Krakowski klub kajakowy - training in Poland

Team all down to breakfast at 7am looking great in team uniform - out to walk the course straight after a fantastic breakfast of eggs and tiny sausages, breads and cheese, peppers, sliced meats, cereals and yoghurt.

Its a very easy smooth motion to roll out of bed, down to a buffet breakfast, slide out the door and into your kayak ....

kayaks and gear change at the door of the hotel ....

looking back towards the hotel and hostel from the steps up to the course

looking up the course from the top of the steps

This mornings session was all about getting to know the course and Deahna had a go in Finns old boat, and apart from not being able to reach the foot pegs she thinks it might suit her better for the next few days until she gets her new one, Pavel has since put foam blocks in the boat and now she can reach. Kids all had a great time conquering the drops and the large deep eddies - the day was heating up as they headed up to the hostel at 9.30 for some quiet time and lunch at 12.

 This afternoon they walked the course in the 30degree heat and then completed a series of halves and a tech session. The main drop under the bridge caused some grief for the C2 boys at times - the course is long and straight with muddy water but is very well designed with very forgiving plastic bollards. Once again we had the parade of old folk sunbaking - however this time it was only old men in their y fronts lying all over the  tiered seating at the sides of the course smoking, drinking and watching the kids .... makes you wonder how it would be tolerated in NZ. Martin is thrilled to find that his photo is still up on the wall in the hostel hallway hall of fame - his last competition here in the C2 at the European champs.

Some of the kids investigated the swimming pool and spa facilities here while Dale and a few of the others took the black van on a wee trip to try and find a supermarket for snack food - the receptionist at the hotel sent them to a tiny village with two tiny shops, the one in the photo above is the biggest one, and a post office at which Deahna tried to post home some post cards - it was a mission which almost defeated her until 

Dale gave her some Zlotys (polish currency) and the lady smiled and finally agreed to give her a stamp On the other hand Dan and Luke nearly caused an international incident trying to buy some mizone and an icecream from Polands version of  Arkwright in 'Open all Hours' .... after the lady almost yelling at them and waving her arms around a fair bit they finally figured out there was a minimum purchase if they wanted to use their card so put both lots together and avoided John Key having to send someone to mend international relations. However they decided that it was actually really cheap and spent the next 10 minutes with their phones and currency converters working out how exactly how much cheaper than NZ it was. 

Back for tea at 6 which was miles better than what Martin and Pavel had led us to believe from their previous trips here, then up to video review and a team meeting to plan tomorrows training and site seeing excursion.