This was our second visit to the Ardennes in Wallonia. This time we went to Dinant for some kayaking. Dinant is a cute town, but with the exception of kayaking, there is not much to do. I like the way they have the kayaking set up. There are two options, a 3-hour trip and a 6-hour trip. There is a train that departs a few times per day from a station just outside of Dinant. There are several outfitters to choose from and they all have parking. The train takes you to different starting points, depending on the length of your trip, and you kayak to the place where you left your car. We chose the 3-hour journey because we got a late start. We missed the early trains and had to wait until 2:45pm.
When we started out in the morning, the weather was great. We had a couple of hours before the next train departed so we toured the Citadel, the main tourist attraction. By the time we got on the river, the clouds moved in and it cooled off quite a bit. We were fine at first, but the temperature continued to drop and it rained for the last 30 minutes of the trip. Since we only had bathing suits on, we were pretty miserable for about the last hour. We warmed up with a cup of coffee and a warm shower at the take-out spot. We found out later that only a few places in Belgium got rain that day and that it was blazing hot in Brussels. Darn the luck!
Besides the weather, the kayaking was fun. There were only 3 rapids and they were not dangerous. The river moved quickly, so we didn't have to work too hard. It was definitely suitable for families. The hardcore river rat would probably be disappointed. We are planning to try again on a warm day. Now that we know the drill, we will get an earlier start so that we can take the 6-hour trip. This is all part of the learning curve involved with trying understand information in another language. much of the time it's just trial-and-error!
When we started out in the morning, the weather was great. We had a couple of hours before the next train departed so we toured the Citadel, the main tourist attraction. By the time we got on the river, the clouds moved in and it cooled off quite a bit. We were fine at first, but the temperature continued to drop and it rained for the last 30 minutes of the trip. Since we only had bathing suits on, we were pretty miserable for about the last hour. We warmed up with a cup of coffee and a warm shower at the take-out spot. We found out later that only a few places in Belgium got rain that day and that it was blazing hot in Brussels. Darn the luck!
Besides the weather, the kayaking was fun. There were only 3 rapids and they were not dangerous. The river moved quickly, so we didn't have to work too hard. It was definitely suitable for families. The hardcore river rat would probably be disappointed. We are planning to try again on a warm day. Now that we know the drill, we will get an earlier start so that we can take the 6-hour trip. This is all part of the learning curve involved with trying understand information in another language. much of the time it's just trial-and-error!
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