Messing About in Boats, Part 1

It was, of course, the Water Rat in Kenneth Graham’s The Wind in the Willows who says what is probably one of the most famous quotations in the English language, the one about how enjoyable it is to be messing about in boats. (While I was in the Crimea, I re-read the book twice and was struck by its neo-paganism, especially the chapter “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”.) 

Anyway, Peter and I took the Water Rat’s advice and went off to Decathlon, on Sofia’s ring road, to buy a three-man Itiwit kayak. It is excellent! (I wrote about the joys of kayaking in another piece for this blog, You can't have your kayak and heat it.)

Just south of the ring road is Lake Iskar. It is really a reservoir for Sofia, but it is also a place where Sofiots go at the weekends, to get away from it all with some fishing and a picnic.

We managed to find somewhere quite close to the lake to park and it took us about ten minutes to pump up the different parts of the kayak. Although it does not seem to come with an instruction manual, it was quite obvious and straightforward. There are two main air tubes on either side and they help to make the kayak very stable. Three small black fins or keels underneath the boat also help to keep the kayak going in a straight line.

Next we launched our craft on her maiden voyage without any mishaps and soon we were paddling out into the lake. While some ducks and herons did not seem too happy about it, we really enjoyed the experience of kayaking for the first time. The paddling technique takes a little bit of thought and practice, so at first we got each other and ourselves fairly wet, as the water runs down the paddle after you have dipped it in.

It was a beautiful day, with the sun sparkling on the water and a gentle breeze. Forests and mountains surround Lake Iskar, so it is a very pretty place. I hope that Irena will become as keen on kayaking as she is on playing backgammon.