Belgium 2019-10-20 - Packraft Dijle
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 7.98 nm
- Elevation gain
- 144 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Easy
- Elevation loss
- 171 ft
- Max elevation
- 175 ft
- TrailRank
- 25
- Min elevation
- 32 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Time
- 3 hours 43 minutes
- Coordinates
- 888
- Uploaded
- October 20, 2019
- Recorded
- October 2019
near Korbeek-Dijle, Flanders (Belgique)
Viewed 523 times, downloaded 8 times
Itinerary description
On a dark and gloomy mid-October Sunday I meet up with Evert and Glen in Leuven. Originally, the plan was to packraft the Dijle river from the language border until Wilsele, but as the weather forecast is far from good, we decide to shorten and put in at the village of Korbeek-Dijle. As feared and expected, it starts raining relatively intensely right away...
The river initially meanders through meadows and woodlands. We reach a sand trap, have to portage the locks, and pass the building where I used to work at the time I was affiated with the Flanders Make research institute. The Arenberg castle, its watermill, and a passage through a park with majestic trees follow, until we reach "De Grote Spui", a remnant of Leuven's ancient city walls.
We pass the beguinage and have fun at a rapid. Somehow we are (falsely) led to believe that the passage of the rapid was not caught on video, and therefore backtrack upstream through a parallel canal, where we meet several obstacles that can only be bypassed with some effort. After a second passage of the rapid, we continue moving north through the city.
Eventually, we pass the long and dark tunnel below the Artois brewery, and finish our trip in the industrial zone near Wilsele, after having paddled close to 15 km.
In conclusion: a really fun trip despite the quite unfavorable weather, with a variety of themes ranging from pastoral landscapes to the Arenberg castle, the medieval heart of Leuven, and the industry north of it.
The river initially meanders through meadows and woodlands. We reach a sand trap, have to portage the locks, and pass the building where I used to work at the time I was affiated with the Flanders Make research institute. The Arenberg castle, its watermill, and a passage through a park with majestic trees follow, until we reach "De Grote Spui", a remnant of Leuven's ancient city walls.
We pass the beguinage and have fun at a rapid. Somehow we are (falsely) led to believe that the passage of the rapid was not caught on video, and therefore backtrack upstream through a parallel canal, where we meet several obstacles that can only be bypassed with some effort. After a second passage of the rapid, we continue moving north through the city.
Eventually, we pass the long and dark tunnel below the Artois brewery, and finish our trip in the industrial zone near Wilsele, after having paddled close to 15 km.
In conclusion: a really fun trip despite the quite unfavorable weather, with a variety of themes ranging from pastoral landscapes to the Arenberg castle, the medieval heart of Leuven, and the industry north of it.
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