Canal d'Ille-et-Rance

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Canal d'Ille-et-Rance
Beginning of the canal in Rennes at the Vilaine lock

Beginning of the canal in Rennes at the Vilaine lock

Water code FRJ --- 0142
location France , Brittany region
length 84 km
class <I.
Beginning Junction from the canalised Vilaine in the urban area of Rennes
The End It flows into the Rance estuary at the Le Châtelier seawater lock , near Lyvet , municipality of La Vicomté-sur-Rance
Descent structures 48
Ports Rennes , Dinan
Used river Ille and Rance
Outstanding structures Hédé lock staircase
Information center, museum in the lock keeper's house of the La Madeleine lock near Hédé
Kilometrage from Rennes towards the Atlantic
Dinan Rance.JPG
The canal near the city of Dinan

The Canal d'Ille-et-Rance is part of a shipping route that connects the cities of Rennes and Saint-Malo , in the French region of Brittany . In the estuary of the Rance, the shipping route is heavily dependent on the tides . The actual shipping canal therefore ends, strictly speaking, at the Le Châtelier sea ​​water lock , near Lyvet , in the municipality of La Vicomté-sur-Rance . On his way he crosses the departments of Ille-et-Vilaine and Côtes-d'Armor . In Rennes, the canal is connected to the also navigable river Vilaine , which in turn crosses the Canal de Nantes à Brest at Redon and then flows into the Atlantic Ocean on the south coast of Brittany .

Course and technical infrastructure

The Canal d'Ille-et-Rance has a length of 84 kilometers, is a canal of the watershed type and uses the canalized rivers Ille and Rance on its route . It begins in the middle of the city of Rennes, runs generally north-west and overcomes a height difference of 25 meters with 20 locks on the Ille side . The apex is near the municipality of Hédé-Bazouges and is fed by five lakes with a water capacity of over 7 million cubic meters. On the Rance side, 28 locks lead down to sea level with a height difference of 63 meters. The lock staircase of Hédé is particularly striking here , where eleven locks follow one another over a total length of around two kilometers.

Coordinates

Places on the canal

history

Throughout the 18th century, designs were made for a waterway link between Saint-Malo and Rennes. An inland water connection was necessary in order to circumvent the sea ​​blockade imposed by the English and to provide work for the Breton farmers who lived in great poverty. In 1804, under Napoleon I , construction work finally began. At first, work progressed well, but after the defeat of his army in Russia, construction work was stopped altogether around 1814. In 1822 the project was resumed by a private company and completed by 1832.

Economical meaning

The canal is used relatively little today and is almost exclusively used for tourism for sports boats and houseboats .

Web links

Commons : Canal d'Ille-et-Rance  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Les Guides fluviaux EDB, Bretagne , Editions du Breil, 1999, ISBN 2-913120-07-5
  • David Edwards-May: Inland waters of France , 5th edition, Verlag Edition Maritim, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-922117-61-9

Individual evidence

  1. a b The information on the length of the canal is based on the information on the Canal d'Ille-et-Rance at SANDRE (French), accessed on November 10, 2011, rounded to full kilometers.

See also