Backpacking:

Travelling with a backpack

Intro;

Last year after the end terms I had a few days spare time between my last test and my first camp.
My function on that camp, I think they call it youth counselor, I’m kind of in charge of the adventurous side. We take the youth from our town and we go camping in the Ardennes (kind of mountains in the east-side of Belgium).
As we sleep in tents for at least 11 days and living without warm water, good nights sleep, or even worse no internet!
To get in the mood I wanted to go on a multiple day hike through the north of France.

Preparation

First and for all: a plan!
On a second though no plan just go! Take essentials and go!
These essentials include;
A hammock tent I just bought online; a pretty cool hammock with a cover and a mosquito net.
Clothing: Some T-shirts, slacks, socks, a hat,….
A “gamel”: it’s a square shaped aluminum kooking -pot/-pan/dish
A camping fire; ofcourse how would I be able to cook otherwise?
Food & drink; I prefer weight efficient food; rice & veggies, for drink I make sure to always have 5 L. I’m going hiking not surviving in the wilderness.
Utilities: matches, rope, cutlery,…
Last but not least my dog. She doesn’t need much a leach and food

Destination

For a general direction I wanted to go abroad, this means, The Netherlands, Luxemburg, Germany & France.
Next criterium is: is it legal to camp in the wild?  For the Netherlands & Luxemburg it isn’t. This leaves only Germany and France. Where do I get the easiest? France is pretty accessible by train, crossing the border by train costs a lot. So I start looking for train station close to the French border.
My eyes fell on this spot:

A closer look:

In Beauraing there is a train station!

Day 1, Wednesday 21th of June

I have my backpack, my dog, a direction.
I had my last good nights sleep I woke up around 10 am, ate breakfast & headed to the train station. I had to switch trains 3 times, first to Ottignies where I got on the train to Namur, Once I got there the all trains were delayed or canceled because somebody made a fake bomb report. Luckily my train to Bouillon was one of the few that still was driving. I Arrived in Beauraing at 3 pm France was still a 10 km ( 6 miles walk ). I walked for Fromelennes. A small village that lays in a valley surrounded by hills. I could’ve walked straight to Fromelennes but that would be hard less an adventure. So I went south, I walked over hills trough woods not knowing anything besides I was going south-west. As I arrived there was no place to hang my hammock so I continued for Charnois. A small farming village with no more than 100 inhabitants. I wasn’t able to get there before sun down so I found some trees, cooked dinner and went to bed, for this day I walked more than 20 km or 12 miles with a backpack of 20 kilograms or 44 pounds. The route I walked contained a lot of hills so I was pretty tired.

My sleeping spot looked like this

As You can see a beautiful scenery. With my hammock to the left & my dog with my cooking gear to the right.

 

Day 2 Thursday 22th of June.

The first day you go for a nap in the nature, it is always a bad one. New day new challenges! Objective of the day getting to the river. What I forgot to mention is that there was a heatstroke at the moment, my 5 liters of water was already gone. So assertive as I am, I asked for some water at some residents. Whilst having a conversation with the residents, I also got directions to the river and they pointed me to a shortcut however you will have to hop over some fenced wired. With a freshly replenished drink and a new heading I hiked onwards towards the river. Yet I arrived at a cliff looking over the river, and I had to fight through some tough wilderness to get to the river bank.

After reaching the river bank I was not even 10:30 so I headed to Givet which is a small medieval city with a citadel. This is also the last town before the border with Belgium again. I reached there around midday however around this time it was the hottest part of the day and I already drank my 5 Liters of water. So I restocked with 3 more liters and I was just able to get to shade where I crashed down. Me & my dog we were overheated we stayed in the shade resting for an hour or two. Whilst resting I had time to think of my return home, so I had to find a train station. My eye fell on Anseremme a village I’ve being before around a 40 km walk, if I hike 15 more today, then the last day I would’ve just need to do 25 more! With the easiest route ever: Following the river.
After the hottest part of the day I started following the river which led into a small nature reserve where some rare and endangered birds could be found. Again my water supply is running low, but sufficient for today. At 5 pm I crashed due to exhaustion, my sleeping place a bridge I secured my hammock to rails attached to the bridge. After a quick meal I just rested until dusk to go to bed and sleep.

Day 3 Friday 24th of June.

This was a bad night some animals were coming close to me in the middle of the night. So my dog was barking a lot. To add insult to injury there was a construction a bit down the road so heavy loaded trucks passed the bridge starting 5 am. At 6 I was awake and ready to go. First priority of the day: get water. Just across the water there was an elder couple also awake and they offered me water, I thanked them and went on my way. I made good progress as it was still cool and early at a certain point I had to enter a fenced area at the river. In this area cows roamed and could do as they bid. It was also the first time my dog saw cows from close and I had to walk close to them. Meanwhile praying that my dog won’t startle the herd of cows.

In the middle of that area was a family camping. I mean the whole family, from grandparents to children. They fenced in a little part of the meadow with sticks and branches. They had tents, hammocks, a few dogs, a boat,…! As you can see there is a train close to the cows who didn’t move a bit. In the distance you can see the tents of that family. This closed area led into the nature reserve “Freyr” this is a very common spot for mountain climbers. Through this nature reserve runs a “G.E.” route this routes are an abbreviation for Grands Routes. They can be found trough whole of Europe and take you to the most beautiful places in Europe.
They were not lying:

This breathtaking trail ended in Anseremme where I had a train and I got home in the evening where I had a really big meal.
It was a really short trip but do not underestimate it I walked 25 km each day with 20 ish kg in heat of 35 degrees.
It took me to places I never was before, I met some interesting people.
It took a lot of blood sweat and tears but it was worth it.
Time to start planning my next expedition.

 

Pieter-Jan Bogaerts,

Nona the dog,