It's Not All Blue Skies...

I got ready for this kayak trip yesterday but unexpected visitors meant I put it off until today. The weather however, was very different today. Instead of blue sky and calm water I got an exhilarating and slightly wild paddle with rain that was torrential at times, wind, and a choppy swell with whitecaps breaking away from the wave tops.
It was something of a test for my gear but I remained warm. Dry? That’s really a definition question. Anyone who has been walking in heavy rain on a warm day has probably experienced the same feeling I had of “warm and damp”.
As I was about to get into the kayak the first drops of rain fell and it rained all the way out to my lunch stop. I ate the first part of my lunch huddled under a large fir tree but then the rain stopped and I moved out onto a large log and was able to eat in slightly more civilised fashion as the rain cleared away and the view slowly appeared. After lunch I paddled back the way I had come with the weather steadily improving and by the time I was back at the car the sun had started to break through.
This picture was taken after a couple of kilometres paddling, over to the island of Lungön. I’d reached the island and was on the sheltered side, about to paddle round the corner into the wind.  If you look carefully you can see rings on the water where the rain drops have just landed!  As I took the picture I had a feeling that once around that corner I wasn’t going to be able to take more pictures, and I was right.
Waves, wind, white caps and rain made getting the camera out unthinkable.
The extra is a selfie taken after lunch, when the rain had stopped and I was about to paddle home.
When I got back to the car and checked my phone I found we had been invited to a party with Rose and her family visitors from Umeå and the USA!  HarlingDarling blipped that here…