Surely nothing else can go wrong, I thought to myself as I removed my Redpaddle inflatable SUP from it's rucksack. I was in the tiny Italian village of Torno on the shore of Lago di Como, Lake Como, in the north of Italy. This was a paddle I had been looking forward to for quite some time. But I was running late. At least 24 hours late. And I was in the wrong village .................
When I found out I would be visiting Milan in March 2017, my first thought was to use a well-known internet search engine to find some suitable locations for Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP). I wasn’t too concerned that my search turned up a blank, when I realised Lake Como was only an hour or so from Milan on the train.
After my previous difficulties with hiring suitable boards
and equipment abroad, this time I was going to take my own inflatable Redpaddle SUP.
Wrapped around my single cylinder pump. And my newly purchased three piece
paddle. All carefully wrapped in various towels.
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Juventus Stadium, Turin |
But before I went to Como, I made a quick one night trip to Turin. I love watching football so the opportunity to watch Juventus v Milan at the Juventus Stadium was too good to pass up. There was a fantastic atmosphere in the stadium and I enjoyed watching Juventus winning 2-1 thanks to a (very) last minute penalty. But then my plans started to go awry ……………….
Have you ever had one of those nights out which is completely unplanned and turns into a fantastic occasion? If you have then you’ll understand what I mean:
I popped into the Irish Bar round the corner from my hotel,
for just one quick post match drink
– which soon turned into more than one. Many, many more than one! I got into
the bad company (or maybe it was ‘the good company’) of two American expats,
seven Irishmen on a weekend away and two Italian barmaids who seemed intent on
plying us all with shots. The beer, the Irish Whiskey and a huge variety of
shots were flowing. I cant remember the last time I had so much fun in a pub.
And I definitely cant remember the last time I had such a sore head the
following day.
So I arrived in the town of Como much later than expected,
and much more tired than expected. I still intended to have a paddle on the
first day, but when I went for a walk around the town, to seek a suitable spot
to get onto the Lake, I couldn’t really find anything suitable. It was late
afternoon, early evening. Time was passing and I decided to leave my paddle
until the following day. Plan A was gone.
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The ferry from Como |
The following morning found me back on the ferry and looking forward to a few hours paddling. Yesterday had been a bit of a write off but nothing would go wrong today. Suddenly I realised that the ferry had passed the port of Moltrasio! What had happened? Had I dozed off for a few minutes? Or maybe I had just been day dreaming? Or did the ferry follow a different route on a Sunday? I still don’t know how it happened but I had missed Moltrasio! And the ferry was heading to the next stop at Torno. What was I going to do?
I decided to get off at Torno anyway and look for a spot to
get on the lake. I’m glad I did as Torno is a beautiful tiny village on the eastern
shore of Lake Como. And I quickly found a suitable place to get on the lake.
Nothing else was going to wrong.
Or could it? As I took my board and pump out of
the rucksack, I could see that the pump had not survived the trip intact. The pressure
gauge was broken off and the thread was also damaged! Oh no! I was in a tiny
village a long way from anywhere. There would be absolutely no chance of
finding a replacement pump here. I’d travelled a long way for this paddle, and
I’d been eagerly looking forward to it for a long time. I’m sure you can
imagine how I was feeling.
My first thought was to try and hold the two broken ends of
the pump together with one had whilst trying to pump with the other. I can't image
why I even thought this might work! As soon as I got any air at all into the
board, it just came back out again. It was useless. Was my paddle over before
it had even begun? I needed some gaffer tape. But the village was so tiny I
wasn’t even sure it had a shop of any description. And it was Sunday. Nothing
would be open.
But just as I was on the verge of giving up, bitterly
disappointed, I remembered I had seen a group of Scouts sitting in the village
square as I passed through earlier. I remembered that I had been a Scout as a
teenager. And I remembered that the motto of the Scouts was ‘Be Prepared’!
Hopefully the Scouts would be prepared for my predicament and be able to lend
me some tape? So I made my way back up to the square, taking my broken pump
with me, and made my request, mainly through sign language as I don’t speak
Italian. Sadly these particular Scouts were not prepared for my particular
request. It’s a number of years since I was in the Scouts, maybe the motto has
changed!
I was once again close to packing my gear away and heading
back to Como. But there at the far corner of the square, I saw a café. Perhaps
they could help. So I went in and, again using my best sign language and acting
skills, I asked for help. The lady behind the counter was extremely helpful.
She had no plastic tape, but she did have some parcel tape. You know, the very
thin, light brown parcel tape. Would it be good enough?
I held the two broken ends of the pump together, and I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped. Round and round, over and over again. By the time I had finished, the join felt pretty strong. Would it be good enough? Was the join sealed or would the air just escape through the gaps? Only one way to find out ………………..
And it worked. Well sort of. I managed to inflate the board to some extent. Eventually, as the pressure increased, air began to escape through the gaps in the tape. I had no idea how much air I had managed to get in, as the gauge was broken. The board didn’t feel as firm as usual, but it would have to do. My long awaited paddle on Lake Como was going to take place after all. Hopefully I had enough air in to take my weight. I wasn’t wearing a wetsuit so I didn’t fancy a dip in the water. It was a pleasantly warm spring day, perhaps 20*C. But I knew the water in Lake Como had come down from the surrounding mountains as the winter snow and ice had melted. The water wasn’t going to be warm.
Well the good news was that my plan worked, the board
comfortably took my weight, albeit it was much much less firm than I was used
to. The water was calm, there was virtually no wind and the scenery was more
beautiful than I can adequately describe. I spent a pleasant hour or so
paddling back over to Moltrasio before heading south, along the western shore to
the slightly larger village of Cernobbio. It had all been worth the effort.
Amazing scenery and a tranquil part of the lake. The water was almost entirely
flat. And it was lunch time!
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Pizza and Pinot Grigio at Cernobbio |
When in Rome (well Lake Como) and all that. So it was pizza and pino grigio for lunch. Just the one glass, well maybe two, as I still had to cross the lake again to my starting point. I spent a wonderful hour sitting with the warm spring sunshine on my face, eating, drinking, and explaining stand up paddle boarding to some American tourists.
Time to head back for Torno. But guess what? Whilst I was at lunch the wind had gotten up considerably. And I would be paddling into the wind to get back to my starting point. And there was a lot more traffic travelling up and down the lake.The water was choppy, partly as a result of the wind and partly as a result the greater volume of traffic on the lake as the day wore on. And my board wasn’t as firm as it should have been. It was hard work on the return paddle. And my board felt wobbly. Very wobbly indeed. Maybe I should have stuck to one glass of wine with my pizza.
The first part of my trip, from Torno to Moltrasio to
Cernobbio was peaceful, tranquil and relaxing. The second part, directly across
from Cernobbio back to Torno was a bit more challenging. Not the hardest paddle
I’ve undertaken. Not by a longshot, but the reduced air pressure in my board
certainly added to the challenge. I was delighted to make it back to Torno, in
one piece, and, more importantly, dry!
Lake Como is absolutely captivating. I certainly intend to return here and paddle again one day soon. If you ever get the opportunity, I recommend you visit Lake Como.
John
March 2017
March 2017
PS. Did anything else go wrong that trip? Well my Gopro was
behaving very temperamentally. I did manage to capture a few shots on it before
having to switch to my Samsung S7. I hope you enjoy the few pictures I was able
to take.
Well, you had your challenges but looks like you enjoyed the paddle. Note to myself: always take gaffer tape! I went to Lake Como last year (for my birthday, not paddleboarding) but would love to return and do a four day trip, staying at hotels in different villages...
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