Schwarzenberský Plavební Kanál

In 2002 we had our summer holiday in the Czech Republic. I could not find a canal on the map as I read in a book about South Bohemia that there should be a canal close to the German and Austrian border: the Schwarzenbersky Plavebni Kanal. The canal was built between 1789 and 1823 and should even have a tunnel.
Equipped with bicycle and map I try to approach the canal as close as possible with my car. There are some roads on the map which lead to the canal but actually they are all forbidden territory for cars. I park my car in Stožec on a surveyed parking place near the station. I go up a country-road by bicycle. After a heavy climb I arrive at the spot where the canal must be situated but I only see a dry ditch. I cycle further along this ditch. When I take a better look at it I see it has been constructed with edges of stone and a stone floor. After some time I realize that this exactly must be the canal I read about.
	After cycling a few miles I arrive at a tunnel. The tunnel goes right though the Prešivec-hill. It has an entrance which is festively decorated: It looks like the gateway of a castle. I walk through the tunnel but it is locked after ten meters with an iron gate. I follow the path over the hill and discover the canal at the other end of the tunnel. There are a few houses. This must be the village of Jeliní. They sell drinks. The menu card is in Czech and I can't read it. I ask in German if they have something to eat. The girl at the counter only speaks a few words of German. I see something ‘mit Senf und Brot’ on the card. The order appears to be a sausage with a slice of bread and a little mustard. It tastes very good.
After finishing the bread with sausage I cycle on. The canal runs somewhat steep down here and meets another little canal down. It looks like a railway-switch of a wooden toy-train. From there water is running through the canal. The canal is sloping continuously. I cycle somewhat downhill all the time.
	All the elements required building a canal can be viewed. I see an overflow which dates from 1843. There is also a wooden construction by which a mountain stream flows partially into and partially over the canal. I also see an aqueduct. The canal follows the slopes of the mountain and about six meters below it, a river runs coming from the slopes.
I am surprised by the number of Czechs walking and cycling along the canal. I see entire families, sport-clubs and fathers cycling with their young children. The fading of sunlight through the foliage gives the canal a special, idyllic character.
After cycling some kilometers I see an information sign about the canal. The Schwarzenberský Plavební Kanál has been built between 1789 and 1823 by order of the Prince of Schwarzenberg according to a plan of Josef Rosenauer. The prevailing dimensions of the canal 2,50 meters in width and 1 meters in depth. It is built in two fases. The section of the canal I started (until the tunnel near Jeliní) is built later (1821-1823). The section I am standing now, has been built before. The length of the entire canal is about 52 kilometers. The canal starts at the Czech-German border at the brook of Světlá and runs to the east. It runs over the European watershed of Elbe and Danube to the river Große Mühl in Austria. The Große Mühl discharges into the Danube. The Schwarzenberský Plavební Kanál has been used for about hundred years to transport timber in the direction of Vienna. Almost eight million cubic meters of timber were transported during this time. The transport to Vienna lasted until 1891. The last transport of timber to Haslach was dated in 1916. In the high-days of the canal about 800 people were necessary for the floating of timber.
Later I discover another canal for the transport of timber on my cycling map: the Vchynickó-Tetovsky Plavební Kanál. This canal has been built in the same period (1799-1800) and is situated high along the mountain slopes at about 900 meters above sealevel. The canal runs from the river Vydra to the river Křemelná. In this canal I see plenty of water. There are some beautiful stone bridges over the water.
	Some kilometers further I begin to understand the reason why there is so much water in the canal. The water is drawn off and is used for a hydroelectric power station. Behind the power station all the water is vanished and I can have a good look at the construction of the canal. Especially at the more steep sections, the edges of the canal are built with huge stones and the floor is constructed of huge stone slabs. Sometimes sections of the floor are made out of wood.
I can take a better look at the construction of the canal when I arrive at a shunt of the canal. The construction is exposed by the decay. On this sloping section two massive beams are laid parallel on which massive cross-beams are nailed every meter and a half. The nails are more than thirty centimeters long. The space between the cross-beams are filled with massive stones. On top op it the actual floor was constructed with beams.

A little bit further I arrive at the end of the Vchynicko-Tetovsky Plavebni Kanal at U Sedla. We are 840 meters above sea-level. From here it goes steep down. The original construction though has been replaced in 1939 by a concrete tube.