Ardennes Weekend: Mountain Biking, Climbing and Campfires with CrossFit Leiden

The weekend starts Friday evening. You make your own way to Purnode — about a 3.5-hour drive from Leiden, and carpooling is encouraged — and arrive at the Adventure Camp from 18:00. The first night is a campfire evening, an easy introduction before Saturday's activity. You sleep in spacious 10-person tents on wooden platforms, with a dining tent, a cooking tent and proper sanitary facilities at Domaine du Bocq.

Saturday is the big day. Breakfast at 08:30, then the morning programme from 09:30: mountain biking across the area at different levels, with views and muddy descents, followed by the shooting games — a tournament with crossbow, bow and air rifle, plus Archery Tag. Lunch at 12:30, then the rotation continues from 13:30. At 19:00 a private chef serves the BBQ de Luxe outdoors, and from 22:00 it's back around the fire for marshmallows and stories.

Sunday you earn the view. Breakfast at 08:30, then from 10:00 you choose: climbing, abseiling and the via ferrata on the rocks of an old quarry, up to 40 metres high, or high rope courses and high events with abseiling in the woods. The weekend wraps up at 13:00, with an optional lunch before departure.

What separates this from a standard activity weekend is that it's a gym community trip. The group is capped at 30, everyone travels together, eats together and sits around the same fire, and the activities are pitched so that different fitness levels can take part in the same session. It's also genuinely outdoors — tents, a stream, no camp beds, a starry sky and silence at night.

All activities are led by certified Rocks 'n Rivers instructors, and travel and accident insurance covers participants during the activities. The Rochers du Bocq quarry, where the climbing and via ferrata take place, is a half-hour walk from camp.

What's included

- 2 nights at the Adventure Camp (tent camp at Domaine du Bocq) - 2x breakfast - 1x lunch - BBQ de Luxe with a private chef - All activities and equipment - Professional Rocks 'n Rivers instructors - Travel and accident insurance for the activities - Firewood for two campfire evenings

What's not included

- Transport to and from the Ardennes - Extra drinks and snacks outside the meals - Sleeping bag - Sleeping mat or air mattress - Pillowcase and sheet - Optional lunch before departure on Sunday