Meerle - Canal Dessel Schoten Rijkevorsel - St-Lenaerts

This is a GPS recording of May 6, 2020 in corona time

The Dessel-Turnhout-Schoten Canal is a canal in the Belgian province of Antwerp. It connects the Bocholt-Herentals Canal in Dessel with the Albert Canal in Schoten. It is one of the seven Kempische canals between the Meuse and the Scheldt.
The construction of the canal was started in 1844 and two years later the Dessel - Turnhout section was completed. The connection between Turnhout and Schoten was started in 1854, but it would take until 1875 before the canal was completed along its entire length.

This canal was intended to free the Kempen from its stamp of disadvantaged territory. The following arguments were put forward for this argument:  There were hardly any transport options here: no paved roads, navigable waterways or railways. Thus, the local industry would never flourish. A canal was necessary for the export of manufactured goods and the import of raw materials.  But even more important than transport, was the irrigation of the dry soils. The construction of canals would supply the calcareous water of the Meuse so that the wild heathlands were converted into fertile agricultural land.