Does anyone have experience paddling in Europe? I’m looking at paddling in the Netherlands or possibly Germany next year and would like to get a lead on an outfitter and destinations. I’d appreciate any help or advice.
Mike
Europe…
I’m a new paddler, but live in Germany…not sure what you’re interested in, WW or flatwater?
We’re flatwater paddlers right now, hoping to get some WW when we get more experience in the sport. If you’re looking for WW, the best I could suggest is the southern Germany / northern Austria area, lots of great areas in the Alps.
Flatwater - lots of it, just find a lake somewhere and put in. The cool thing about Germany is that the majority of the lakes do not allow any type of powerboats or jetskis…natural powered craft only. You may have to contend with large sailboats, windsurfers, or kitesurfers, but you won’t have to deal with powerboats that make large wakes.
I know you can paddle a lot of the flat rivers, but we’ve only tried one local river.
If you’re looking for outfitters, that might be harder to do, try this site: http://www.robsonpaddle.de/
click “English site”, or “start english” then try the dealers or kayaklink links…many of the dealers also do outfitting, training, and tours. If they don’t do it, many of the dealers have links to outfitters. Most are German language sites only, but some have English translation. If German only, you can try a translator program like http://www.babelfish.altavista.com/
but keep in mind that it does literal translations, not colloquial, so reading the translation can sometimes be as hard as trying to figure out the German!
Most Germans speak a fair amount of English, if you want to call one of the shops. Just ask them if they speak English, either in English or you can ask “Sprechen Sie English” (spoken = “Sprekken Zee…”). You are likely to get a reply like “a little bit”, which means they speak fairly well but don’t use it much and lack confidence in their ability to talk with you. Most times, if they don’t speak it well they will get someone else that does if available.
I don’t know what restrictions an outfitter may have on renting their stuff…i.e. number of days, or whether you have to paddle on thier routes or if you can just rent the stuff and go wherever you want. We own our own boats and haven’t used an outfitter, sorry about that one.
One other website in Austria (near Innsbruck)- try FeelFree rafting tours - http://www.adventure-center.at/en/index.html (hope I linked the English site correctly, if not, click on the British flag on the right side). FeelFree does mostly rafting, but when we went rafting last year there we saw a lot of kayaks. They don’t advertise them on the site, so it may be a partner business near them, but most of them speak good English. If they don’t do kayaking, they will gladly give you recommendations and phone numbers for folks that do.
Hope this helps a little.
netherlands
We have a lot of water in the Netherlands.
Canals , lakes and the sea. Only white water is missing.
Most interesting part of the sea is the Wadden.
It’s in the north between the mainland and a couple of islands.
I paddle there often with this guide;
http://www.wirdumerklap.nl/
In spring and authum he does guided (sea)tours in Portugal.
You can rent there or bring your own stuff, doesn’t matter.
I live near the Wieden.
it’s a nature reserve with lakes and canals.
Contakt me if you want the paddle there.
regards,