Good news for all who are interested in swimming in Belgium’s rivers in 2022. The “Big Jump” event is planned for Sunday 10th July 2022.
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, all official events such as Big Jump regarding swimming in Belgium’s rivers were cancelled in 2020. But things are looking up for 2022!
Of course, you may think that swimming in Belgium’s rivers doesn’t sound too attractive. Especially when you look at the rivers around Brussels or some of the other major cities in Belgium. However, it seems that the water purity of the rivers in Belgium has been steadily increasing. An event taking place on Sunday July 10, 2022 aims to draw attention to the need to clean up our waterways in a fun way.
Big Jump, an initiative of the European Rivers Network (ERN), is an action for anyone who wants clean and living rivers. All over Europe thousands of people will be jumping in their local rivers, streams and lakes. And Belgium is one of Europe’s biggest participants. There are 15 locations in Flanders where you can jump in the river, and 13 places in Wallonia. The actual jumps will take place at 3 pm, but there are events and competitions before and after the actual plunges, most of which seem to be extremely family-oriented.
In addition, if you are looking for other ideas of where to go open air swimming in Belgium, consult my list of children’s outdoors activities in Belgium. They are listed per province.
Can one go fishing in the Brussels waterways and eat the fish
Personally I wouldn’t fish in the Brussels waterways, but elsewhere in Belgium there are many clean waterways where people fish, and presumably eat their catch. There are also many fishing clubs throughout Belgium that meet in specially created fishponds.