The River Of Adventure

Hills. Forests... Overhead bridges...Camp sites... Towering Castles.. Gigantic rocks... and 21 kms of adventure... down the Lesse river in kayak, from Houyet to Anseremme.

It was too good to be true... 5hrs of river adventure...rapids , and water turbulences along the way... Beautiful people around in other boats... Gosh, was it a dream ?

I had been plotting kayaking for a while, but was waiting for weather God to relent. To reach Houyet, I had to switch trains twice, once at Ottignies and another at Dinant. By 12 noon, I was in the boat. I was told that it was not uncommon for people to tumble into water !!

So the descent started. Lesse cuts through the mountains, forests as it makes way to join river Meuse ( remember Dinant? check my earlier blog ). It is originates near Han (the groot grotte : Han-sur-lesse).

It was just like they show on National Geographic Channel... making way down through the thick forests, with river strewn with fallen boughs and jutting underwater boulders! The flow of water is not much, as the slope is very gentle. However the two rapids (later) more than made up for the excitement.



On the way there were plenty of places to take to the pebbled shore for a picnic break, and many a groups had done so. I was single and decided to pull on. Everyone connected with "boyuu" ( pronounciation for bonjour), and I met Germans, French and Dutch folks along the way. Fritiries ( place where you get plenty of Belgian fries, or frites along with beer ) were always full of people hogging, chatting to glory.

Twice, trains passed me on the overhead bridges. Twice I had a narrow escape, preventing a tumble into water. Almost all along, there were ducks either resting or many times floating with the water current and along your boat. Words desert me to capture the whole atmosphere. You have to be there to feel it, experience it.




"Look over there", and as I brought my boat to a halt, a towering castle suddenly came into view. The river had turned, and forest on the sides gave way to a meadow, exposing a distant castle ! A french couple took my snap, and I took theirs and promised to share the snaps through email!!

100m ahead, I could hear people shrieking! Whats going on... The first big rapid! Shucks, too good. But I was down in a fraction, and the boat slammed against the water, only to wet me a bit and resurface in the calm waters below. Phew!

But I was not so lucky at next big hurdle, when disaster struck. 40 seconds from disaster.. I notice a bigger, more a more wilder rapid is 50 m ahead. Action stations..... 20 seconds from disaster..... The boat is steady and on the verge of plunging into wild water. 18 seconds from disaster..... Here goes. Splash....15s... Success Hurray... Blistering Barnalces...12s, the boat's nose takes a 90 deg to left. 10s... I slam into a towed boat. It disengages from the shore and starts drifting! 8s... I thought that was all and I had survived. Someone in another boat had caught the adrift boat, and now it was secure..

6s to disaster. I steady my boat, and notice a beautiful girl standing up in her boat to get to shore. Distracted. That was enough for my boat to loose direction. 4s.. I stared in horror as my boat slid sidesways towards a broken wooden tree trunk, towards the right of the river. 2s... Thats it..game over. Whamm...boat comes to a halt after slamming into the wooden trunk, which holds the boat at 45 degress to surface normal, with the gushing water filling the boat.



5s after the disaster. I am totally drippingly drenched. Kayak is jammed, between gushing water on one side and the trunk on the other side, and me stuck in the boat. But ! Allah be blessed, I am close to shore, with water not even knee deep. I pull myself out and tried hauling the boat to shore, but it wont move. The water in the boat had made it like a rock itself. Shucks. Quick, need to empty the boat, before I lose it. My first attempt was a failure, as i could hardly make it budge. I was exhausted after 3 hours of oaring, a bit of back ache...wet..a sinking feeling of being stuck...But there is no other way out blistering barnacles, and this time, I used the direction of water flow to swivel it over, and it worked, by thunder!! Hurrah...Relieved. Saved... It was as light as a feather now! After hauling it up, I steadied the boat, took a deep breath and started the final leg of the journey. In an hour, I had reached to get-off point, and a glorious adventurous day ended, quite peacefully.

3 cheers