Week 6 - Kayaks, Wind, and a Return to Barcelona
Four-Day Weeks Really Hit Different
It was truly a lovely week. I have to say, the four-day work week is amazing — time passes so quickly before you even realize it’s already the weekend again.
Thanks to the extra recovery time, I’m able to go back to work feeling refreshed. I’m still working on different demos and improving the performance of existing projects. There are always bugs that take forever to track down, but with patience — which is probably one of the most important skills for a programmer — and careful debugging, things eventually work out.
And of course, a couple cups of coffee help too.
Since this week was also another four-day week, I planned quite a busy weekend.
Friday is Kayak Day
The weather was perfect: sunny, with just enough clouds so you don’t immediately get sunburned.
I went kayaking with a friend at a local rental place. To even reach the rental area, we first had to cross the river using a manually pulled floating platform.
The first Challenge
After that, the real challenge began.
First of all, I completely underestimated how much strength kayaking actually requires — especially if you don’t really know the proper paddling technique. Luckily, my friend had both muscles and experience, so together we slowly managed to move forward.
The second challenge was even worse: we were paddling toward the river tunnel terminal connected to the sea, which meant we were going directly against the wind. And honestly, that was much harder than expected.
Several times, the kayak started drifting sideways toward the shore. To correct the direction, we had to paddle harder on one side while using short backward strokes on the opposite side to stabilize and turn the kayak back into position. Timing was really important — if you reacted too slowly, the wind would immediately push the boat off course again.
Halfway through, I was already exhausted, but stopping wasn’t really an option because the wind would simply drift us all the way back to the starting point.
We rented the kayak for two hours, and according to the guide map, the plan was supposed to be:
- 40 minutes paddling to the end point
- 40 minutes relaxing at the beach
- 40 minutes paddling back
But I guess that plan wasn’t designed for such a windy day.
It took us almost a full hour just to get there. And as we finally approached the destination, we saw three kite surfers riding through the wind — which honestly tells you everything about how strong the wind really was. We waved at each other before finally getting to relax at the beach and admire their amazing surfing skills.
You can see the wind strength in the way they're riding
Riding Back with the Wind
After resting for a while, it was time to paddle back.
But thanks to all the suffering on the way there, the return trip felt like a piece of cake because now we had the wind on our side. Paddling suddenly required way less effort. The important part was mainly correcting the direction quickly enough so the side wind wouldn’t flip the kayak sideways.
So on the way back, I could finally relax a little — watching fish occasionally jump out of the water, greeting ducks swimming nearby, and hoping the seagulls flying overhead wouldn’t decide to aim directly at me.
When we finally returned, the workers at the kayak rental asked whether the wind conditions had been okay. Apparently, another group that went out after us couldn’t even reach the destination because the wind was too strong.
So yeah… we were pretty proud of ourselves.
Paddling back with the wind was definitely easier
A Rainy Return to Barcelona
To make the most of the weekend, we drove to Barcelona on Saturday to relive some old memories. We had visited the city five years ago, and back then we joked that we would definitely come back in 2026 because by then the Sagrada Família was supposedly going to be finished.
Well… they’re still not quite done yet.
But it definitely looks much more complete now.
Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire day. Still, great food can wash away almost any gloomy mood.
Can you believe that’s only half a portion of the seafood platter?