I promised in another thread to send some pictures of my paddling ground in Switzerland. So here we go... (The first two pictures are from the internet, google search).
Photo #1 shows the town of Walenstadt in the lower left. You can also see the highway running along the lake (that's the south side). Lake Walenstadt is approximately 1 mile wide and 9 miles long. The mountains on the north side of the lake are to steep for a road so this is only accessible by boat or by walking.
Photo #2. The north side of the lake near Walenstadt. My put in place is just on the right side of this picture and is shown in the third photo. The building in the background is an old, disused gravel plant (see also photos # 2 and 4). There are some places where you can go on shore to have a picnic although on the weekend it's quite busy with both canoes/kayaks and motor boats.
In the middle of the lake on the north side is a tiny village called Quinten. This is a popular place for day tourists, walking in from either end of the lake or coming by cruising ship. There are two restaurants, a few other houses and some vineyards. The people who live there have their own boats to reach the place, of course. A school friend of mine came from Quinten, although they did have another flat in the town where the school is, so they stayed in Quinten only on the weekends (except his dad who is/was a fisherman). Quinten is famous for it's mild climate which is attributed to the rock cliff above storing the sun's energy during the day and releasing it at night.
At the end of my paddling I return to the starting place (photo #5, note cruising ship in the background). It often happens that in early afternoon the wind picks up which makes it sometimes difficult to get far (or to get back, depending on wind direction) and you can see from the last picture, that the surface of the lake is quite different from when I started out. That's the reason why I didn't make it to Quinten on this day, sorry no pictures of this village...
Thomas
Photo #1 shows the town of Walenstadt in the lower left. You can also see the highway running along the lake (that's the south side). Lake Walenstadt is approximately 1 mile wide and 9 miles long. The mountains on the north side of the lake are to steep for a road so this is only accessible by boat or by walking.
Photo #2. The north side of the lake near Walenstadt. My put in place is just on the right side of this picture and is shown in the third photo. The building in the background is an old, disused gravel plant (see also photos # 2 and 4). There are some places where you can go on shore to have a picnic although on the weekend it's quite busy with both canoes/kayaks and motor boats.
In the middle of the lake on the north side is a tiny village called Quinten. This is a popular place for day tourists, walking in from either end of the lake or coming by cruising ship. There are two restaurants, a few other houses and some vineyards. The people who live there have their own boats to reach the place, of course. A school friend of mine came from Quinten, although they did have another flat in the town where the school is, so they stayed in Quinten only on the weekends (except his dad who is/was a fisherman). Quinten is famous for it's mild climate which is attributed to the rock cliff above storing the sun's energy during the day and releasing it at night.
At the end of my paddling I return to the starting place (photo #5, note cruising ship in the background). It often happens that in early afternoon the wind picks up which makes it sometimes difficult to get far (or to get back, depending on wind direction) and you can see from the last picture, that the surface of the lake is quite different from when I started out. That's the reason why I didn't make it to Quinten on this day, sorry no pictures of this village...
Thomas
