Bike & hike in the Karwendel

Cycling for fun is of all times. What would be more fun than riding in a beautiful mountainous terrain and then hiking to a summit? It was called “klunking” in the 80s in the USA. Nowadays it’s called “bike and hike”. It’s far from new: The gentlemen of UK’s Rough Stuff Fellowship were doing it already in 1955.

In the beginning of October we drive to Austria’s Karwendel. Last year we discovered cycling, we were already acquainted with hiking in the mountains. The moment Jochem proposed to go for a few days of cycling and hiking, we didn’t need to think twice. Of course we’ll join!

We’ll be exploring the Karwendel valley and the Hinterau valley by bike. We’ll hike to the Hochalmkreuz, the Laliderer and a small tour around the Hallerangerhaus. For Charissa and me it’s the first time mountainbiking in the mountains.

We cycle mainly on 4×4 tracks, easy terrain. The last day this changes when we’re confronted with a super steep climb two kilometers after the Isarursprung. For a moment I think I can muscle my way through this climb, but halfway I have to get off the bike with a heart rate of 200. “Halfway” I think. Because I can only see as far as the next turn and after that turn the climb should ease out, right? When I arrive at the turn, I see it’s far from halfway. For a couple of more times we’ll try to climb the super steep climbs, but as many times we’ll get off our bikes. The last days filled with a lot of physical activity and not too good sleeping are starting to take their toll.

While pushing our bikes uphill, Charissa says that it’s so steep she’ll never dare to ride downhill. The next day it drizzles. After the suffering of dragging our backpacks and bikes uphill yesterday, today it’s time to cash in the reward of going downhill. Even Charissa is having a lot of fun and arrives at the bottom with a big smile. We can’t resist playing a bit fording at the end of the downhill section.

Klunkers, Rough Stuff Fellowship, bike & hikes, what they have in common: the purpose is not cycling, the purpose is having fun.

Photos

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Video

Click here to view Jochem’s video.

Petit tour des Écrins

It is night, we should already be sleeping, but we still have our clothes on. And we’re under our sleeping pads instead of on top of it. What is going on?

We’re in the Ecrins. All week long the weather has been beautiful. Today we arrived at Lac de la Muzelle where a lot of people are enjoying the beautiful weather at the shore of the lake. At the start of the evening clouds emerge from the valley. “It’s going to storm tonight.”, Charissa is sure of it.

Meanwhile the shepherds are moving their sheep to the valley floor. They’ll want them down now the weather turns bad. We’re watching for half an hour how the valley is filled with sheep. They come closer and closer. Between the sheep there are Patous, big guard dogs of the herd. They are born in the herd and thus accepted by the sheep. Whenever there is danger, the Patous go there, barking, growling and biting. We count at least four of them.

At Lac de la Muzelle we count at least twenty tents. The Patous are used to the campers: where ever the sheep go, the Patous inspect the tents. We make a cup of coffee and see this scene repeat a couple of times. The sheep are now at the other side of the creek. When we finish our coffees the three Patous play on the other side of the creek. They roll over each other. Is this play or is this to determine who of them is the boss? We look the other side and when we turn our heads back two of the Patous are standing next to us. Inspection. One of them sniffs at our tent and looks inside. The other sniffs at us.

It is beautiful and exciting at the same time. Beautiful because usually you can never get so close to these mighty dogs. Exciting because we already had a previous encounter in the middle of a herd of sheep. Back then two Patous came running at us, barking loudly. They showed their big white teeth. We didn’t know how fast we should turn around. The rest of that tour we made big detours when we saw a herd of sheep. Even if we had to walk longer that day just to make the detour. Beautiful to watch the Patous so closely without them being aggressive.

These last years we’ve asked several shepherds if it’s okay to pitch a tent and later a herd of sheep arrives. They all say the same. Sheep and Patous think like other animals: if you are there before them, you are part of the environment. That is not a problem. When you arrive and they are already there, you are invading. This experience confirms this story.

Meanwhile the sun slowly sets and more and more clouds are drifting in our direction. Just when we get ready to sleep, it starts to rain. Then thunder. It’s raining harder now. The noise swells to deafening heights. We turn on a light. This is no rain, this is hail. The thunderstorm is getting closer and closer and the hailstones get bigger and bigger. Two hundred meters away is a mountain cabin, if necessary we can always go there. We don’t trust the weather and get ready to leave our tent. Sleeping bag in our backpacks, clothes on. When we want to talk to each other we have to shout, the hail is that loud crashing on our tent. The hail stones have a cross section of 3 cm. They make our tarp move like we’re lying under a trampoline. Charissa accidentally comes too close to the tent cloth and is hit by a big hail stone. That will become a bruise. It’s safer under our sleeping pads, if the tent cloth tears, at least we don’t get hammered on the head by these marbles.

Fortunately it doesn’t last long. When we go outside after this shower we’re welcomed in a white world. The creek next to which we pitched our tent became bigger and wilder. Almost all tents have a light on now.

The rest of the night is quiet. We sleep delightfully and the next day the skies are blue again. Again a night in the mountains we won’t forget. Or like Alastair Humphreys wrote: “A night spent under the stars is unlikely to offer the best sleep of the year, but it is refreshing and restorative in other ways that make up for it. If you simply want to sleep, stay inside. But if you are searching for magic and memories then grab your sleeping bag and head for the hills.”

Practical information

The inspiration for this tour is from a report by Yanick.

This route mainly follows the GR54. Because the stages are relatively short, we’ve made a couple of excursions. It’s easy to climb a summit, col or other high point for a nice vista the same day. Tips: Tête de la Rame, Col de Côte Belle, Pierre Percée until Glacier de la Muzelle.

This part of the Ecrins is a rugged area with well maintained trails. You’ll sure see chamois, ibex and vultures!

Photos

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Bibliography

Wandelkaart 355 Écrins, Haut-Dauphiné, 1 : 50 000, édition Didier Richard from 1994.

Is the Lieserpfad the most beautiful hiking trail in the world?

Which is a much cited quote from Manuel Andrack (journalist and tv personality). His logic works as follow: The Lieserpfad is the most beautiful hiking trail in the Eifel -> The Eifel is the most beautiful part of Germany -> Germany is the most beautiful part of Germany -> Germany is the best country to hike of the world -> Therefore the Lieserpfad is the most beautiful hiking trail in the Eifel. It sounds like mathematical logic, but it’s just an accumulation of opinions.

For sure it is a beautiful hiking trail. Sometimes we hike next to the Lieser, a little later we climb high above it. Forest roads are exchanged for single tracks. In the morning we find ripe and there are icicles everywhere.
We decided at the last moment to walk this route at one of the busiest times a year: between Christmas and New Year, exactly when everybody is on holiday. Not a bad guess because we didn’t meet other backpackers. Probably the reason is also that everybody walks in the same direction, downhill.

Die Landschaft erobert man mit den Schuhsohlen, nicht mit den Autoreifen.
– Georges Duhamel

The moment we enter the forest in Daun, we immediately find icehair. Wasn’t that rare? It only occurs when a mold infected deciduous trees and the temperature is precisely right. All day long we see icehair. The next day also. We start to doubt the rarity. Last time we saw it, we were in Belgium, before we never saw it. Why not? Didn’t we pay enough attention before? Now it seems abundant…
Until the third day. All of a sudden it’s gone. No idea why, it is still just below the freezing point and there are deciduous trees everywhere. Icehair seems to be rarer than we thought.

The question is still unanswered, is this really the most beautiful hiking trail in the world?
In one of the Tourist Information flyers I see en route, I read the following quote: “Die Landschaft erobert man mit den Schuhsohlen, nicht mit den Autoreifen” – Georges Duhamel*. This quote seems to fit better to the Lieserpfad. Don’t try to find the “most beautiful hiking trail”, everyone has a right to its own opinion. But instead of speeding across this area in 15 minutes on the Autobahn you can better use 3 days to slowly walk through it, enjoying all the beauty.

Photos

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*) “You conquered the landscape with the soles of shoes, not the tires.” A quoted quote, I know. A German quote of a French writer.

Malerweg in the Sächsische Schweiz

It was not difficult to choose this trail. We were in the area and were easily convinced when seeing the photos on the internet. The only worry we had was the possible crowds. We bought a trail map at home and that’s about as much preparations as we did.

The moment we drive to the Sächsische Schweiz national park the sun appears and it will remain shining until we arrive back home. Genuinely beautiful weather this week. We park the car near the beginning of the route in Liebethal at a “hiker’s parking”. The trail is diversified. We walk through forests, meadows, steep valleys, along creeks and via viewpoints. We pass many steps, passageways and ladders. There are unpaved roads and small hiking trails. Elevation is quite low, but throughout the day you walk a lot uphill and downhill.

The route passes a number of tourist attractions like the Bastei rocks and Bastei bridge, the Kuhstall and the Königstein fortress. It is also possible to visit the Prebischtor just across the border in Czech republic. These are the most crowded places, beautiful sights in combination with restaurants and pubs.

When we want to ask for water at the closed pension Hocksteinschänke the landlady offers us a room. Tonight there will be no dinner, but she can offer us a few white beers, nice! The two next nights we spend on a camp site. The first night at camping Ostrauer Mühle near Altendorf and the other night at the nice camping Thorwaldblick near Hinterhermsdorf, a little off-route. At kilometer 80 we want to eat and sleep in pension Liethenmühle. All rooms occupied, the owner says, and all hostels nearby are also occupied because of the Easter weekend. When we leave, he chases us and says there is one room left. Nice! The last night we spend near the village of Weissig at a very ugly ‘campsite’ used by big RVs only.

At some stretches the trail is crowded, a couple of days it was nice and quiet. The crowdiness must have to do with the popularity of the sights near the trail. And also that the weather was beautiful and a part of Germany was already having holidays. The trail is discouraged by the officials to be hiked in winter, but I think it will be beautiful and quiet during that time.

The official trail is divided into eight days carrying only a daypack. We hiked with multi-day packs in about six short days till Pötzscha. From Pötzscha to Pirna seemed a bit boring to us so we took the train to Pirna. From there we could catch a bus to the start in Liebethal. Public transport is abundant, starting or stopping somewhere else is no big deal. Wild camping is prohibited, especially in the National Park Sächsische Schweiz. We didn’t do this, as there is plenty of opportunity to spend the night and eat. Planning is handy but not necessary. The area is amazingly beautiful and well worth it. If you don’t like crowds, plan accordingly.

Photographs

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Bibliography

Wanderkarte Leporello Malerweg Elbsandsteingebirge 1:25000

Southern Vosges on snowshoes

The last days of the year. No snowflakes to be seen so we head south to the Vosges for a short winterhike. In the evening we find a parking spot in the village of St. Maurice Sur Moselle. We pack the last gear in our backpacks and switch on our headlamps because it is getting darker. It rains when we leave the village to slowly climb to the first overnight stay. Luckily the rain changes to snow. the cabin is small and unmanned and has all luxury a hiker can wish for. We light the stove and easily spend the evening. Snowflakes fall softly all night long, resulting in a nice fresh snow cover in the morning. This is what we’d hoped for!

Refuge du Plain du Canon.

This morning we climb slowly to Col du Stalon. After a short break with hot tea we continue to Col du Ballon. We search our way through the fresh snow cover, no trace to be found. The sun hides behind the clouds but it’s not cold. As soon as we arrive at Ballon d’Alsace it changes. An ice cold and sharp wind sends us downhill. Lots of large corniches force us to look for the GR more to the east. After a while we find a passage. Way too steep, we take off our snow shoes and carefully we cut steps. We succeed and follow the signs of the GR till refuge la Chaume. Enroute we have a good view to the Alps. It is a nice route and when darkness falls we arrive at the cabin. We share the room with a local who experiences the first winter trekking in ‘his backyard’. During the night he keeps the stove running to compensate for his summer sleeping bag. Practise makes perfect…

View to the Alps.

Tête des Charbonniers.

In the morning the sun rays peek through the trees and we continue our route to refuge Haute Bers. Next to the Christmas balls we eat our lunch in the cold cabin. We follow the route via the ski area to Chaume des Neufs Bois. The wind is icy cold and we’re happy to enter the forest. The rising temperatures makes the snow wet and heavy. Clearly thaw is kicking in. If the forecast is correct the temperatures will stay above freezing point the next days. The unfavourable forecast makes us choose to go westwards and sleep in chalet des Crêtes. No-one joins us. No firewood to be found. Gathering firewood in the snow is difficult so the stove burns less long than we would have wanted. Jägermeister and warm sleeping bags keep us warm and we fall in a deep sleep by the sound of the howling wind.

Chalet des Crêtes.

In the morning the sound of melting snow confirms what we’d feared. It’s already late when we descend back to our car in St. Maurice. We had a few more days for a longer route, but sometimes the weather dictates the choices…

Photos

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Bibliography

IGN map number 3619OT 1:25000

Hitting the wall

Pheidippides drew the best straw, he’ll be the one bringing the good news. He’s nervous because of the honour and he’s still tired from the battle. “The Persians outnumbered us, but we were smarter”, he thinks when running to Athens. Without stopping he arrives, shouts: “We’ve won!” and pegs out. It’s the year 490 before Christ.

Two-and-a-half thousand years after this hero we think it’s a good idea to run a marathon. Never before we’ve trained for a goal. To prepare for such a distance we’re using a training schedule from the internet. Charissa has bad luck and gets hurt just before the marathon. Then she catches a bad cold. Not to risk to aggravate the injury and lacking the last part of the training she chooses not to start. She changes to a half marathon.

While training I don’t observe progress. I don’t like running the same trail over and over again, so it’s hard to compare trainings. There are more factors that are unique per training: weather, soil, health, etc. It all influences how a training is perceived. Measuring heart rate and speed clearly shows I’m progressing:

It’s my first marathon and thus hard to come up with a strategy. I know how my body reacts to long distances, but 42 kilometers in competition I’ve never done. I intent to run at a constant heart rate slightly higher than the one during my endurance runs. Fitness wise it will be all right, as long as my muscles will cooperate. What’s more interesting is that it’s the first warm day of the year. My body is better fit for coldness than for heat.

I take my place at the start between the 3:15 and 3:30 pacers. The starting shot is fired and I start following the 3:15 pacers. After a few kilometers I look at my watch: they are running too fast. Thoughts of doubt start to pop up. Keep following the pacers as I’m running effortless? Maybe I’ll overrun myself at this pace, I’m not planning on walking in the end! Choices…

Photo: Corné Hannink

I’m going to run my own race. That’s the decision. I slow down a bit. I’m not fully convinced, as things were going easy. I think of sprinting the last kilometer.

From kilometer 20 on my speed slowly decreases. My feet ache a bit. I’ve used this combination of socks and shoes a lot, but today I get blisters wearing them. Moment of reflection.

I pass the 30 kilometer mark. Things are still fine. It is becoming more and more warm, but the trail is varied with a lot of shade and enough cups/sponges with fresh water. I carry my own drinks, but I’m happy with the water. I mostly use it for cooling down.

At kilometer 36 I hit the wall. Energy drained, muscles protesting. 6 kilometers to go. A distance I normally wouldn’t consider as a training. Time to switch strategy. Running a good time becomes don’t walk. Didn’t I think about sprinting the last kilometer a few hours ago?

In 3 kilometers my parents will be waiting along the trail. A quarter of an hour, maybe a few seconds longer. I slow down to 5’15” per kilometer and I’m happy with it. In the meantime I overtake runners of the half marathon. They are in a much worse condition, there’s still hope left.

I can still smile when I see my parents. Half of the 6 kilometers is gone. Tight muscles, hot weather, blisters, keep running for another 15 minutes and it will be over. I can even run a bit faster now. What happens between the ears plays a much bigger role than I thought.

Photo: Tilburgse Amateur Fotografen Vereniging

Charissa just finished the half marathon. In the last turn before the finish she spots me and runs along the last stretch. The encouragement that I need. The finish is right after this turn. I made it!

Photo: Corné Hannink

Postscript

At the internet you’ll find schemes that guide you to run a marathon in 5 or 6 months. They will help getting you ready for running a marathon, but you won’t run a record time. Comfortable and easy it will never be.

Running is simple, just put one foot in front of the other. During training more and more sides of running submerge. How will my body react to a lot of running? What forms of training should you do and how to organize those? What can I eat and drink during running without problems? How much shall I eat to get enough calories? Personal choices, researching my own body.

One hundred twenty years ago the marathon was added as Olympic distance. The first winner runs under three hours. I was not that fast, but I’m still very content. Probably I won’t be able to match my results in the future: 39th overall and 15th in my category. The advantage of participating in an unknown marathon. Contrary to Pheidippides I’m only left with aching muscles after my adventure.

Are you finished?

It has been dark for a few hours when we hear some noises outside. Ten to nine, a skier. “Are you finished?”, he asks. Are you finished? The words hit me like waking up roughly from a deep sleep. Why, are you finished? “Ehm, excuse me?” is the only thing I can utter. “Are you finished?”, he asks again. The words don’t make sense. “Ehm, yes?”. What a strange question. I ask him his nationality. “Finland.” It makes sense now: “Are you FINNISH?”

His pulk is broken. A fellow skier repaired it provisionally. He doesn’t trust the repair and wants to head back to civilization as soon as possible. He arrived late because he travelled two day-routes in one day. He doesn’t think it’s too late to arrive, for he met someone who arrived at half pas eleven at a cabin.

We’re in Finland in the Urho Kekkonen national park. Our Finnish roommate wants to go to Lankojärvi, just like we do. Today it’s snowing and the route we’re taking has not been preceded by a snowmobile. We move slowly through this thick, white blanket of snow. At 1/3 of the route we stop for lunch. Too slow, we’re going to arrive in the dark. Via another mountain pass we head to Tuiskukuru, a cabin closer by. We run into our Finnish roommate once more, he will continue to Lankojärvi.

The detour to Tuiskukuru is well worth it. An empty landscape until the pass, from there snowy, statue-like shrubs guide the way into the other valley. The shrubs transform into trees that, covered in snow, taken on peculiar forms. It is a surrealistic world and we’re the only people here.

A state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.
– Kundera

Tuiskukuru.

Tuiskukuru.

Tuiskukuru.

Lankojärvi.

Earlier in the week we’re heading to Sarvioja in a howling wind. Only summer routes are shown on the map and that path goes to the left here somewhere. No idea where exactly. It is snowing and the wind is blowing forcefully. I should put on an extra coat and my mittens. My thumbs ache from the cold. Still continuing, a bit further we’ll be out of this wind.

Last night we admired the northern lights near Porttikoski: a cabin in the forest next to the river. Idyllic. Much unlike this place, cold and stormy. Where’s that stupid path? The location on the map is way too steep for skis and a pulk.

During this winter hike in Finland we meet one Finn and a lot of Czechs. Czech… They have a word for this plowing. Litost, untranslatable. Kundera describes it as “a state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.” Such a dramatic word, I don’t know any equivalent in Dutch.

“How are you doing?”, I ask. – “Fine, it’s just arduous.” We stop. Thicker coat, mittens and discussion. What options do we have? Option one is going back. That is not an option. Option two, betting to reach the planned hut. Not the best choice: there is quite a chance to not make it to the hut or even to be unable to climb this steep terrain. The third option is to continue into the next valley. There we can reach three places to sleep: an open wilderness hut, a turf hut and Luirojärvi. Luirojärvi is the furthest away and only reachable in the dark. We head for the turf hut and might reach it during dusk.

The coat and mittens are wonderfully warm. Soon my thumbs don’t ache anymore and feeling slowly returns to them. The end of the mountain pass is near. Litost, a dramatic word. It means something like feeling miserable and then becoming aware of it. According to Kundera it will be followed by revenge. Revenge on the thing that caused the misery, that is not caused by yourself of course.

We continue skiing. At the end of the mountain pass we’re out of the wind and exactly there the sun appears again. We start our decent, the skiing is less tiring. The world looks a lot happier. Kundera can keep his revenge. We take the moment and have a break behind some trees. Hot tea, a biscuit and the sun in Finnish Lapland. Enjoying, a word the Czech will know as well?

Turf hut Raappana is located in the forest on a peninsula. We arrive during sundown, where we could barely distinguish the stove pipe from the bare trees. The chimney is the only point of recognition of this tiny burrow under the thick layer of snow. We’re happy that someone already dug out the door.

The area inside is two meters by two meters. We’re out of the wind and dinner is simmering on our gas stove. Dinner, tea, then we slip into a comatose sleep. “Are you finished?” – “Yes we are.”

Photographs

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Bibliography

Karttakeskus ulkoilukartta
Saariselkä Sokosti
1 : 50 000

Practicalities

We finish our tour in Kiilopää. Buses drive from Kiilopää to the airport irregularly! The website of the airport states that buses drive only when an aircraft departs or arrives. This is not 100% correct. Buses drive only when an aircraft from a Scandinavian airline depart or arrive. We flew with a Dutch airline, no bus came and we’ve managed to get a taxi at the latest moment. Quite an experience: flying in a cab over frozen roads with 130 km/h.

Our home built pulk uses ropes instead of rods. Rods may break, ropes are durable and easy to repair. The disadvantage of ropes is that the pulk tries to overtake you while descending. To counter that we used the idea of an automatic brake from Ivo. The brake worked remarkably well. Even on the most steep parts where we couldn’t ski, the pulk braked long before hitting me.

Mooching about* at the sixth WOR

*) Mooching about is lummelen in Dutch

“Do you have the card of running events where participants receive a t-shirt?”
– “Yes I do, the WOR t-shirt with checkpoints shown in the form of a W.”

“Maybe you also have the running event which includes shooting?”
– “Yep, I have the WOR catapult.”

“And by any chance also the event that give heavy people an advantage?”
– “That one as well, the WOR where the weight of participants count as bonus points.”

“And also the event where a ladies team is the overall winner?”
– “For sure, WOR 2017, Omega Ladies.”

“Happy family!”
(The Dutch card game is called Kwartet and is similar to Happy families, though the cards not only resemble family members but also objects.)

The sixth edition of the WOR starts at the Sint Ferdinand buildings in Lummen, but actually it started a week earlier when the email with homework arrived. This time two puzzles and the traditional movie. Like earlier editions it contained the footer: “… besides adding to the confusion it might contain useful information.” At the end of the WOR Ferdy tells us: “Third time you’re participating? Then you’ll start to understand our pranks.” That is exactly the problem: what can be used and what is a spoof?

The WOR, each year more surprising.

I investigate the movie frame-by-frame to rule out that the Woudlopers used subliminal stimuli (like in the movie Fight Club). I find nothing. The Woudlopers specifically mention in their email that the movie contains sound. They used “Wat heb je vandaag op school geleerd” (What did you learn at school today) from the Elegasten which I scrutinize word-by-word. Also no clue found.

The movie is enacted at a school. Among other things it shows a list of senses: to feel, to hear, to taste, to see, to smell and to blow. To blow? It really says so: to blow. Is this also a hidden clue?

Now let’s go to the day itself. The opening act is spectacular as ever. When the cow bell rings balloons fall from the air. At the toot of the recorder the envelopes may be taken. This year like always it contains the roadbook and the first set of maps. Next to that we find a t-shirt, a bag of pebbles and a set of skewers. Charissa picked a red balloon which gives us the answer to CP Z for free. Unfortunately we forget that until we reach CP Z.

En route it looks like this:

A selection of the mistakes we made this year:

• We forgot to go to CP B. We didn’t even come close.
• The assignment at the watchtower looked like a spoof, but we fell for it anyway.
• During health check “feeling” we thought to recognise a prank, but it was none. How suspicious did we become? 🙂
• I urgently need lessons in shooting a catapult. According to the organisation the teams were a lot better shooting the potato gun last year.
• I mark special CP T with a red pen on a black part of the map. While running I don’t see that anymore (red-on-black) and we pass the CP without noticing it.
• At the end we forget to look at an inset map and lose the chance for 3 CPs among which a special!

Coming back to the advantage heavy people have: while registering in the morning all team members are weighted. We don’t know why, is it worthwhile to remember our weight? We forget to ask. At the end of the day when the results are presented it is explained: 10% of the weight of the team in kilos is being subtracted from the penalty points, “to counter the advantage of thin, fast and sporty people a bit.” The WOR, each year more surprising.

Analysis

Last year we found out that, though you improve yourself, you can go back in the rankings: a lot of good teams participated that year. This year we wanted to be better than last year, but more importantly we wanted to have a day full of fun. We were rewarded a third place of the mixed teams.

	2015	2016	2017
Total CPs	71	86	91
Total standard CPs	39	61	66 *
Total special CPs	32	25	25
Found CPs	45 (63%)	60 (70%)	76 (84%)
Found standard CPs	25 (64%)	37 (61%)	54 (82%) *
Found special CPs	20 (63%)	23 (92%)	22 (88%)
Standard CPs correct	24 (96%)	35 (95%)	51 (94%) *
Special CPs correct	15 (75%)	18 (78%)	17 (77%)

*) G & P checkpoints count as standard CP with a penalty of 30 minutes.

Spotting seals at the Westerschelde

Autumn, start of the packrafting season. Little rain has fallen this autumn causing low water levels in the Ardennes rivers. Plan B is flat water in the Netherlands: the Westerschelde.

Saturday we’ve explored a part of the Verdronken Land van Saeftinge (“the Lost Land of Saeftinge”), on Sunday the Plaat van Ossenisse. Small packrafts floating among big ocean-going vessels.

Eastern winds cause low temperatures. People we meet on the beach ask if it’s not too cold for sailing and if we’re taking the currents into account. They seem to think packrafting in these conditions is extreme?

Back on the beach we find a more extreme activity. A man undresses and goes into the water in his swimming shorts. On the beach he leaves behind a pile of clothes and his shoes. After a minute of adjusting to the cold he dives into the water. No dry-suit, no wet-suit, no beer-belly with insulating fat. Fifteen minutes later he’s back on the beach, still healthy. Amazing.

And the seals… they choose swimming over sunning on a breezy sandbank. We’ve counted around ten seal heads appearing out of the water. Are we curious to see seals or are the seals curious to see these inflatable intruders?

Photographs

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Packraft course of The Low Countries*

The packrafting scene in Europe is growing! The Swedish Packrafting Roundup (Jacob) (Konstantin) was organized in May, now is the time for the packraft course of The Low Countries* followed by a tour on the Allier.

Surviving white water

We meet Servaes Timmerman at the camp site in Réotier. He’ll teach us about white water. It will be his first impression of packrafts, for a number of us it will be a first encounter with white water.

The course is best described in pictures and a small anecdote:
On the third day of the course we’re on the Ubaye. Servaes goes to an eddy and tells us to disembark and scout the next stretch of the river: we need to determine our own line in a river filled with a number of big boulders. Servaes will take pictures at the end of the boulders. I leave the boat and climb onto a big boulder. Jan-Ivo just finished scouting and passes by in his yellow packraft.

The rest looks easy, I don’t look any further and walk back to re-enter the water. The part I’ve just scouted is not that difficult. At the end of the stretch the noise of the river rises. A rapid…
I round the last boulder and see the rapid. I see Servaes sitting on top of big a boulder. At that moment thoughts come to mind: “Of course Servaes is waiting at the most exciting part of the river.” The most exciting part, the part I didn’t scout…

Two things I’ve learned this course that I won’t forget:
1. Kayakers are lazy.
2. How to eat French bread without hurting your palate.
… and maybe a thing or two about paddling technique. 😉

Cowboycamping along the Allier

Splendid days, hot, 30C. It’s a pleasure to be engulfed by cold water once in a while. The Allier is a varied river, quiet stretches alternated by wilder water, sometimes wide, sometimes so small that one packraft barely fits. We’re rafting all day and bivvy along the river. Cooking on the bonfire and sleeping under the stars, what more does a man want.

Maybe it’s not only the kayakkers that are lazy…

*) The Low Countries is the name of Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and a small part of France during the Middle Ages. The people that participated consisted of Belgians and Dutchmen.