Sunny days and high water levels

The remaining days we spent at the Soca were beautiful. Blue skies, blue river, white rocks and the mountainsides beginning to change color from green to yellow. The water level dropped each day and so both of us were able to paddle the Siphon canyon of the Soca. Mark’s birthday was fantastic… a day out on the river followed by an evening in a bar with friends.

The source of the Soca

An incredible piece of luck occurred while we were at the Soca. Mark started talking to an English fellow who had worked at a hotel in Soca that just closed for the season. He was looking to buy an English van so that he could travel around Europe for a month before he headed back to England. He wanted to buy Norman right away… of course we could not do that (we needed the van for a couple more weeks). So we compromised… we would meet him in Zurich in a week and sell him our van. So we no longer have to drive back to England… we can fly to Africa from Zurich.

From the Soca we drove into Italy, through Udine and Cortina d’Ampezzo, before heading to the Oetztal Valley.

Udine

Near Cortina

The adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championships were going to be held on the Wellerbrucke section of the Oetz River the following week. Mark and I arrived there to train for a couple days on the qualification section (on the Middle Oetz). It was snowing on the Wednesday we arrived; Thursday was a little better so Mark and I did a run on the Middle Oetz before concentrating on the 400m qualification section.

We drove to Uster for Saturday, Sunday and Monday to spend some time with Anuschka, Renzo and Ivo before heading back to the Oetz on Tuesday. We did a beautiful little hike close to Matt.

Cows coming down from the highlands

Mark, Michelle, Ivo, Anuschka and Renzo

Michelle and Anuschka

Ivo

Back at the Oetz kayakers were starting to arrive for the race. We spent a few more days training before the race was supposed to start on Friday. Mark and I woke up bright and early on Friday only to learn that water levels were too high and the race was postponed… it turned out that the race had to be cancelled. Unseasonably warm temperatures caused the water to rise and the race could not be run. We still managed to have a good time with all the kayakers that had gathered together for the event. Met some new friends and caught up with some old ones. Paddled, relaxed in the sun and partied it up. There are always good times when you are by the river.

Karl Engen on the Middle Oetz

Mark and Karl on the Middle Oetz

Now we are back in Uster, getting ready for the next leg of our journey. We are flying to Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday.