Boring and without SUP madness. This is enough to describe my last year’s Autumn which I spent the first half at home with doctor’s permission for physical activity limited to my minimum of existence and the next one playing hare and hounds game with the weather to search suitable conditions for stepping on the water. This usually occurred during my health indisposition as well as after returning to work past long time of recovery. I had to give up my ambitious SUP plans at rainy and windy weekends. Instead of spending my free days outdoors actively I became trapped at my home once more.
The longer I stayed on the ground, the more my frustration grew. I reached the peak of bad emotions in mid-November seeing the weather break down just for the weekend. I didn’t intend to give up spending Saturday at the Baltic Sea. So I ignored strong wind, packed my gear and went to the seaside to relax to protest. I chose Pobierowo because I was curious about works progress in building wooden spur dykes.
The view of the rough sea stopped me for a moment on the stairs leading down to the beach, located somewhere between the ruins of Ewa Braun’s summer house and my favorite Hotel Wy&Spa. I didn’t give up, I entered the water. Wind appeared to be more difficult to fight with than waves. It was really tough for me to cover about 1.5 km distance against wind. I reached the first construction, set at about 377,5th km point of the sea coast, after an hour of intensive paddling. I got a really punishment. I was exhausted but excited. The view at the construction site compensated pain in my shoulder. I felt it was worth going there.
Autumn looks beautifully on my favourite Stolsko Lake. You may admire the colourful collages on the trees until the end of October. Unfortunately, I came too late this time. I found nature dormant in the morning frost at the end of November. Bare tree crowns and their sad reflections in the dark water marred the surrounding. Only the golden colour of the reeds softened the “dirty” landscape. Murky sky, drizzle and the smell of rooting plants in the air created a gloomy atmosphere. The scenery was perfect for filming horror scenes. Even swans were not interested in meeting me. Despite all of that, I was glad about my water walk still.
SUP during the sunny weather happens to me really rarely at this time of the year. I was lucky to visit Karsko Wielkie Lake in full sun. It was a pure relax on the water. Nature looked amazing in the light which made photos the most beautiful Autumn shots from this place.
Floating on Karsko Wielkie Lake at the end of November turned out to be my last launching at this time of the year.
I broke the bore of Autumn with my trip to Cracow in the first week of December. Both my participation in the IXth edition of the conference “Geoengineering in Civil Engineering” and visiting friends were priorities when preparing my plan to stay in southern Poland. I wanted as always to do many things at the same time. Unfortunately, having one free afternoon was not enough to follow all my plans. I have been dreaming about visiting the city from the water way together with SUP Kultura Kraków for a long time. However, I decided to put off floating on the Vistula River until warmer season because capacity of my suitcase occurred to be too small to take outfit for the board inside.
I chose Rynek Główny – Wawel – Kazimierz to see the city in a beautiful, xmas decoration as well as to get to Miodowa Street where a beauty store Jeju is located. Getting to know consultant – Ms. Jagoda – and our long conversation not only on beauty topics were a great pleasure for me thanks to which shopping went smoothly in a pleasant, friendly atmosphere.
Return to the civil engineering world for the time of the conference “Geoengineering in Civil Engineering” was a wonderful two-day break in my professional life in the marine industry. It was the best opportunity for me to refresh my knowledge in geotechnical engineering and acquire new information about contemporary challenges in the investment implementation set in a limited urban sprawl.
The coverage of the event is available here.
I also caught up meeting people after the conference. Walks, sightseeing, peaceful evenings spent on chatting and baking gingerbread cookies were just a few attractions we did together with friends. No boredom. I didn’t want to go back to Szczecin because I knew what was waiting me in following next two weeks. I spent the last day of Autumn on preparations for Christmas with the decision that I would catch up SUP backlog after December, 24th.