The Els, also called Elsbach (formerly Elzbach), is a stream about 22 kilometers long in the Vorrhön in Lower Franconia and a right tributary of the Streu. The Els source is on the east side of the Heidelstein (926 m above sea level) in the Franconian Rhön in the Lange Rhön nature reserve in an open field. After a few hundred meters, the stream passes under the state road 2286 and initially flows eastwards in the area of the market town of Oberelsbach. Accompanied by the state road, the young Els reaches a forest area, changes its flow direction to the southeast and runs through the Mühlwiesen nature reserve in the Elsbach valley at the foot of the Gangolfsberg (737 m above sea level) below the Teufelskeller and the Prismenwand. The Els leaves the forest and then flows through the villages of Ober- and Unterelsbach. There it is strengthened by its largest tributary, the Sonder, which also rises on the Heidelstein. It then crosses the border to the municipality of Bastheim and reaches the historic Besengau. The Els flows through the villages of Simonshof and the core town of Bastheim to Geckenau, where the Braidbach flows into it. In the next town of Wechterswinkel, the Els is reinforced by the Frickenbach, which rises near Frickenhausen, close to the largest natural lake in Lower Franconia, the Frickenhäuser See. It then leaves the Besengau and reaches Unsleben, where it passes under the Schweinfurt-Meiningen railway line and then flows into the Streu, a tributary of the Franconian Saale. (Wikipedia)