Tour along Stadskanaal and Ruiten Aa

You start the route at Hotel Restaurant Het Wapen van Exloo. The Stadskanaal was dug almost entirely by Groningen and German workers with shovels. In the nineteenth century it was one of the busiest shipping routes in the Netherlands. Stadskanaal and Musselkanaal emerged around the locks, where cafes and shops did good business, thanks to the long waiting times at the locks. You see beautiful old houses along the water: a nice cycling area. Kloosterblieck is a new estate located in the southernmost tip of Groningen, near Ter Apel. Here potatoes, sugar beets and grain have made way for young oak trees. It is one of the ways to create new nature, special to see. You also cycle through the Ruiten Aa valley: a variety of round fields, meadows, groves and hedgerows.