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The “Old Cruise” of the Dortmund-Ems Canal near Olfen
In Olfen the Ruhr area becomes the Münsterland region. Agriculture increases suddenly, there are floodplains and the density of settlements decreases. A tour on a bike or a walk is particularly worthwhile here: Olfen has also undergone an exciting development and experienced very special relics of a decommissioned infrastructure.
There is a closed bypass of one of the most important federal waterways in Germany, the Dortmund-Ems Canal. This is an approximately 226 km long artificial waterway between Dortmund and Papenburg on Ems.
The ceremonial opening took place on August 11, 1899, in the presence of Emperor Wilhelm II., after an extremely short construction period of just seven years. From the beginning, the main goals were to relieve the burden on the railways and simplify the transportation of coal from the Ruhr area.
The canal that runs to the North Sea should only be the first step for an entire waterway network. As a connection to the Elbe river, the Mittelland Canal, which of course was still called the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal at that time, was built a few years later.
The Dortmund-Ems Canal originally ran on the section between the Datteln Canal Cross with the nearby Henrichenburg boat lift and Münster city. Directly past the center of Olfen, where there was even a small port. However, the construction of a bypass around Olfen began as early as 1929.
The reason for this was the growing shipping traffic and, of course, new & larger dimensions of the ships. While the canal could simply be dredged wider elsewhere, it wasn´t so easy in Olfen, where the canal ran high above the surrounding country.
Since 1937 the canal has been running on a straightened and widened line southeast of the city. This is called New Cruise or Second Cruise, it´s the oldest of these kind on the Dortmund-Ems Canal. In the further course of the canal, there are a few more bypasses.
With the new cruise, the cruise that have now become the old cruise became less important. In the 1980s, partly because of the high cost of maintenance, it was decided to dismantle this section, with part of the canal and in particular the landscape bridges of Lippe river and Stever river remaining at the canal.
The canal character from the Datteln Sea towards Olfen is still preserved. In sections separated by transverse dams, a long biotope has emerged with a reduced water level, which ends at the former city port of Olfen. The canal is filled up in the city center.
Only at the northern end, where he meets the second cruise, has a marina been built on the old canal route. In the town center, it became an elongated green area on a high causeway with a tree trail. Today the cycle route "Dortmund-Ems Canal", the tour “around Olfen” and the “Stever floodplain trail” run on it.
The preserved Art Nouveau canal bridges from the Emperor period are architecturally impressive. The material is made of sandstone and cast-iron railings are installed in compatible style.