Dinner break nr the pinnacle of Pedra Longa
Now for something different........My turn for the tranny look!!!!!!!
Stevies thirst for sea canoeing was still not quenched after his short day up and down the beach with Ian. That night H dropped me right in the Shhht, saying didn't you used to do some canoing back in the day. My only defence was to confess to a bit of white water paddling and slalom stuff. Like Ian yesterday I was recruited before I knew it.
I had that feeling of dread all night, it got worse as the cold grey light of dawn filtered thro the bedroom window, Stevie was up making breakfast and bouncing with enthusiasm.
I was marched out to load up the car, I could hear H and Ian sniggering as I left, it was off to the beach, on the the rubber skirt.
The plan was to visit some islands some 2km's out in the bay then head down to have a look at a rock pinnacle called Pedrs Longa which involved a 5km channel Crossing, then see how I felt.
The thing I was dreading most was how wobbly and unstable a boat seems when you aint done it for a while, in my case decades, thankfully the sea was very calm so it was not too stressing.
Now walking is walking, climbing is climbing, white water canoeing is white water canoeing, sea canoeing is sea canoeing and they all require different muscle groups. As Stevie is well trained up and able to effortlessly paddle continuously for several hours non stop, I'm not.
So............ I knew I was going to struggle, if I was going to survive the day the key was to pace myself.
Out at the islands Stevie was enjoying himself paddling in and out of every cove while I hove to and rested. By the time we crossed the long channel to Pedra Longa I could feel the first nagging pains of tiredness.
To make things worse we had to go a good km past the pinnacle to find a landing on a tricky rock strewn cove, I got my first soaking here and I was quite suprised the sea did not feel really cold, not bad for the first of February.
In the half hour we rested and had lunch a strong wind had sprung up, the sea had a noticably increased swell now.....It was going to be a 7km paddle back in a rough sea.
Thro the afternoon the sea got rougher and rougher, thankfully the wind was coming in over my seaward shoulder, blowing on shore, but my old confideence was returning, I felt well in control.
Stevie was once again in and out of every cove while I was trying to save energy making a beeline for each headland in turn.
Despite being very tired I was quite enjoying surfing increasingly big waves until at last we reached the harbour breakwater, suddenly we found ourselves in calm water for the last stretch and I knew I was gonna make it back.
The first beer was very welcome that day, the gps told us we had paddled just over 10k.
MWM recovery break half way back cos I was knackered