Elisabethfehn Canal

The Elisabeth Fehn Canal was completed in 1893 as part of the Hunte-Ems Canal. It connects the Küstenkanal in Kampe with the Leda in Osterhausen. It is 18 m wide, up to 1.50 m deep, and 15 km long. Germany's last intact fen canal, with its seven bascule bridges, four operable locks, old brick roads, and rows of trees, is a listed monument.Today, the canal is primarily used by pleasure craft. Excellent cycling opportunities exist along the canal. Traces of the fen culture can still be experienced here and at the nearby Bollinger Canal. The fen colonies developed from the raised bog culture, in which moorland cultivation was carried out by creating drainage channels to manage the land. Along the canals, which also served as transport routes (e.g. for extracted peat), the often uniform settlement houses, the Fehnhäuser, were built.

Always along the canal, unfortunately the route is only partially passable, the other part is a bumpy affair. Overlooking the canal are plenty of benches to linger. The large trees provide shade.

HistoryThe present-day Elisabethfehn Canal was built between 1855 and 1893 and runs from the Küstenkanal near Kampe via Kamperfehn, Reekenfeld, and Elisabethfehn to the Sagter Ems near the Roggenberg farming community. Since 1935, the eastern section of the Hunte-Ems Canal has been part of the Küstenkanal, which connects to the Ems near Dörpen, which was later expanded to become the Dortmund-Ems Canal. The Ems-North Sea Waterways and Shipping Authority, part of the General Directorate for Waterways and Shipping, is responsible for the canal.When it was built, the Elisabethfehn Canal also served as a fen canal to develop the previously deserted moorland. During its construction, the first colonies, Moslesfehn (1871) and Elisabethfehn (1880), were established. The Cloppenburg–Ocholt railway line crosses the Elisabethfehn Canal in Elisabethfehn.From its opening until the end of the First World War, the sometimes busy shipping traffic served the peat industry. After the Second World War, commercial shipping took over.