On the 19th day of our tour, on a 20-25 kilometre stage we had to make heavy weather and face another challenge: upwind.
We woke up at half past 6 in the morning, and while I finished yesterday`s travelogue, Gaspar went to buy us some breakfast and Attila packed. It was cloudy, but didn`t seem like it was going to rain. By the time we launched our kayak it was sunny. The same as last night, today I paddled the boat on my own from the beach to the flood gate, where we had to lift the kayak into the little channel. It was way faster this way, than both of us getting in and out of the kayak on a two hundred metre journey. And being on foot made it faster too. We joined the Danube by the island just before the channel and continued our tour down south.
After paddling for about 5 kilometres we`ve spotted the bridge of the M8 highway, the “basket handle”. Another 5 kilometres and we were passed through it. Our plan was to record the process with a retroverted camera. A barge just arrived to the bridge too, which caused a little trouble, but it kept left so we could pass by in the middle.
A little more than 11 kilometres further down the view of Dunafoldvar and another bridge broke the monotony of the tree-lined river side. Gaspar recorded it all from the bridge, and we decided to wind up after the bridge for our first break, which was way overdue by then. We enjoyed our sandwiches and relaxed for a while.
After a short break we were ready once again. The increasing south wind generated heavy waves on the Danube. The kayak easily slid through the 10-20 cm waves, but the 20-30 centimetres waves tumbled it. The first lifted it, and upon falling, it bedded itself into the next one again. The water made this to be a little unpleasant journey for Attila, who was sitting in the front, but as we are using kayak wave aprons, the water couldn`t get in our boat.
The wavy Danube-stage took much longer to complete than we would have thought. Even though the river takes a huge right turn here, it seemed as if the wind would turn with it too. The water calmed down about 8-9 kilometres further down, but as later we found out, this was only temporary. After Paks, it recurred even stronger, at times 40 cm tall waves washed our boat and this stage was even longer. We had to deal with the stormy river on a twelve kilometres distance.
Although we thought we could do the Dunafoldvar-Paks, about 30 kilometres long distance, in one sitting, after 20 kilometres we really felt the need for a break. Our legs got tired; we needed to move them a little. On the right were a few banks, we stopped there, temporarily taking it over from the birds.
We met Gaspar at Paks again. While he was waiting for us, he had a look around the city. He`s seen the memorial of the ferry disaster that happened 127 years ago. On June the 18th 1887, the over fraught ferry carrying 400 people to the Kalocsa Jesus Heart Church-ale sank and 224 people died.
Leaving Paks we passed the power station, which ruffled our mood with its cooling water. One thing, that the Danube was much warmer under the power station, but the heavily bubbly cooling water made the view a little unpleasant for a few hundred metres.
Our target, Fadd-Dombor was about 27 kilometres away, so we decided to take another little break. We stopped by a ferry dock. Attila asked a fisherman about our whereabouts. We were at Gerjen. The boy also asked us about our journey and he seemed surprised to know we were paddling from Germany.
After finishing our remaining food, we continued our journey. Soon after, we were surprised to pick up the birds seemingly standing on water, in the middle of the Danube. We knew there was a sand-bank, according to our maps, the Nagy Gerjen sand-bank, therefore we forbore. We must have been in the middle of the river when we felt our paddles touching the sand: the soundings must have been about 30-35 centimetres. It was unusual only as there were no buoys warning us of the bank, only one buoy has been spotted way further.
Gaspar has been waiting for us by the ferry ramp of Fadd-Dombor. The Rencz Hotel and Camping can be found next to a backwater, but we would had to carry the kayak quite much on water, therefore we decided it was best to give it a drive. After the cold bath yesterday, it was pleasant to have a warm shower and wash our clothes in warm water. However we didn`t fancy the storm that arrived from Transdanubia (Dunantul) much. The roof of our terrace couldn`t resist the heavy rain, it was pouring down the tables, benches – the ones we used for working – and our laundry. But at least, the mosquitoes disappeared.
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