Schipdonk Canal

The Schipdonk Canal (French: Canal de Schipdonk or Dérivation de la Lys; Dutch: Schipdonkkanaal or Afleidingskanaal van de Leie) is a canal in the Belgian provinces of East Flanders and West Flanders. With a length of 56 km (35 mi), the canal runs in a northerly direction from Deinze, turning to a north-western direction roughly halfway along its route to the North Sea with which it meets on the coast near to Heist. It crosses both the Ghent-Bruges Canal and for its final 20 km (12 mi) runs parallel with the Leopold Canal as it approaches the north Belgian coast. For most of this final section the two canals are separated only by a dyke.