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Belgium Tunnel Godardville

prettypeculiar

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The Godarville tunnel was a boatunnel and has a length of 1050 meters. 

In order to overcome the enormous differences in height on the Charleroi-Brussels canal, many locks were built in the Samme valley between Ronquières and Seneffe and a 1267 m long tunnel was built :  La Bête tunnel.

Soon there was a need for a canal with a larger capacity and between 1854 and 1857 the canal was enlarged for vessels up to 350 tons.

The old tunnel, however, formed a bottleneck and so it was replaced by the new tunnel of Godarville. As a result, the number of locks was limited to 30. After the Second World War it was decided to make the canal navigable for ships up to 1350 tons.

Since neither the Samme nor the tunnel of Godarville could make this enlargement, a new route had to be built between Ronquières and Godarville. . The tunnel is closed with large metal gates on both sides to keep the cold  out during the winter. On the south side, in the tunnel next to the canal, there is a towpath on which the horses towed the boats.

Dimensions

length: 1050 m

width: 8 m

maximum ship width: 5 m

maximum draft: 2.1 m

38761846662_48bba8a8ac_b.jpg


 

Andy

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Nice place. When were you there? I visited the tunnel seven years ago - see:



Later I was told that the access had been sealed. Is the tunnel open again? 

 

prettypeculiar

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the acces is sealed again, therefore this was the only picture i could take, struggling my tripod through a fence.

tho a bit later we came across a 'guide' who was walking a group of families (20! people) and according to him there was maybe a slight chance that the other part was open, but then again, we didn't feel like struggling another kilometre through the woods  in the opposite direction and  in deep mud with the risk of going back empty handed. 

 
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