Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure

The Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure are five connected reservoirs built between 1970 and 1978 to regulate the flow of the Sambre for navigation, covering around six hundred hectares of water with about seventy kilometres of shoreline, which makes them by a distance the largest body of water in Belgium. Because the flooding was recent, the drowned valley shapes are still legible and the water is deep and clean, and the lakes have become the country's main inland centre for sailing, windsurfing, waterskiing and, unusually, scuba diving, with training sites in the deeper sections. Two dams can be visited, and a tower on the Barrage de la Plate Taille gives a view over the whole system. A large holiday village and adventure park sit on the shore.

What you actually see

• Five linked reservoirs - the largest water surface in Belgium.
• The Plate Taille dam and tower - a view over the whole system.
• Inland scuba diving - training sites in the deeper water.
• Seventy kilometres of shoreline - walking and cycling routes around the lakes.

When to go

May to September for the water activities; the shoreline paths work year round. A day or a weekend. Belgian school holidays are busy. Water sports require booking with the operators on site.

Honest expectations

It is an artificial reservoir system and looks it in places, with concrete dams and a large holiday village. Water activities are commercial and separately charged. The water is cold even in summer. Some shoreline is closed as water catchment.

Nearby

Chimay is west; the Fondry des Chiens lies east near Nismes.