Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
Canoe articles - Tagus 2003 - Day 2: May 3rd
Saturday 3rd May
Early morning mist was burning off by the time I launched the canoe. The water level
had gone up about 1m overnight so I could expect the water to be flowing strongly,
possibly too strongly, from the Fratel Dam that I was approaching. I passed a fisherman
checking his lobster pots. I watched a Black Kite catching a small mammal and flying to
rest on the top of a telegraph pole, where it held its prey in its feet, while eating it. There
were Crag Martins nesting under a railway bridge, a buzzard circling high in the sky and
Red-rumped swallows hunting for insects. A Grey Heron was being mobbed by Black
Kites. It was easy paddling with a small tailwind and a small flow of water. After a couple
of hours I landed at the slipway at the Fratel Dam. The high water level meant that
landing was easy. At lower water there are thick deposits of mud.
The portage of the Fratel Dam is not very pleasant. After loading the canoe onto the
trolley it must be pulled up a steep ramp up to the dam, then easily along the road across
the dam. It is a long way down to the water on the other side, initially down a steep
overgrown track and then the canoe and equipment had to be carried down a
disintegrating path and over a boulder field down to the water. When I arrived there was
a dangerous flow of water being discharged from the dam. I took three loads down to the
water and then had lunch. It was the first hot day of the trip and I stripped off and
settled down in the shade of a bush waiting for the water level to drop. It wasn’t until
5pm that the water level had dropped enough for me to launch to launch the canoe.
There were dozens of Grey Herons in the first few miles below the dam. It was easy
paddling, but I had to concentrate because there were eddies for several miles below the
dam in the still fast flowing river. I ran or 40 minutes before I stopped to camp on sandy
terraces well above the river. By this time the water had dropped 2m below its maximum
and it had dropped a further metre before I the sun set at 7.15pm. Even after the sun set
it was still warm enough to sit around stripped off reading and watching the many
Waxbills feeding around the campsite.
The water level started rising again as it got dark.
Early morning mist was burning off by the time I launched the canoe. The water level
had gone up about 1m overnight so I could expect the water to be flowing strongly,
possibly too strongly, from the Fratel Dam that I was approaching. I passed a fisherman
checking his lobster pots. I watched a Black Kite catching a small mammal and flying to
rest on the top of a telegraph pole, where it held its prey in its feet, while eating it. There
were Crag Martins nesting under a railway bridge, a buzzard circling high in the sky and
Red-rumped swallows hunting for insects. A Grey Heron was being mobbed by Black
Kites. It was easy paddling with a small tailwind and a small flow of water. After a couple
of hours I landed at the slipway at the Fratel Dam. The high water level meant that
landing was easy. At lower water there are thick deposits of mud.
The portage of the Fratel Dam is not very pleasant. After loading the canoe onto the
trolley it must be pulled up a steep ramp up to the dam, then easily along the road across
the dam. It is a long way down to the water on the other side, initially down a steep
overgrown track and then the canoe and equipment had to be carried down a
disintegrating path and over a boulder field down to the water. When I arrived there was
a dangerous flow of water being discharged from the dam. I took three loads down to the
water and then had lunch. It was the first hot day of the trip and I stripped off and
settled down in the shade of a bush waiting for the water level to drop. It wasn’t until
5pm that the water level had dropped enough for me to launch to launch the canoe.
There were dozens of Grey Herons in the first few miles below the dam. It was easy
paddling, but I had to concentrate because there were eddies for several miles below the
dam in the still fast flowing river. I ran or 40 minutes before I stopped to camp on sandy
terraces well above the river. By this time the water had dropped 2m below its maximum
and it had dropped a further metre before I the sun set at 7.15pm. Even after the sun set
it was still warm enough to sit around stripped off reading and watching the many
Waxbills feeding around the campsite.
The water level started rising again as it got dark.
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