NBH Hike-II: Dinant

Some places are worth visiting once while some beacon you to come over time and again. Dinant, a birthplace of Saxophone, in the south Belgium is one such place that would attract you again and again. The view of Meuse, atop Citadel is mesmerizing, not to mention the breathtaking view of the Citadel itself hanging on the cliff from below. The place is also a known attraction for adventurous sports like kayak, rock climbing etc. and there are more than one spots to hang out. In short, for more reasons than one, I could not resist to join the 2nd NBH hike to Dinant in spite of visiting it once during the last year.

Dinant Citadel from below

River Musse and Dinant City from atop Citadel

River Meuse and Dinant View from atop Citadel

Unguided Citadel Tour in the Dark

The day started with the tour of the famous Dinant Citadel. No two trips can be identical and that makes every trip exciting. While I had toured Citadel under the tutelage of a guide (read poking into history and similar (boring to many)stuff) last year. This time around, NBH decided to embark upon an unguided tour to save crucial time. The most exciting part obviously was an unbalanced ground created because of the WW-II shelling. Walking on disoriented/inclined surface gave nauseatic feeling (similar to some Disney world rides) to most of us....an experience to remember indeed!!!

NBH Hikers conquering Disoriented Floor

While the Citadel caretaker generously allowed us to visit the Citadel on our own, he (probably) forgot to switch on the lights inside. This gave us an opportunity to taste life in Citadel in pre-electricity era and the visit can as well be termed as "The Dark Unguided tour of Citadel". Candles would have certainly added to the flavor... What u guys say? Good to use them during the next visit??

Marleen and her book

At the end of the Citadel tour, I could spot Marlene* reading a novel on Egypt. When I queried, she had a logical reply, "We plan to do 26kms in 6hrs, you imagine 6 hrs for 26 kms? I guess that would give me a lot of time to walk through the book while you guys walk the distance." Point taken...

This NBH hike could actually called a hike as it involved some inclined distance patches in patches. This is not that typical for Belgium as most of the region is as flat as a Billiard table. Most memorable part in the hike would have been the tranquil patch near the ruins. The sound of flowing water was reminiscent of a flutist playing a mystique tune.

Picturescue Ruins

Lake Amidst Tranquility

Most tough part for most of us must have been walking up 400steps towards the end of the hike. They appeared to be mountain to surpass. Had trolleys been functional, many of us would have opted for them to go up.

Canons Versus Nikons

I am waiting for an NBH hike when the number of cameras increase the number of hikers. Fortress of Canons usually, this NBH hike saw as many Nikons as Canons. The photos were extremely competitive too. I wish it's a new beginning...

Tomas - A lone Belgian :(

Tomas himself had a good observation at the end of the hike. He was the only Belgian in the group for the hikers. He wanted NBH to go international last year and is implementing his plans to take the group in that direction. Not this way tough...Steven, Xavier, Jeroon, Koen: See you next time.

Finally, A group picture...

NBH Group of Hikers

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* Most of the readers should know Marleen to understand/imagine/appreciate her predicament. Extremely fit athlete and known to set up pace in the group, she is a very regular runner covering 70kms every week.....yeah, you read it right....70kms every week. I for one will take a life time to run 70km :)