Following the course of a nearly 400-year-old waterway, this trail traces the remains of a floating canal once used to transport timber from the Ore Mountains all the way to Freiberg in Saxony. It's a rare chance to walk beside one of the oldest water-engineering monuments in the Czech Republic, set amid peaceful mountain forest.

The 16.5 km trail runs along preserved sections of the Fláje (New) Floating Canal, linking the area near the Fláje Dam, the village of Český Jiřetín, and the border zone toward Saxony. Along the way you'll pass stretches where the canal was carved directly into rock, as well as quiet forest sections that once carried water and logs downstream. The trail is marked with the color #38a169. The terrain is gently rolling, typical of the Ore Mountains, with views over the wooded border valleys.

• Moderate difficulty - at 16.5 km, decent fitness is needed, but there are no steep or technical climbs, making it suitable for experienced hikers.
• Forest and gravel paths, in places running alongside the preserved canal bed, hilly terrain without exposure.

• You can start near the Fláje Dam or from the village of Český Jiřetín.
• The route heads toward the Saxon border, where a new bridge over the Bystrý stream (Rauschenbach) opened in 2013, connecting the Czech and German sections of the path.

The canal was built between 1624 and 1629, and timber floating continued until 1872 - a fascinating trace of an era when water and forest powered the region's entire economy.