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Routes

France

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Territoire-de-Belfort

Kestenholz

Duck on the Canal – Impressive TGV bridge loop from Nommay

Routes

France

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Territoire-de-Belfort

Kestenholz

Duck on the Canal – Impressive TGV bridge loop from Nommay

Moderate

4.7

(3)

riders

Duck on the Canal – Impressive TGV bridge loop from Nommay

02:11

31.6km

290m

Gravel riding

Moderate gravel ride. Good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: June 22, 2026

Waypoints

Start point

Bus stop

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4.73 km

The Boundary Trail

Highlight • Trail

5.38 km

1784 boundary marker on the Chemin de Bussurel

Highlight • Monument

The Territory of Belfort was born in 1871 from the Treaty of Frankfurt which put an end to the war of 1870-1871. It is then called "subsisting district of Haut-Rhin". Alsace and Lorraine had the particularity of being two bilingual regions and their dismantling was organized according to linguistic criteria. The German Empire thus gained by this treaty the greater part of Alsace and a quarter of Lorraine. The extreme south-west of the Haut-Rhin, around Belfort, was left to France and thus separated from the rest of Alsace. The main reason is that the population around Belfort was predominantly French-speaking (while the rest of Alsace was predominantly German-speaking, with the main Alsatian dialect being part of the Germanic languages). However, this was not an absolute criterion because there were French-speakers and German-speakers both in Belfort and in the rest of Alsace, only their proportion differed.

Translated by Google •

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16.9 km

Duck on the Canal

Highlight • River

17.9 km

Canal from Montbéliard to Haute-Saône at Essert

Highlight • River

It was after the loss of Alsace in 1871 that the government of the Third Republic decided in 1878 to build canals in Eastern France to allow the movement of goods, and in particular steel products from Lorraine to Franche. -Comté, between the Nancy region and those of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. One of the first projects concerned the construction of the Canal de l'Est which began around 1875 and completed in 1887, then that of the Canal de la Haute-Saône which was to connect the remaining French part of the Canal du Rhône au Rhine to the Canal de l'Est . The aim was also to serve the Ronchamp coal mines and allow the coal produced in its shafts to be evacuated.

In 1881 the project was largely defined and received approval from the Administration. The first blows of the pickaxes were given in 1882 but the difficulties encountered during the drilling of the Châlonvillars and Chérimont tunnels, the enormous volume of excavated material, due to the deep trenches and the significant embankments, meant that the initial budget turned out to be under -evaluated. As sufficient additional funds were slow to come, the project dragged on and completion could not take place before the end of the First World War which returned Alsace and its waterways to France. As the usefulness of the canal was no longer established, the entire project was called into question and only the section (12.5 km) connecting the Rhône-Rhine canal to the port of Botans was completed and filled with water in 1926. This port, managed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, served until the 1970s as a coal port for Belfort. At the beginning of the 21st century, only rare pleasure boats still used it. On April 26, 2018, in view of the upcoming closure of the section, the last boats left the port of Botans. The banks are a place for walks appreciated by residents of the Belfort-Montbéliard urban area: it is the Coulée Verte of the canal which allows hikers and cyclists to go from the lock located between Essert and Châlonvillars (Haute-Saône ) at the Prés-la-Rose park in Montbéliard (Doubs), by taking EuroVélo 6 from a point located in the commune of Étupes.

The Champagney basin initially constituted the water reserve (13 million m³) for regulating the water level in the canal. Currently, it is a lake very popular with local fishermen and swimmers.

Translated by Google •

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26.9 km

Highlight • Other

The Haute-Saône canal, also called the Montbéliard to Haute-Saône canal, is a waterway which begins in the north of the Doubs department, crosses the south-western part of the Territoire de Belfort and of which an unfinished section, is located in the eastern part of Haute-Saône.

Translated by Google •

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27.7 km