Wittow Ferry
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The Wittow Ferry (german: Wittower Fähre) is a ferry service for foot passengers and vehicles (up to a total weight of 30 t each) from the heart of the German Baltic Sea island of
Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...
, the
Muttland Muttland comprises the main section of the German island of Rügen, excluding the Rugian peninsulae and small surrounding islands. The predominant land use is agriculture. Grasslands are found in very small proportions. There are nature conservati ...
, to the peninsula of
Wittow Wittow is the northernmost peninsula of the island of Rügen. Wittow was a separate island until the High Middle Ages, but since then has been connected to the Jasmund peninsula of Rügen by the Schaabe spit. Wittow is most famous for Cape Ark ...
to the north. It has also given its name to the parish of ''Wittower Fähre'' in the municipality of Wiek. This lies on the Rassower Strom at the tip of the tongue of land between the lagoons of
Wieker Bodden The Wieker Bodden is a lagoon or ''bodden'', that is largely surrounded by the German Baltic Sea island of Rügen. It is part of the North Rügen Bodden Chain. Location The Wieker Bodden lies between the peninsula of Bug (Rügen), Bug to the ...
and Breetzer Bodden on its northern shore. On the southern shore the ferry landing stage is located between the villages of ''Vaschvitz'' and ''Fischersiedlung'' in the municipality of Trent. When the water surface of the ''
bodden Bodden are briny bodies of water often forming lagoons, along the southwestern shores of the Baltic Sea, primarily in Germany's state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. These lagoons can be found especially around the island of Rügen, Usedom an ...
'' freezes over in severe winters, this narrows in the channel to and from the
Großer Jasmunder Bodden The Großer Jasmunder Bodden belongs to the Northern Rügener Boddens and is a water body on the southern edge of the Baltic Sea in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is a '' bodden'', a type of lagoon that occurs in northern Europe ...
, which is about 350 metres wide, is the last stretch of water to remain open and is a refuge for numerous
water fowl The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating ...
.


History

By the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
it was common for boats to cross at this point. Because the coastline of Rügen is so deeply incised, alternative detours by land were very long. Moreover, the dyke between Großen Jasmunder Bodden and the Kleiner Jasmunder Bodden near
Lietzow Lietzow is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe af ...
was not built until 1868, so that the land route as far as the
Schmale Heide The Schmale Heide (literally "Narrow Heath") is a 9.5-kilometre-long and roughly 2-kilometre-wide bar between the Baltic seaside resort of Binz and the village of Neu Mukran near Sassnitz on the German island of Rügen. It lies in the municipali ...
(''Prora'') was not practicable. Not until the opening of the 37.9 km long 750-mm narrow gauge railway line from ''
Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
via Trent, Wittow Ferry and Wiek to
Altenkirchen Altenkirchen () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, capital of the district of Altenkirchen. It is located approximately 40 km east of Bonn and 50 km north of Koblenz. Altenkirchen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("co ...
'' of the
Rügen Light Railway Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, wher ...
(RüKB) d on 21 December 1896 was there a regular and capable ferry service. For decades, two ferry boats, the ''
Wittow Wittow is the northernmost peninsula of the island of Rügen. Wittow was a separate island until the High Middle Ages, but since then has been connected to the Jasmund peninsula of Rügen by the Schaabe spit. Wittow is most famous for Cape Ark ...
'' and the ''Bergen'', that had been built in 1896 and 1911 in Stettin, transported three wagons or (on request) a steam locomotive across. Normally only goods wagons were carried; passengers had to change. On 10 September 1968 the section of line from ''Wittower Fähre (Fährhof)–Altenkirchen'' was closed, and the ships now just ferried foot passengers and cars. As a result the light railway ferry passed into history. On 19 January 1970 the line from ''Bergen'' to ''Wittower Fähre'' was also closed. The ferry boats and facilities were then transferred to the Weiße Flotte ("White Fleet"). The names of the station on the northern shore was ''Fährhof'' and that on the southern shore was ''Wittower Fähre'', neither of which corresponded to the names of their local parishes. Both ships continued to work until 1994 and 1996 respectively. The ''Bergen'' was scrapped in 1997 after initial aspirations to preserve it in the Prora Museum of Technology and the ''Wittow'' lay until 2005 next to the old ''Trichter'', the original landing stage in the ferry port, and was then to be converted in Barth in the a museum café. As a result it was moved to the museum in the former sugar factory at Barth Harbour. Currently the ''Wittow'' is available for sale from the museum (as at July 2011). In 1996 a new ferry boat, also called the ''Wittow'', was brought into service, after a wider, more modern ferry landing stage had been built.


Other infrastructure

A 110 kV overhead cable to the Bohlendorf substation crosses the ''bodden'' by the Wittow Ferry on two, 95-metre-high masts. It has a span of 840 metres.


External links


Ferry timetable of the Wittow Ferry

Artitec : Maquette du ferry de Wittow
{{Coord, 54, 33, 28.2, N, 13, 14, 49.9, E, type:landmark_region:DE-MV, display=title Ferries Vorpommern-Rügen North Rügen Bodden Wittow