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

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.

[This post is heavy on the photos and light on text because I've been doing too much kayaking and not enough blogging lately...]

The launch site north of Tiel. There were two fishermen occupying it when we arrived.

One by one, ten of us arrived at the club, gathered our gear, and loaded boats onto the snazzy club trailer. Climbing the rungs of the trailer to strap down the highest boats felt pleasantly familiar, though it's been a while. Joachim and Viktor towed the trailer while the rest of us split into two cars. I grabbed a spot in a car with Marieanne, Erik, and Frouwke. Caroline, Emile, Amelia, and Erik rode in the second car. The plan for the day was to do a 1-way trip down the Linge River, from Tiel to Buren. We dropped the boats off at the put-in near Tiel, a 1-hr drive from Rotterdam. While others were setting up the shuttle, I wandered to the adjacent Amsterdam Rijn Canal. To make way for the canal, the Linge River is funneled into a pipe that goes under the deep shipping canal.

Pretty trailer of boats at the launch site.

There were plenty of dandelions here - it made me feel like I was back in NY!

There's not so much to say about the river itself - it's a slow moving, gradually winding river between mostly agricultural land, interspersed by some patches of trees. We encountered many friendly sheep and cows. A few members of the flotilla enjoyed conversing with the sheep and cows in "MOOs" and "BAAHs". 

Curious cows. There were many friendly farm animals along this route.

Approaching the first lock/portage stop.

We played in the currents behind the lock while waiting for everyone to portage. Photo by Marieanne.

Approaching lock #2 (after that I stopped counting/photographing)

Along the way, I asked a few people how they had found themselves kayaking. Amelia had been looking for a new, non-indoor sport. Joachim was a runner-turned paddler thanks to a knee injury. Erik and Marieanne had fallen in love with kayaking on a week-long sea kayak immersion course. Viktor had been a sailor for many years, but eventually turned to kayaking since it's easier to juggle with other weekend commitments. Frouwke, a fan of hiking and biking, tried kayaking even though she doesn't consider herself a water person, and was pleasantly surprised when she enjoyed it.

This photo captures the trip pretty well.

The common thread was that something in life had redirected them from other activities to kayaking. Having kayaked and canoed since I was eight years old, this was a bit of a revelation. It made me realize that I could simply take up a new sport now or in 10 or 20 years and still have it become part of my identity. I think since I've been constantly moving, starting new jobs, and meeting new people over the past 4 years, I've tried to keep at least my hobbies constant. Now that I'll be staying in one place for a while, maybe it's time to try some new things! But don't worry, kayaking is not going anywhere... 

Lunch at the last portage. Photo by Marieanne.

A boat launch in downtown Buren (we didn't stop here).

Damp kayakers walking through the historic streets of Buren in neoprene booties.

There were a lot of portages on this trip. We lunched at the last one, and I cut up a watermelon (small enough to fit through the hatch) to pass around. We discovered that some folks were not familiar with the campsite rule (a.k.a. leave no trace) when they threw their rinds in the river... 

We wandered around the quaint Buren centrum in our neoprene booties until we found a cafe at the foot of the church, where we had beverages and cake. 

To be honest, I waited too long to write this post. Hence more rambling and less details about the route. I think the pictures/captions, which I wrote the day after, do a pretty good job summarizing our trip! 

Cake, beer, and coffee after a long paddle.

Church in Buren centrum

Joachim and the fried, chocolate-covered whipcream ball. Photo by Marieanne.

Viktor solemnly eating his cake. Photo by Marieanne.

Date: Sunday, May 7th, 2017
Distance: 19.5 km (12.1 miles)
Duration: ~5 hours
Weather: Cool, breezy, cloudy