports, it's all about the weight.

So, I do wonder whether or not I should cut off the handle of my toothbrush? The Admiral's Cup crews do so, I was told...
My footrests already sport a racing-like grid layout ;)

Something else worries me immensely: as this tour will take place (for us) in the eastern part of Germany, I am not sure if there will be enough places to buy instant-water (or freeze-dried  Di-Hydrogen-Oxide, that would do just as well )

Guess I'll have to do more research in the next few days...

Paddling the Elbe - preparations

Preparing for the Internationale Elbe Fahrt - an official Paddling-Tour on the Elbe from its entry-point into Germany to Hamburg. We will only participate in the week because vacation time is sparse.

We will spend the nights at paddling-clubs, pitching our tents on their lawns. It is a common Thing to allow fellow Paddlers to spend a night or two on the premises of a Club for small Money.

Although we've done Paddle-Tours before, this Event is going to be different because there will be 100 Paddlers on every day.

Our creekers & riverrunners (the 'bathtub' and WTF?!-boat) will stay at home, instead this will be a call for our trusted allround kayaks, the Pyranha Fusion S / L. Same for my paddle. The whitewater-paddle I have is too short, so I borrowed one from a friend while I'm drooling over a Werner Shuna 220cm.

We will have to pack

sleeping-gear - bought a cheap, lightweight sleeping-bag (1-season) and am curious whether I will be warm enough for me. It'll be July for crying out loud. It should suffice.

tent and footprint. I had to replace my old, trusted JanSport Tent after more than 20 years because the waterproof-lining was beginning to dissolve (yuck)

boat cart. not sure, whether we'll need it. there should be no prtaes at Elbe, but we'll see.

minimal cooking-gear - mainly for coffee and some instant-noodles just in case: Gas-stove, 1 pot, 2 dishes and silverware (um, well, plasticware), folding Cups, folding Java-drip.

This Weekend we bought the Food:

• bread in tins,
• cold-cut in tins. we bought the smallest Units, so they will be emptied when opened and will not cause a greasy mess in the packs.
• Instant noodles. good for lunch-breaks. Instant coffee-creamer  - ah, the joys of instant Foods These days. They even offer instant-water, I believe ;)

I hope that there will be a place nearby for dinner each evening, otherwise we can always fall back on the instant noodles. Assuming that there will be rolls to be ordered for breakfast, but if not, we have our bread in a tin.

PSD(personal solar protection):
loads of sunscreen, UV-proof rash-guards (longarm), dark glasses and a huge straw-hat.

PFD (personal Floating device) - check. It's a must. As is a throwbag (remember, there were People drowing on the Ems a few weeks ago).

PHD (personal Hygiene devices)

We decided to forgo the folding stools for sake of packing-space. A patch of foam-mat will do for sitting. Besides: it's not like we're leaving civilization!

It's going to be a no-neoprene trip :) after all the hours spent on whitewater, this is going to be a nice odor-free Event, or so I hope.

Imporvement: thought of rinsing-Agent and toilet-paper! Luxury :)

I'll have to find a way to Juice-up the Hero-cam during the trip. Honestly I'm reluctant to leave it plugged-in in some bathroom overnight as some People do with their mobile devices.