A lock tour through Elbe-Parey

Short Description

Our community offers plenty to see for people interested in technology and shipping. Due to our location, natural conditions, history, and general economic development, four locks have been built here. In three villages, these locks or their ruins can be visited. Thus, a lock tour is ideal for exploring our area. Sometimes you drive between forests, along the dyke, or by the canal. A varied tour with different attractions and facts.

Description

Stations of the lock tour:

A - My favorite place

B - Trinity Church Parey

C - Werder Bridge over the Elbe-Havel Canal (EHK)

D - Path along the EHK

E - Confluence of the old Ihle Canal into the EHK

F - Listed last Ihle Canal lock (single-chamber lock from 1868)

G - Village Church Bergzow

H - Village Church Güsen

I - Bridge over the old Ihle Canal, now a bypass for the lock facilities

J - New lock facility Zerben with mitre gates - for container shipping

K - Old listed towpath lock (including functional building) with a folding gate in the upper head and a mitre gate in the lower head.

L - Village Church of Plotho in Zerben

M - Plotho Castle and nearby sundial

N - Swimming opportunity in the gravel pit

O - Riedel fishery

P - Listed two-step lock Parey from 1891/92 with lifting gate and winch system

Q - Parey connection canal with influx of the old Plauer Canal

R - Bridge over cut to Kühnes Loch

S - View over Kühnes Loch

T - Technical monument Paltrock windmill

Directions

We start at the parking lot Your favorite place in Parey and head towards the village center. Our first stop is the Trinity Church in Parey. Next to the church is the memorial stone for the fallen of World War I. This remarkable work was inaugurated in 1934. The monument is made of red porphyry and shows a soldier bidding farewell to his wife and child. The names of the Parey residents who fell in the war are inscribed on the side parts next to the pictorial representation.

We return to the main street and continue towards Bergzow over the Werder Bridge and on the right side of the Elbe-Havel Canal (EHK). A nice ride along the water, below wooded spoil areas (earthworks from canal construction). Through the lock passage in Bergzow, you reach the listed last Ihle Canal lock, which is also the oldest in our community. As an ivy-covered cast iron plate on the chamber wall indicates, it was built in 1868 in the Ihle Canal. Both the chamber built of yellow bricks and the bypass channel are still well preserved. The chamber measures 67 m x 8 m. The Bergzow lock lost its function when the Ihle Canal and the Plauer Canal were connected to the Elbe-Havel Canal in 1927/28 through the Parey cut. It is a remarkable part of the long-standing canal and lock history of our region. Not far from the lock stands the village church of Romanesque origin.

The journey continues over fields and meadows to Güsen until the next church, a half-timbered building with a solid tower, is reached. From the church, take the path along well-kept house plots to the bridge over the old Ihle Canal, which is now a bypass for the lock facilities. Here at the weirs of the bypass channel, it is worth taking a break or a walk.

A few meters further, you can see the two locks of Zerben. The listed towpath lock with a folding gate in the upper head and a mitre gate in the lower head was built from 1934 to 1938 in a cut near Zerben, which cut off a bend of the Ihle Canal. As already described, the old Ihle Canal route took on the role of a bypass for the lock. The chamber is 225 m long, and the width is 12 m. The functional buildings are also listed as historical monuments. Adjacent to it is the new lock, whose dimensions and water depth allow for container transport. The new chamber, built parallel to the existing one, is 190 m long and 12.5 m wide and equipped with mitre gates in the upper and lower heads. On 07.03.2018, a Polish vessel passed through the new lock, before it was officially opened to traffic on 19.03.2018, and the Seestern sailed through the lock from the upper water level. The construction of a new lock realized a project of the transportation project German Unity No. 17.

By bike, the journey continues to the Plotho Church in Zerben. The small Baroque church has some remarkable features, such as a baptismal font with confirmation dates of five of the six children of Marie and Felix von Plotho, three relief tombstones, and stained glass windows. Not far from the church, you can see the castle and the sundial. The castle is the birthplace of Baroness Elisabeth von Ardenne, born Edle and Freiin von Plotho, who inspired Theodor Fontane to his novel Effi Briest. The park opposite, as well as benches at the castle, invite you to linger. Continuing on the route, we reach the old gravel pit, which serves as a swimming opportunity for refreshment in the summer months, and the Riedel fishery, which invites you to take a break with delicious fish specialties.

Now we are on the final stretch. The bike tour continues on the dyke system from 1888 towards Parey until we reach the two-step lock from 1891/92 in the Parey connection canal. Due to its connection to the Elbe with its highly fluctuating water levels, it was designed as a two-step lock, which required a third lock gate between the upper and lower chambers. This allows for locking in two stages. The usable width of the chamber is 8.6 m, and the length over both chambers is 147 m. For flood protection reasons, in 1981, the mitre gate in the upper head of the lock was replaced by a lifting gate. This is the special feature of this technical monument. The listed inventory also includes the winch system, which allowed barges to be pulled through the lock without their own propulsion, a building for the lock master and the tax collector, as well as an assistants house. A small building was erected in 1996 for the water level recorder and the documentation of processes related to the lockings, etc., was adapted to the style of the existing buildings.

Part of the ride continues downhill on the Parey connection canal to the inflow of the old Plauer Canal. Over a small bridge, we reach a path that winds along Kühnes Loch and takes us to the listed Paltrock windmill. The original, old Paltrock windmill, on the western edge of Parey, known by the name of the last owner family Ogens Mühle, was destroyed by lightning in 1983. Mill enthusiasts worked on a reconstruction, and in 1990, the implementation of an identical mill type from Frenz near Köthen began. The board cladding of the mill body extends almost to the ground and conceals the peculiarity of this type of mill, which lies in its bearing. The wind-driven small rosette on the mill roof rotates the heavy mill body on a circular foundation on a roller bearing against the wind via an endless chain that engages in a worm gear. The large mill wings transmit their power to the machinery inside the mill, allowing for the grinding of grain and milling into flour. Next to the mill, a small building is preserved, in which a gas engine was installed to make milling independent of the wind before the mill was connected to the power grid.

After nearly 31 km, we reach the end of our lock tour. Back to Your favorite place, where you can breathe in nature and relax.