Alte Fahrt Lock Gates (Dortmund-Ems Canal)

The Alte Fahrt is a disused section of the Dortmund-Ems-Kanal on the Dattelner Meer. The section is about 9 km long, has been renatured and now houses biotopes. It leads from dates to Münsterland.

Today it is a calm body of water, on the banks of which you can easily walk or cycle to the town of Olfen.

The Old Passage is the name given to a disused section of the Dortmund-Ems Canal near Olfen. The 8,650-meter-long section stretches from the Datteln canal junction (canal kilometer 21.5) to beyond Olfen (30.3 km) and is accompanied by a footpath and cycle path. The Dortmund-Ems Canal was opened in 1899. In the area of the Old Passage, the canal was equipped with particularly high embankments, higher than twelve meters at 5,600 meters and higher than nine meters at 2,775 meters. In addition, five canal overpasses were built in this area, three of which were road crossings and crossings of the Lippe and Stever. From 1929 to 1937, the first new, fast route was built from Datteln towards Lüdinghausen. In total, the Dortmund-Ems Canal received eight "second passages". They had become necessary in order to accommodate the increased volume of traffic with larger types of ships. In particular, the bridge structures, which did not allow ships to pass each other, had previously delayed the rapid transport of goods. The construction was also a job creation measure by the National Socialists, and was completed by prisoners from the Börgermoor concentration camp after they seized power. Source: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alte_Fahrt_(Dortmund-Ems-Kanal)