Hiking trail Tienhovensch Canal

In 1824, a lord of the Wall submitted a proposal to build a canal that was to start at the Vecht between Maarssen and Breukelen and end in the Eemnesservaart. The purpose of the canal was the exploitation of the Gooi. It was to be used for the drainage of the area and the production of peat and to be suitable for vessels of 20 to 30 tons. With some changes, the canal, insofar as it was projected in the province of Utrecht, was completed fairly quickly. In 1838 there were plans to extend the canal to Huizen. The canal had to head towards the tower of Eemnes. In this way, an alternative trade route would arise from Amsterdam to Amersfoort.

This failed when they came across the high sandy soils south of the Hoorneboeg, which are part of the Gooise moraine and are 5 meters above sea level. The dead-end of the canal in the sandy soils that were impossible to dig through at the time and a then very sparsely inhabited area meant that the part of the canal that had been created was of very little use. After that, the canal was neglected, until people started to take an interest in it again from a nature and environmental point of view.

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