November Kayaking Pt. II

Last weekend offered a unique November kayaking experience.

My intention was originally to participate in the traditional November beer ride to Vajosuo, a demanding mountain biking overnighter. A shorter ride on Wednesday did however reveal that my ankle, which I sprained a month ago running in a dark forest without lights, was still far from good. That ride resulted in more aching during the following night and I decided that it was too risky to do a demanding bike ride with a bike loaded with overnighter gear. A small riding error could lead to a several week setback in the healing process, which is unacceptable with the Nordic skating season coming closer. I still had no other commitments for the weekend, except that I didn't want to be away for the entire weekend for family reasons. A look at the weather forecast revealed that the conditions would be perfect for a Saturday-Sunday overnighter and I put up a message on a local forum on Thursday morning. There was some interest and as a result three of us left from Turku on Saturday morning.

We started paddling from a place near Pargas Port / Paraisten Portti at one in the afternoon.

The water is 30 cm below normal.

The Gullkrona Bay opens up.

It was so beautiful that we had to stop and take it in.

It is still obvious from the lack of leaves that winter is near.

Rounded cliffs.

A short break at a nice sand island.

The water is very clear this time of the year. It is also getting colder, being around 5°C currently.

Still some berries. This particular one, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, isn't especially good, though it does look like the excellent lingonberries.

Continuing.

 Sunset at 15:40 coming next.

Approaching Dalskär, our goal for the night.

The sun had set, but a clear night provides good light up to one hour after the sunset.

We landed a little after four in the afternoon, put dry clothes on, erected the tents and started a fire.

We had about five hours of time to spend before going to sleep, so we took our time with the food.

I took a stroll to take some photos. No hope of getting any astrophotography done, though, with the full moon providing a lot of stray light.

The camp island.

We also had mulled wine with ginger snaps, as the season dictates. The hot beverage gave a good warmth. At ten it was time to go so sleep.

All of us got up at seven, though Anna stayed in here tent for the first hour. It was a crisp and beautiful morning with a temperature a bit below freezing.

Venni.

Frozen kayaks.

Checking out the route.

We started paddling back at nine, a little after sunrise.

There was some clouds which gave nice colors and contrasts.

Soon at the starting place.

And that's it. A total of 25 km isn't exactly a lot of paddling, but it was compensated by this being an unusually beautiful November weekend.