Weir and bicycle bridge close to "de threeprong" where the Helenavaart and Deurneskanaal come together. Follow the canal here in the direction of Meijel or Neerkant, or cross the canal here from Meijel / Neerkant to cycle towards Helenaveen and Griendtsveen.
The Deurne Canal is a 15-kilometer-long side channel of the Noordervaart. The canal starts in Limburg south of Meijel and then runs parallel to the Helenavaart in a northerly direction.
The Deurne Canal runs in a north-westerly direction, past the nature reserves Heitrakse Peel, 't Molentje and Deurnese Peel. At Griendtsveen, near the railway line, the Deurne Canal flows into the Defense Canal together with the Helenavaart. After this, the Defense Canal continues in a northerly direction.
Digging of the canal started in 1874 and was an initiative of the municipality of Deurne. Initially it was intended to drain the peat area and to transport the peat excavated in the Peel. The peat canals in the Deurnese Peel were connected to this canal. The neighborhoods in Helenaveen, however, were connected to the Helenaveen.
A well-known historical anecdote concerns the rivalry between the peat boss of the Griendt and the municipal peat company of Deurne. Van de Griendt refused to share his own canal (the Helenavaart) and forced the municipality to dig a new canal itself (the Deurne Canal). De Peel owes both the so-called "bayonet bend" and the "double channel" to this history.