Day 44: Wake me up when it’s all over

Macasu to Braila (59km)

Let’s start with the positives from today; dinner was pretty good. That is all. Yesterday’s weather wasn’t actually as bad as I’d feared it would be, today’s certainly was. It was a real struggle to leave the lodge and head back to the river, the weather was so bad that the guys wisely decided to stay behind and relax for the day. The river had a strange mist over it that was blowing all over the place due to the winds that wouldn’t subside until late into the afternoon. Once again I returned back to the kayak to find a hatch open and items missing. This time, it was my inflatable sleeping mat that was gone and curiously nothing else. I wasn’t planning to camp again on the trip and this actually gave me a good excuse not to. But again, I was left frustrated and utterly confused as to how anyone even knew the kayaks were there, in this desolate part of the river. I found out later that the guys weren’t so lucky this time, they lost their tent, cooking stuff and worst of all, their memory card with most of their pictures and videos.

It was a horrible day, the wind didn’t relent the whole day, from leaving the front door to arriving in Braila. This would normally be a stretch of water that you could travel quite quickly through, the current is strong and the ever present aroma of excrement removes any desire to stop for long. On this day however, it was brutally slow. It was headwind all day, often complimented with driving rain. I didn’t even stop for lunch, instead I chose to use a brief lull in the battering to have a quick snack and carry on. Normally, the currents on the river allow you a brief rest while still moving slowly forward. Worst case scenario you don’t move at all. Today, any time I stopped paddling, usually to take a drink, I would be forced backwards by the powerful winds.

It was the toughest day of the trip so far and I’m including the swim attempt in July. I was on the river for about 10 hours, barely taking a break, covering a messily 59km in the process. It was late afternoon when I crawled into the crappy looking town of Braila. I set about finding a good spot to take the kayak out the water, looking for a miracle spot where nothing would be stolen overnight. The banks were lined with dodgy looking fisherman. After about 45 minutes of searching I found a decent spot, hauled the kayak out and tied it to a tree. Thankfully the weather had improved slightly by the time I reached Braila, the search for a parking spot would’ve been horrible in the earlier winds. I am now resigned to the fact that anything I leave in the kayak overnight has a good chance of being stolen. Comfortably the hardest day on the river so far, but glad to have made it through. The weather is forecasted to improve for the rest of the week, so hopefully I have now seen the worst of it. At least packing to go home will be substantially easier with my now diminishing quantity of equipment.