Severn River
Total distance 4.2 mi, 11:20a - 1:20p
Downriver against a rising tide. There's a chill to the air, but the sun is peeking through.
Beginning to warm up, underused muscles protest. Need to adjust the seat. Ah, yes! Right there. Hit my stride.
Gulls calling, crisp wind whipping, sun on skin, cold salty drips from my paddle. The glorious pull of muscle against bone. Stretching myself now, opening up, faster against the tide and wind. I am strong, beautiful.
White wooden deck bench out on the end of the point, a long walk from anywhere. A perfect place to sit and enjoy the water and air. I slip on by, alone with my thoughts, soft in the silence of swooshing water on paddles, and wheeling gulls, yelling to each other and upset at me for slicing through their feeding. A tiny snatch of song, a woman happy on the deck of the yacht over there.
The bridge is in sight (just in the gap), but the clouds are starting to turn ominous. Up, up, choppy little peaks, just the bite of rain in the air. Time to retreat.
Omens of nothing, still threatening when I reach the docks, hands stiff, wrists aching, arms thick, hair a mass of wind-blown salt-stiff fly-away ends, face pink and grinning. Tuck the boat away, then relax into the languid joy.