Almadía Gym

Fir logs, adzed square and notched together at the corners, make one long hall on the landing, darkened by years of river damp. Roof trusses cross overhead like the ribs of an upturned boat, and moss grows thick in the seams of the lowest courses. Broad planks form the battle floor and run straight out past the walls, over the water's edge, ending where the bank drops away. At the far end the gable stands wide open and the river fills it, grey-green and quick, with bound rafts lined up below the landing. Cold light comes in there and nowhere else. Benches of split trunk line both long walls, rubbed smooth, and iron hooks beside them hold coils of rope, a pike pole and bundles of withies. Near the opening the planks are dark with spray, and two long cloths of green and brown stir on the ridge beam above the smell of resin.