Galicia

Galicia – a quiet whitewater playground

Not a club trip, but Graham Bland joined a 'Recon Party' from Woodmill and filed this report ..

The mission

For the last 4 years Woodmill have run trips to the Picos de Europa in Northern Spain. However, since I joined one of these trips in 1996, the paddling in this region has become progressively more restricted Year on year, more sections of more rivers have been closed off permanently to kayakers – the result of a strong Salmon fishing tradition and lobby. As a consequence, last year Woodmill ‘down-graded’ the Picos trip to an ‘introduction to white water’, this year only two rivers (and the least interesting sections of these) remained open – the Sella and Lower Cares and it is doubtful if future ‘Mill trips can be justified.

It’s a sad story, but with a silver lining – Phil Quill (of Woodmill) was looking for a new region to take it’s place and I was invited to join a short ‘reconnaissance’ trip to Galicia. – what’s more my family gave me the trip for Christmas!!

The Region

Galicia is situated in the North West corner of the Iberian peninsula, bordering Portugal. A mountainous region (with peaks at around 2,000 M) and steep gorges. We had (unseasonal) wall-to-wall sunshine for the duration of the stay in mid-March.

The guide ‘Kayak en Galicia’ (in French and Spanish) The guide ‘Kayak en Galicia’ (in French and Spanish) by Andres Sio Gonzales describes 23 rivers within the region, which include 30 grade IV – V1 sections and over 25 "plus faciles" – easier grade II/III runs. Some of these rivers are dam controlled and retain paddleable levels well into the spring.

All this paddling territory is enjoyed by only 20 local Kayakers. To crown that, no permits are required, and the small group of paddlers have got the system so well organised that they can phone up dam operators to order more (or less) water. These guys enjoy perhaps one of the best and emptiest white water playgrounds in Europe or beyond.

The Journey

Of course, I didn’t know all this when I was picked up at Ringwood one early morning in March and joined the four others for the long haul to Spain. However, I had seen the photos in the guide which were sufficient to convince me of the wisdom of the journey - a three hour drive to Plymouth, 24 hours on the ferry to Santander and an eight hour drive at the other end. We killed our time on the ferry productively eating, sleeping and watching movies. This still left plenty of time to pour (beer) over maps and guide to plan the paddling. This was a fall back - just in case our local guide (Mito) failed to make contact with us and we were left to our own devises.

Accommodation, Cuisine & Culture.

Woodmill trips normally involve ‘farmhouse’ style accommodation and bountiful gourmet cuisine, washed down with copious quantities of cerveza and Rjoca. The ‘Recon’ label given to this trip perhaps implied a reduced level of luxury. No accommodation had been arranged (indeed, bivvying under bridges had been suggested/threatened). We snored in venues that ranged from adequate ‘pensions’ and Hostelries, through our guides Auntie’s pad to an open porch of a church stuck on a windy hill top. The latter was described by our guide - who’s brief had been ‘sleep cheap eat extravagantly’ (in time honoured Mill fashion) - as a ‘Hermitage’ that was "muy economic".

We lunched on the banks of rivers (bread, rancid blue cheese, Palma Ham, spicy sausage, fruit etc. etc..) or in local bars for much the same. Evening meals were extravagant 3 courses affairs.

There was limited time available for sampling the local culture:-

	the invitation to spend a night in a local ‘Hermitage’ was an ideal opportunity to sample ancient caves with straw beds tucked somewhere away in the valleys (but see above!).
	Killing time before an octopus and hake meal we took the Galizans on at table football in a local teenage bar – and got annihilated.
	One ‘Apres Kayak’ session at a roadside bar was an education. Andres (the bloke that wrote the guide) thought nothing of hijacking the bars’ TV, switching off the football and plugging in his camcorder to show footage of their days paddle – it all seemed a long way from Newbridge car park.

The Rivers

These lived up to Andres’ photos. In the short time available to us we paddled a number of rivers that seemed a good sample of the many available in the region:-

	The Rio Deva – a shallow, narrow ditch but with a few interesting drops that offered a good grade II/III warm-up, exercising travel weary limbs.
	Rio Mino - (grade II) but at 200 cumecs this took a number of Dartmoor paddlers by surprise.
	Rio Lerez – (grade IV/V) : The Classico section proved to be classic – perhaps best described as a scaled up East Lyn. After about one kilometre of III, the river bites in to a gorge and becomes pretty continuous IV punctuated by some exhilarating V falls.
	Rio Deza (III/IV(5)) – that’s a hell of a confusing grading isn’t it! - another ‘Classico’ run, comparable to the Upper Dart

The Wisdom of hiring a Guide

Once we had adapted to ‘Spanish time’ (i.e. days starting after noon), the wisdom of hiring a guide became plain. Not only did Mito provide a shuttle service and save time in locating access and egress points, he also knew the best watering holes, had an uncle with a bar and an Auntie with accommodation.

On the rivers, we would, without a guide, have spent many hours inspecting drops that we would inevitably have decided to walk, but Mito knew the right lines to take, (or, at least, the ones to avoid) and ensured that we stayed in our boats and ran everything. Despite considerable difficulties in getting our spanish friends to emerge from their camper before noon, we probably managed many more hours on the water than would have been the case without them.

We broke our return journey with a short grade II bimble on the Sella (the last stretch of water of any interest in the Picos still open to kayakers) before heading for the ferry. We weren’t allowed on the river until 11am, and kitting up at 11:03 we were challenged by some bloke in a uniform who looked pretty disappointed when he saw our permits – sad! (he had failed to notice that while Phil had 5 permits for himself, the four other paddlers were technically at fault!).

In between two movies and two steaks on the ferry haul back to the UK, I contemplated the fate of the relatively undiscovered whitewater playground that Galicia offers. The publication of Andres’ guide will inevitably increase the number of paddlers visiting the region. While there will always be enough water here to satisfy everyone, will the region, nevertheless, go the same way as neighbouring Picos? Lets hope not but now is the time to go and enjoy it. For further details, contact Phil Quill, at Woodmill – Tel: 01703 555993 www.woodmill.co.uk

Graham Bland, Ringwood Canoe Club

Previously published in Canoeist