Just to explain – green torpedo is our kayak. My kayak, which I share with my boyfriend (who bought it for my birthday) when he’s nice, which would be most of the time. Not writing a romance now so I will concentrate on our GT (green torpedo) trip.
Switzerland is my dream place. When I was a little girl I seriously dreamt of living in the mountains next to the lake and ups, watch what you wish for, it might happen! Anyway, back to the trip…
We went to Yvonand which is a small village located on the southwestern shore of Lake Neuchâtel known for its sandy beaches. This lake is the largest located entirely in Switzerland. There’s a little port in Yvonand with a big parking space which allows you to leave your car for the whole day just next to the beach. Perfect! After struggling for 10 minutes with our GT we were ready to go. Our first trip was really easy (almost, since we forgot one part of the kayak, and we were making quite a lot of turns…) no wind, sun, too much sun (got burnt so badly that I thought I would end up in hospital after we got back home). 8 km and few nudists later we stopped in Yverdon for a drink and then returned to Yvonand. 16 km later happy and sunburnt we went back home. End of story.
Photos from Yverdon (google.com)
Our GT on the run.
But we returned! GT was ready this year to open the season. Same starting place, different target: Estavayer-le-lac. When we arrived all excited we kind of forgot it’s been really windy for the past few days. LA BISE, as the French speakers call it, is a nasty cold wind that surprisingly blows through the Swiss Plateau and even with 30 degrees outside you might feel cold. We decided to take our chance. Waves on the lake weren’t too inviting but NO RISK NO FUN as they say. There was risk (we fell off the kayak once thanks to a lovely huge wave), there was fun, a bit of impatience from my side (at one point we didn’t bloody move at all, we paddled like crazy- well, I did- and GT didn’t want to move forwards, nothing). I was relieved when we finally arrived after more than 5 km in Cheyres and could enjoy a glass of Aperol Spritz in the sun, with almost no bise! To no surpise we decided to go back and not continue the trip until our target place: Estavayer, which was still 3 km away (which would cost us another God knows how many more hours in this windy weather). We got a compliment from one kitesurfer (was perfect weather for those guys) that we have big balls. So all happy with one set of THE big balls we returned to Yvonand. This time fast, with the waves and GT earned its name. We took a car and drove to Estavayer, bought a kebab, watched the kitesurfers. Next time we will make it for sure.
Little stop in Cheyres.
Pretty town of Estavayer. Photos from google.com
Our kebab spot in Estavayer.
Happy to have survived and that our GT has survived the bise.
Text: Agnieszka Wajs
