Sometimes adventure means being mindful of a pain.
When sunny, the rising rocks above the water and their upside-down reflection have a hopeful mixture of shades of blues and greens, but when cloudy, a grave simplicity is the theme.
This article is part of the series about wild swimming in central Portugal.
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This is stupid, it’s good nobody sees me. Both my legs are in the water, just below the temperature sensor, and my left hand, for balance, is on a long and coarse granite rock extending into the lake like a wave breaker. That’s convenient. My body is in shock, thus tense, it could slip and dunk without me noticing it’s happening. Dunk is how some like it. I like to observe the pain, to be mindful. On the ground behind me, a pile of clothes. It's spring in southern Europe, but these are winter clothes. Trekking trousers, a blue dawn jacket, a fleece jumper, and a thermal first layer - everything in the order I'll put them back on, to be quick.
In Serra da Estrella, fortunately, there are no waves that need to be broken.
A few man-made lakes in the mountains, easy to reach on foot, store water for electricity generation and water supply for the villages below. In the heat of summer, the crisp water looks more than its function. The rising rocks above the water and their upside-down reflection have a hopeful mixture of shades of blues and greens, but when cloudy, when summer is a distance memory, a grave simplicity is the theme.
When I came in mid-May, the sun was out, which was promising, but as soon as I climbed above 1700 metres or so, it disappeared inside a thick cloud that made the air 8 degrees cold. And water, to be precise about its temperature, I should have had a meter. I can report, though, that only after two minutes my body shut down the blood flow to hands and feet. That would make sense, I thought, when my eyes, following a stream feeding the lake, stopped on patches of snow lying around like an old paint the spring failed to wipe it.
In those conditions, a plunge or, don’t mention it, swimming, is a serious decision. There is nobody looking, not even a tree. There are sprinkled around granite rocks that are confronting wind, bushes brushing it close to the ground, the water, and the adventurer.
While writing this, I'm unsure if it's legal to swim in any of the Serra da Estrella’s lakes - it is a national park, so I'd not recommend it. I'll investigate that and will update this article soon. However, probably won’t offend anyone if a foot were to slip out of shoes, while hiking this ancient, mystical land, and step into the crisp water.
