Durbuy Castle from the Ourthe River
July 21st is Belgium National Day, when the Belgians celebrate gaining their independence from the Netherlands in 1831 (right around the time the Oregon Trail was picking up speed over in the US). Apparently the mostly-Catholic Belgians were not happy with the protestant-favoring rule of King William the 1st and decided to rebel. Luckily for modern-day residents of Belgium, this means we have a day off every July. This year it fell on a Thursday, resulting in a 4-day weekend opportunity for 4 Dutchies and 1 American to head to the Belgian Ardennes and partake in celebratory Belgian activities like beer drinking, card playing, chocolate eating, walking in fields with cows, and, most importantly, kayaking past castles.
We rented kayaks from Durbuy Adventures - 17 euros for an 8 km trip. I booked in advance to do a 22 km, but upon arrival we were informed that the water level was too high to do that section of the river. This was all a bit disappointing, since 8 km on a high flow river is quite a short trip. It wasn't surprising that the water level was too night - it had rained torrentially on Thursday and Friday. We had been playing cards at Achouffe Brewery under a veranda when the torrential downpour started. We played in silence for 15 minutes while the rain roared around us, making conversations impossible.
Just a few of the massive kayak trailers at Durbuy Adventures.
Durbuy Adventures is quite the mass-kayak-rental agency. They were shoving kayaks into the river faster than we could put our life jackets on or pick out a (heavy, crappy) paddle. Frankly, after seeing how some people were wearing their life jackets (i.e. upside down), they could probably benefit by slowing down a bit! We felt like 20€ bills popping out of an ATM machine as we were shoved, one after the other into the river, with no instruction or guidance whatsoever. The fact that we don't speak French probably didn't help...
Eelco (far left), Thijs, Henk Jan, and Jolanda chilling at the launch site.
Okay, I guess that was a bit dramatic - it wasn't so bad! Once we were on the river, it was quite enjoyable. Given the significant reduction in trip length, we challenged ourselves to take as much time as possible in our trajectory. We attempted to surf every (tiny) rapid we encountered. We paddled slowly through downtown Durbuy, which gave us a glimpse at Durbuy Castle from the river.
Henk infront of Durbuy Castle.
We made friends with a giant wooden stump who was promptly named Jaap, after Jaap Stam, a Dutch soccer player ("stam" means trunk, as in tree trunk, in Dutch). We floated along with Jaap for at least a couple kilometers, until he got stuck in an eddy while we attempted to bypass a super annoying group of French bros. They had somehow managed to fall out of their kayaks (even though the river was entirely calm). We watched in dismay as they made the brilliant decision to leave two boats behind, opting to cram 3 people into tandem kayaks instead. They didn't think twice about leaving a swamped kayak in the middle of the river and continuing on.
Our floating stump named Jaap, turned into a portable bar.
We even took a break for lunch, to stretch our kayaking time by another 30 minutes. We snacked on typical Dutch sandwiches, these life-changing crackers (my favorite recipe of the year), and homemade hummus.
More pictures from the kayaking trip...
As for the rest of the weekend... We rented a little Airbnb house near Manhay, where we lounged around the BBQ, ate lots of chips, tossed a football/frisbee, played lots of cards, and went for some long walks (almost getting mauled by a giant male cow). We visited AChouffe and Val Dieu breweries. AChouffe required that we make reservations in person, which meant that everything was sold out when we arrived. They seemed to think we would drive to the Ardennes a few days earlier to make a reservation - what?
Val Dieu was beautiful. It's located in a hilly forested landscape. We walked through the adjacent arboretum and gawked at the giant trees. We cooled our toes in a stream in the shade of an ancient stone bridge.
Val Dieu was beautiful. It's located in a hilly forested landscape. We walked through the adjacent arboretum and gawked at the giant trees. We cooled our toes in a stream in the shade of an ancient stone bridge.
More pictures from hiking, La Chouffe, and Val Dieu
Date: Saturday, July 23rd, 2016
Distance: 7.7 km (4.8 miles)
Duration: ~2 hours (including lunch break and playing in the waves)
Weather: Warm but cloudy/threatening rain
Distance: 7.7 km (4.8 miles)
Duration: ~2 hours (including lunch break and playing in the waves)
Weather: Warm but cloudy/threatening rain
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