Family Canoe trip on the Semois (BE)

In the first week of May 2007 we set out for a canoe trip on the Semois (Ardennes). We can assure you the Semois is worth canoeing. The river has still its original curves and there  isn't any industry. Only some left watermills, working or not.
You can paddle the Semois over a length of 145 km. We selected the traject between Chiny and Dohan (Bouillon), which had a length of about 50 km. We scheduled to do this in three days, so there was  time left to visit Bouillon and to do some walking in the forest nearby our base camp. 
To fit the whole family dry on the river, we needed to rent a second canoe locally. Originally we planned to do this traject at a stretch with all our things in the canoe.  Due to a combination of a long period of dry sunny weather (low water level) and the flexibility of the local rentals it was practical to do the tour on a day to day basis.  The biggest advantage for us; We could leave our camp at the campsite of Florenville.
Our girls were at that time 12 & 14 and the benjamin of the family was 6 years old.

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A view from the hills, close to Chiny, on the Semois in the direction of Florenville. You can see the characteristic winding curves of the river through the woods, which are great for easy canoeing.

The same curve around Chiny  of the Semois now taken from our own canoe. With our daughters in the rented canoe.

Pick nick in the sun on one of the few pebble beaches along the Semois.

The descend from a weir in the Semois close to Chassepierre. The water that flushed the canoe bow when it dipped into a back roller caused some wet feet inside the canoe.

The Semois just after leaving Florenville. In the back the Church with its belvedere over the Semois.

The rocks at the outside bends and the meadows at inside of the river Semois. Plenty of sunshine, what could one wish more on a nice canoe trip.

Paddling along the remains of an old bridge near Chassepierre. The flourishing Water Crowfoot shows us the direction of the currents inside the river bed.
Normally it's advantageous to keep the canoe in the direction of the main stream, in this case it doesn’t improve our speed of canoeing at all.

This picture clearly shows different approach leads to different outcome. While the women team pass the weir without any trouble, my boat went down.
The main current just after the left side weir bend to the right and our boat was flipped by the eddy.

Because we rented the canoe on a day to day basis we could easily switch from  a Canadian canoe to two kayaks.
Also because the luggage stayed at the campsite in Florenville and we didn't  had to transport it  within the canoes.

A tree which fell over and was dragged with the flow, now splits the Semois in two.

The end of our paddling trip on the Semois at the stone bridge of Dohan. An eight minute car drive back to our starting point.