The Glitter Trail

A blip I was inspired to go looking for today.

We had an great evening out last night at a talk by the Natural Navigator - Tristan Gooley presenting his new book; How to Read Water. Its always a pleasure to experience someone who's so enthusiastic about their area of expertise.
A thoroughly enthralling hour and a half barely rippled the surface of his subject - but was enough to have us queuing for a copy of the book and a chance to discuss the liquid properties of snow and ice and how I've also noticed many of the patterns he talks so enthusiastically about seeing on the flat water when I've been in a more vertical plane. Mrs IttH was equally impressed by how Tristan had also used this knowledge to improve his appreciation of various works of art by great artists.

So today I decided we'd combine a visit to the Cumbrian Artist of the Year exhibition (really below par this year in our opinion) with a paddle on Derwentwater - the first Lake District snow of the year was on the tops so I wrapped up warm - but with a surprisingly stiff breeze I was still the only boat on the lake on what was really a rather nice day. Heading out was easy (& i knew I'd pay for that later..) so I made quick progress to my target of the Lingholm Islands - where I was able to use Tristan's "shiny" water (the lee) to sit a while and see how many other patterns I could both recognise and interpret - the Glitter Trail was the most obvious, but I also saw the reflection and refraction waves, the distinct criss-cross shapes and the (now) obvious acceleration and drag lines.
Eventually I had to turn into the wind - a quick to turn little playboat isn't the best craft for bouncy waves - but I'm happy in this now - and after a relatively inactive week it was great to have to work hard at getting back.

It seems only right that tonight I shall start to read the book in the bath!