Blog - The Naked Kayaker

"Patatje met tocht" aka "french fries and a paddle" to Rotterdam centrum

3/24/2018

This photo really captures the essence of this paddle!

As I pack my bags for a paddling trip tomorrow, I realize I've forgotten to finish this post about a recent trip to Rotterdam centrum. A couple weeks ago Joachim organized a relaxing/low-key trip from the kayaking club on Kralingse Plas to the center of Rotterdam. We took a different route into Rotterdam than in previous trips. We saw a number of iconic Rotterdam sites, and ended up in the heart of the city during the peak of the Saturday market. â€‹Read on for a short post with plenty of photos from a wintery urban paddle!

Surprise! Kayaking in December is warmer than biking in December...

12/2/2017

Two days ago I sent a message to the Never Dry club WhatsApp group to ask if anyone wanted to go paddling this weekend. The guilt of not using my new boat yet was building up (busy weekends!), and there was no rain in the forecast. But with temperatures hovering right around freezing, I was secretly hoping no one would respond, so I'd have an excuse to stay in my cozy warm apartment.

Exploring my new city by kayak: Rotterdam on the Maas River

8/27/2017

Iede chatting with the Port of Rotterdam, who scolded us for paddling the wrong direction and commenced stalking us...

Back in May (how did that happen?) I went on one of my favorite Dutch paddling trips so far: the Maas River in my new city of Rotterdam, with Iede, Marianne, Erik, and Adrian. The great thing about it is that you can get there from the club if you're willing to go through a small lock and carry your boat across a giant intersection in downtown Rotterdam... :D

Day trip on the Linge River from Tiel to Buren, and why people kayak

5/16/2017

Taking out our boats in the center of Buren, where we ran into another kayak club!

My alarm went off at 7am on Sunday. At any other time of year, getting up would have been a challenge. Thanks to the long days that the Dutch latitude (52 degrees) bestows us, it was palatable. In what's becoming a weekend routine, I strapped my lunch and dry clothes on the back of my bike and swung a sizable duffle bag of kayak gear over my shoulder. It always takes a bit of extra effort to get the bike moving when it's loaded down this way. But thanks to the lack of topographic variability, the 12 minute bike ride to the kayak club is easy once you're rolling. Some aspects of Dutch life just need reframing to see the bright side.

Dinant Evasion: What happens when you combine a log flume, bumper cars, 7000 kayakers, and a sinking kayak on the River Lesse in Belgium.

9/13/2016

The magical town of Dinant, on the Lesse River in southern Belgium. The kayaking route does not take you past here, so make sure to include a visit to the city in your itinerary! Photo by Rob.

Before you read this post, I want you to know that Dinant and the surrounding areas are really lovely - I've visited twice and had some great biking and hiking experiences. But kayaking was a different flavor, and I feel it should be documented as a warning to any kayakers thinking about paddling here...

As we passed under the big welcome signs at Dinant Evasion, I couldn't help but feel like I was entering an amusement park. We obediently zigzagged through the queue lines to one of the (many) ticket offices. "Do you have your confirmation letter?" asked the ticket lady in broken Dutch (Dinant is in the French-speaking part of Belgium). I fumbled for my phone, hoping the confirmation email was still cached (I still use my US smartphone, so no cellular data for me). Phew, there it was. I've never arrived for a reserved kayak rental and been told that my last name was insufficient for accessing the reservation... Warning Sign #1. Okay, the super commercial website could also have tipped me off (Warning Sign #0)...

How to motivate in a torrential downpour? Pancakes in Utrecht

8/22/2016

This picture best captures the torrential downpour we experienced in the Utrecht countryside.

My friends are real troopers. The forecast warned of intense rain, and that's exactly what we got. But we persevered! From downtown Utrecht to a pancake house about 6.5 km southeast of the city, Sander, Bonnie, and I paddled through almost continuous rain. But the "pancakes," if you can even call them that, were worth the soaking.

Celebrating Belgian independence in the Ardennen: Kayaking in Durbuy

8/2/2016

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.

Colleagues-turned-canoeists go for a paddle in Lokeren

7/7/2016

The Antea Group kayaking crew sporting our newly earned t-shirts. Jan, Nena, Raquel, Anna, and Inma.

Last weekend, five enthusiastic Antea Group employees embarked on a Sunday morning canoe trip in Lokeren. The company I work for, Antea Group, has an internal organization called Antea Group Sport that supports employees in organizing "sporting" events. Since I started a year ago, they've organized runs, triathlons, volleyball, soccer, mountain biking, cycling, and even badminton. I decided that some more watery events were necessary*, so I went about organizing a kayaking trip, destination: Lokeren. It's a convenient location for people living in Antwerp and Gent. First, I did a scouting trip to check out the conditions.

*Disclaimer: I was also motivated by a need to find/develop paddling buddies here in Belgium, and the awesome t-shirt you get the first time you participate in an Antea sporting event (see above). :)

Lokeren: The most accessible kayak rental in Belgium

5/23/2016

Kayaking tends to be a logistically-intensive sport, requiring expensive equipment, a vehicle, and a lot of time. Since moving to Europe almost 2 years ago, I've tried not to let being car-less and boat-less stop me from taking part in my all-time favorite activity. It hasn't been easy! There's nothing I miss more than throwing Big Purple on the roof of my car and going for a spontaneous weeknight sunset paddle or exploring a remote stretch of coast.

Last December I made an inventory of all the kayak rental shops in Belgium (excluding whitewater, of which there are quite a few in the south). So far, I've visited two shops that are difficult to reach by public transit and don't offer more than a linear out-and-back trip along a river.

Yesterday we visited an outfitter in Lokeren. I can't say I've found a complete solution yet, but I have finally found a shop just a short train ride away that offers quite a range of paddling routes. And it might just be the most convenient kayak rental ever... exciting, huh? ;) Read on!

A short day paddle near Kasterlee, Belgium

11/23/2015

I've been pretty bad at maintaining the blog lately. On the bright side, you haven't missed much. This summer I had big goals about kayaking in each country that Emily and I traveled to, but in the end we just kayaked once in France (stay tuned!) and once in Belgium (this post).

In August, Emily and I met up with my Belgian-American kayaking friend, Stijn (from San Francisco), for a day trip in Kasterlee, Belgium.

There were endless raspberries and blackberries on the river banks!

Welcome!

This is a blog about exploring the outdoors (mostly by kayak), traveling, trip planning, and coastal engineering. It currently focuses on kayaking in the Netherlands and Belgium, but previous posts cover Upstate New York, California, and much more. See the Complete List of Blog Posts for a history of the site. Looking for something specific? Search the site here.

In addition to the blog, check out the Water Nerd section, where I write about coastal engineering and hydrology.

Happy Paddling!
Nena

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