As I couldn’t go to Uganda this year I was looking for some alternative to
practice my endurance. On the end of the year my cousin Bestia has mentioned
the trip they were planning for a while now and asked whether I would like to
join. The idea was to go to Portugal as no one from Poland been creeking those
rivers there yet and I’ve seen recently couple of some greate footages from
that area so I was definetly in! At this trip team consisted of Arbuz, Kornel,
Bestia, Topik (aka Świnia trufłowe [truffle pig], Łuki, Michał, Wiktor &
me! We also had famous Lisek along but as he suffered surgery last week
he had to give it up.
As we were looking for cheapest flights we’ve choosed to fly to Lisbona
with Ryanair from Warsaw with Ryannair. [b] !TIP![/b] It turns out that you can
fly boat with Ryanair for ONLY 30 euro as small sport equipment! This worked
twice with super overloaded creekboats. [B]!TIP![/B]. They have just asked the
length and weighted it but we just said it is for surfing the ocean. We tried
to stay under 25kg but we didn’t really managed it, we just put first lighter
boat for weighting and the rest just went through!
Lisbona has greeted us with beautiful sun and 16 degrees which for middle
of February was very satisfying especially comparing to Polish circumstances at
that time. We were lucky to get 2 cars with relings and as we had 4 (!)
different roof-racks with us, we didn’t have problems at all with loading up
the boats!
We went to nearby mall to get shopping and some car charger for camera as
we were lacking one. Although we’ve had problems parking around it – the driver
has stayed at place marked not for parking and for over a hour there was not
problem at all. After repacking we’ve taken direction – north to start kayaking
from the morning next day.
Our plan to organize the trip was relying on gauges which you get at aguasbravas.net – it seems
they are updated weekly on Fridays. Unfortunetly as we arrived Friday and left
after a week – they didn’t get updated at all during this time so we’ve faced a
challenge as our local contact from the page didn’t respond to calls. We still
had two guide books - one about Portugal – Portugal Kayak and one about
Galicia – Kayak en Galicia. Mostly we were relying on Portugal Kayak as it had
nice description and in most cases good maps which we could match with google
maps & road map we’ve had. We got to northern region agreeing to decide
which river to run first in the morning as most rivers that we were interested
in were within close range. It’s said to be illegal to camp in National Parks
in Portugal but if you look carefully you can find nice places to do it. First
night we’ve spent in woods near Peneda area nearby some local camping. But
later we’ve learned that hanging around public parks or churches gives nice
places to eat like benches or even covered areas which are mostly also good for
sleeping – which is good thing to remember if you plan going there.
First choice we were considering were Mouro (IV (5)) & Peneda (V) but
for warm up we took Mouro first. The put in is at and take out is at. The river
described as (IV(5)) in my opinion was around III+/IV with two X’s that we’ve
carried. But the second one keeps coming to my mind as runnable – at least I
have good reason to come back! Have to be kept in mind that we had
probably low water level for that run.
We’ve also struggled as we brought camping gas torch and as we couldn’t get
the bottles in the shopping mall we been to we didn’t have any tea for
the morning and it was just few degrees over zero while sleeping outside. So
after first river we’ve split – one team went to check Castro river levels and
the other one drove with a mission for gas bottles. First we went to Melgaco
where from we had to go Moncao. The issue here was that those were not big
cities and shops in great number were already closed early afternoon as it was
saturday! When you go to spain/portugal - keep in mind that great number of
shops closes early on saturday and completly on sunday! Although we’ve been
finding some bottles or gas torches at bigger markets - they were not
matching themselves so we had to keep looking for. As the late afternoon was
approaching we were already worried that we are going to skip both dinner today
and tomorrow but with help came here big Chinese shop in Melgaco. Literally you
could find there everything! Even the torch for repairing the boats later.
Happily we came back with shield and catch up with rest of the crew.
On the second day we woke up under the layer of fresh hoarfrost as it got
below zero in night but after refreshing morning with solid breakfast we were
ready to hit second river on our target map – Peneda(V). It was definetly nicer
run but in order to run it you have to walk from the village and then from
described bridge in a guide book it’s quite a slow & extending paddle down
as the river isn’t hard but has a lot of stones and is quite narrow and because
of the water level we’ve had to take it in order to get to Peneda river.
But after connecting together with that side river Peneda is just beautiful and
offers great run of in my opinion class IV/IV+ which I really loved. Keep in
mind that we had LW again. It ends in a same lake that Castro does and then you
have to make a long paddle to the village on the right side – as described in a
guide book.. Although you can get out on the road – notice there is no
connection any close to it and you should carry the boats up straight away
along with your drivers who does the shuttle.
Third day we went for Vez river (V+(6)) which is described as one of
Portugal’s pearls. Again we’ve had LW for it but anyway the run is steep
and has some great rapids starting with backbreaker and followed by
really fast runs without place to stop. Then there is waterfall with T landing
where you seem to land straight on big rock if you go straight. I’m really
wondering if it is actually runnable? Maybe with more water than we’ve had it’s
possible to jump to the left. As it was still early we’ve decided to run also a
bottom part (IV+). It wasn’t bad but for this part it was definetly too less
water but it was great to see a bit more of river and spend more time paddling.
Next day we’ve already found good water level on Castro (V) and decided to
run the top part first. It was really great run – starting with big rapid
consisting of 4 slides with a mean hole in the middle. Here we’ve spend long
time scouting it and trying to make my mind how to do it but as I was already
goin to my boat we’ve been caught up by French crew which defined the lane so I
jumped between them. Later on we’ve had two smaller slides leading to 8m
slide where I’ve nearly caught a tree in between and then S section with fast
and super narrow passage. Everything was going fine straight leading us along
with our French friends to big rapido-fall which were big unnrunable X. Luckly
together we made a safe passage jumping 10 meters to the lake without boats and
throwing all kayaks in. The next rapid is a portage as well , the boats got
roped this time and we had a path on the side. Both are portaged on the right
side. Then the river calms down definetly – it goes to class III+/IV
Other day we decided to hit third pearl of Portugal – Rio Cavado (V). It’s
described as aquapark and it was definetly a nice run although not too
demanding but still it has provided us great day on the river with a lot of
slides , small drops and topogans.
And for the last day we went for famous lower castro section which is
definetly describing what I do love about creeking! The put in is at the place
of last run’s take out and take out is at the lake that Peneda drops in as well
but this time on the left hand side. The run is just amazing it starts
calmly for 4 kilometers then leading into some nice sections just next to the
famous triple waterfalls. All the falls are runnable and you take all of
them on left hand side, landings are aired and soft and the pools below are big
enough to take time for everything. The trickiest part is the last one –
although it’s always working with great landing and everything – it’s very hard
to scout. You would either need to do it from the top scounting all three of
them or we have managed for one of us to jump out after the second one on
slippery rock and take a look what is happening as the waterfall is just behind
the turn with small hole but all of us had a good lines even though I got
pushed far right – it all ended up nicely and smoothly but you have to take in
mind that you probably gonna run it a bit blindly. Also for us - the weather was quite rainy, so
without that it would be probably a bit easier to check on that fall.
Anyway that was cherry on the cake for our trip, we’ve loved the wine,
food, nature and of course the rivers! It’s been great adventure and definetly
we are already looking forward to take up next one – this one region above – to
Galicia! But that’s plan for next winter already! Now it’s time to get back
into playboat and focus on preparation for European Championships!
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| Mountains |
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| Crew |
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| SOme more views.. |
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| i hope you believe we went actually kayaking! |
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| and finally, VEZ! |
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| Vez camping by road |
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| putting in for Vez |
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| backbreaker |
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| Some rapid |
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| working hard on translation from spanish guide |
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| between the drops |
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| Castro! |
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| Castro! ARbuz |
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| Right line on castro by me |
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smoothly from Kornel
/photos by Maciej Adamek aka Beast/ |
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truffle pig
/photos by Michał Doniec/ |
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| Doniec launch |
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| the Beast |
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| ah, Portugal |
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| Cow <3 td=""> |
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saay "FATH"
Check more at:
http://ojciecwdomu.blogspot.com/ |
by Mario Mulle
by Mario Mulle
