I have now done my second "Harry Year", that is when you have been kayaking every month for a whole year (calendar year). I don't know where that expression comes from but it's something they call call that when you have achieved this. Probably a guy named Harry did it for the first time.
Actually I have been kayaking 33 months straight, all months on the Lake Vänern!
I have also been out kayaking every week since first of March (missed one week 😒when I was a teacher).
I was out today on a beautiful December day on the Lake Vänern. Windy, warm for December (+8°C) and a bit of sea.
Watch the video from today and also my second video from my trip in Alaska.
At December 13 every year we have a kind of light festival in Sweden. It is some, mostly girls, with candles in their hair going to schools, offices and nursery homes singing Christmas carols and serving special Christmas buns, ginger bread, warm wine or coffee.
We are some kayaking folks that have a tradition to go kayaking in a small river that day. Last year we were about 12 persons but this year only four. It was a cold Sunday but sunny and calm. The river is called Flian and is the outlet from the lake Hornborgarsjön that is famous for it's many birds.
The start is at Herrtorps Qvarn (a water mill) and paddling up the current to the lake were we take lunch. Thereafter we go back down the current and that only take half the time.
Unfortunately one of us tipped with his kayak and got very wet and cold so he gave up and let the remaining three continue. We missed you Dag! On the way we saw quite a few birds but the most exciting was a kingfisher (Alcedo Attis, kungsfiskare) with it's beautiful metallic blue back.
I was freezing my toes quite a lot when we got back to our cars at Herrtorps Quarn and didn't make any roll this time. Besides the water was rather murky so it was not very nice to do one.
Cold and frosty day. The back of Magnus
The upper part of the river is a bit more open
Lunch break at Horborgarsjön
Peter in his fishing kayak
A view over the shallow lake Hornborgarsjön, known for it's rich bird life.
After four days of storm and rain it was a very nice day today. I just had to take the kayak down to the lake for a trip in the sun.
I started at Dalborgs ruin. It's a ruin of an old castle built 1304 and destroyed 1434 in the civil war called Engelbreksfejden. Then i paddled south along the west coast of Lake Vänern and soon passed the estuary of Dalbergså and the petroglyphs from around 1500 BC. There was just a bit of sea and swell left from the last storm, I was hoping for some more!
Petroglyphs from around 1500 BC
After two hours I took a break at a small beach and had a walk to a nice viewpoint. The view of the lake was gorgeous. Then I paddled back with the setting sun in my back and the low swell almost gone now.
Just as the sun was going down at the treetops I was back at Dalaborg and did my customary roll. Very cold today!
This was my first trip this December and that completes my "Harry year". That is a year where you go kayaking every month. And why it's called a "Harry year"? I have no idea. It's now also 21 months in a row I'm out kayaking.
