Ribadeo paddle

Somewhere on the blog are pics of a day when I drove around a lake for ages trying to find a way into the water then ended up going in by the dam, well today Jose took me to the easy place to get in it involved making a left turn, into what looks like a farm yard, right where I turned round last time, I was only a few hundred meters short of the river drat but at least I know where to go now and there is a great refugio at the end of the road. 

Alejandro came with us so we parked one car at each end and had a great few hours. The pics got mixed up I have no idea who took what. These little places with fireplaces benches and a roof are scattered around Galicia often by rivers in my experience.

 This is very like the ancient bridge near Porto do Son very pretty and fairly precarious to take a horse and cart over.

 Must revisit and try out the fireplace one day

 Hundreds of these tiny flowers at the starting point and along the river too.

In the water and off we go with no idea what we are going to find

Alejandro was in a surfski slightly unstable but better at the river than we imagined it would be.

 Well some of the time it was - the times when Alej was on top were better for him but less funny for us you prob need to click and zoom in on that one.

Jose dared to keep a camera out down one lumpy bit - it was tame and safe but fun, ideal for introducing children to river work.

It just kept on being pretty for ages 200 meters of tranquil, 40 of fast and then back to tranquil.

New leaves on the trees along with the flowering gorse and heather were breathtaking 

 
The good thing about rivers is you can just sit and let the river do the work

A cloudy few minutes for lunch... although it was more for Alej to warm up a bit after his third caer.

Not sure if Alej was flagging or sunbathing 

  The abandoned village I walked around last time was well underwater but there was a ruin above one of our stopping places a huge house compared with the tiny ones I found before.

The river opens out into a wide lake after a few kilometers and suddenly there was loads of squally wind, paddling slowed down a tad, and the cameras stayed in their bags for an hour or so but the wind died down a bit as we did the last few km.

And no one took any photos of us getting out.