Micro-adventure in the Ardennes: the Packraft trail

The Packraft trail is a self-sufficient adventure offered by Travelbase. The goal of this adventure is to combine hiking and water navigation aboard a packraft, an inflatable boat carried in its backpack during the hike.

For this first packraft experience, we set off to the French Ardennes for two days departing from the Travelbase base camp. However, the agency also offers other adventures of varying lengths in other countries (Luxembourg, Balkans, Slovenia).

The Packraft trail offered by Travelbase starts at their base camp in the French Ardennes at Haulmé.

The two days of hiking and paddling are organized around this base camp. You will leave the campsite in the morning and return there in the evening. On site, you will be welcomed by a ranger who will be your point of contact for the entire weekend. They will provide you with all the necessary equipment and brief you on the 2 days ahead.

This is also where you will set up your tent and have breakfast in the morning and, if you wish, enjoy the evening after your day of expedition.

For our adventure, we chose to arrive at base camp on Friday evening to save the Saturday morning journey (an extra night is available as an option). By making this choice, we slept well and were full of energy for the start of our adventure the following morning.

Arriving at Haulmé, in the French Ardennes, we were welcomed by Camille, our ranger. She will take care of everything during our stay, she will organize the campsite. It is also she who will give us our equipment with all the necessary explanations so that we can go on our adventure alone.

The Packraft trail takes place in two stages, each being a loop starting from the base camp.

After lunch and collecting our equipment on Saturday morning during the general briefing, we decide to start the adventure with a 23 km loop from the base camp, crossing the town of Monthermé. This stage begins with 8 km of kayaking on the Semoy towards Monthermé, so we start preparing by inflating the kayaks and packing our belongings onto the boat.

After a few attempts to find the best technique, we embark on our packraft and let ourselves be carried by the gentle current of the Semoy. The routes are designed so that the kayaking part is always in the direction of the current, so don't worry, you won't need bodybuilder arms to navigate the river. 😊

This first stage in the packraft winds through the Semoy valley, alternating between wide, calm sections and a few more "technical" sections where you'll need to be careful of the rocks in the path.

After 8 km of packrafting, we reach the Meuse River and the town of Monthermé. It's time for us to get out of the water, deflate the kayak, and pack the equipment into our backpacks before starting the day's hiking section. This hike begins with an ascent to reach the viewpoint of the Rock of the 7 Villages. We follow winding paths through the forest before arriving at a 360-degree panorama of the surrounding villages. Once the summit is reached, we continue our walk towards the Meuse Valley, following technical and winding paths along the hillside.

We cross the Meuse River and already begin a new ascent of a small wooded hill separating the village of Bogny from the village of Tournavaux. Along the way, we discover the statue of the Four Sons of Aymon, from the legend of the four sons of Duke Aymon who fled Charlemagne following a family quarrel. This part of the hike is less technical than the first ascent, we follow forest paths, sometimes having to create a passage through the abundant nature.

Having arrived in Tournavaux, we still have a few kilometers of flat terrain to reach the Packraft Trail base camp in Haulmé.

We begin this second day with a hike. We leave the base camp and take the direction of the village of Tournavaux. Arrived in Tournavaux, we start climbing towards the auberge Chez Rosa where we take a path through the forest.

This path gently descends towards the town of Naux through the forest until the Naux footbridge.
This is where we decide to put our boats in the water and navigate back to the base camp.

We will navigate for a few kilometers in a picturesque setting before rejoining the base camp and completing this 2-day adventure.

Are you looking for an extraordinary adventure to push your comfort zone a little? Are you an experienced adventurer who wants to enjoy supervision and a friendly atmosphere in an incredible natural setting? Then the Packraft Trail is for you!

This was our first packraft discovery experience and we're thrilled to have been able to do it with Travelbase. Well-supervised, we spent a fantastic weekend exploring part of the French Ardennes bordering Belgium!

We dream of only one thing: to go again with Travelbase on one of their many adventures.