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Hi Alv
Just wanted to tell you about a recent two-day paddle up the Gudenaa
River in the middle of Jutland, Denmark.
Denmark has an enormous amount of coastline in proportion to
the land
area, but few rivers. The Gudenaa, not even rated as a river in
Denmark,
starts at Tørring and runs into the Randersfjord. On the
way, passes
through the picturesque Danish lake district around Ry and then
Silkeborg.
I was accompanied by old friend Gunner. He is 62 and I'm 53,
and
although reasonably fit for our ages, neither of us does any paddling
(regrettably) apart from the occasional outing during the summer.
This
was my first paddle in over a year and consequently the assembly
time
for the puffin 11 was up from 15 to the 25 minutes it always takes
the
first time!
We were going to stay at one of the several camp sites on the
way but in
purpose-built cabins which abound in Scandinavia and are usually
very
clean, comfortable and well equipped - and not very expensive.
The river is very shallow and has many bends, at least in the
first few
kilometres from the source. A permit is need to paddle, this is
as far
as I understand to limit the number of people using it and thus
help
protect the fragile flora and wildlife around it. Most paddlers
rent
canoes from companies which have the permits, but there is an
annual
lottery when one can apply for a permit only, which is what we
did. We
did, however, have an arrangement with one of the camp site owners
that
he would collect us at the end of each day by car, leaving our
boat at
the nearest camp site, so that we could stay at his site. Not
realising
that there were several accommodation possibilities on the way
for
non-tenting people, we could have done this differently, but I
mention
it because here comes the interesting part:
In view of this collection arrangement, our host needed to calculate
where we would end up on day one, and the time it would take so
that we
would get there at the right time to be on his collection trip
(he was
collecting us while fetching rented canoes of his where the hirers
had
finished their trip). Anyway, two hours after we set off we had
reached
the destination and had to call him on a cell phone to tell him
we would
be going much further than he had calculated. He was quite astonished
that we had got so far. We also passed the few canoes which were
on the
river and left them well behind very quickly.
On a few occasions, we were very close to grounding the kayak,
but we
never had to get out. somehow, spotting the shallow parts, we
managed to
keep afloat and avoid any scraping by lifting ourselves up slightly
on
the side rails and taking our weight off the bottom of the boat.
Apart
from three places where we had to walk round power which block
the
river, we didn't have to leave the boat once.
When I got back and spoke to colleagues who have made this trip,
the
common response was that it was a great trip but irritating that
you
have to get out to often to drag the boat across shallow parts.
They
were astonished when I assured them we didn't have to do this.
I
realised this was one of the reasons why two moderately fit but
inexperienced paddlers with a combined age of 115 should have
travelled
so quickly that the camp site owner was talking about getting
us
interviewed by the local newspaper!
I can't speak for the possible limitations of the Pakboat design
on
other water surfaces but clearly the weight and design of the
puffin ll
made it the fastest and most manoeuvrable of vessels on a river
like the
Gudenaa, and certainly enhanced the pleasure of the trip. When
we
planned the trip, taking my puffin was just an option - seemed
like we
might as well, and save the rental charge for one of the hire
boats. But
what we didn't realise was that we were also choosing to use what
was
the best possible type of boat for such a trip, certainly better
than
the boats on hire.
I'd never recommend this trip for a serious paddler - it's much
too tame
I'm sure - but for us, it was a delightful experience and made
us more
aware of the qualities of the Pakboat design.
Hope your Norway trip went well this year - one of these days
we'll go
for it, especially if you have some good treatment for myg bites!
Regards
Ian
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