The man made canal, in Swedish Sotekanalen, has been dug and blasted through the rock as a relief work for unemployed stonemason workers. The idea to build a canal came up already in the late 1800 to create a safer passage over the dangerous waters in the Sotefjord. The decision was made 1913 but the work didn’t start until 1931. It was inaugurated in 1935 by the Swedish Crown Prince Gustav Adolf. This made the peninsula Ramsvikslandet to an island but it’s now connected to the mainland with a swing bridge.
The canal is 4800 meters long, 4,5 meters deep and 15 meters wide. Today it’s not used for commercial traffic but each year over 50 000 recreation boats passes this beautiful waterway.
No man is an island, ha de Gött!