The Lopau is a river in the
Lüneburg Heath
Lüneburg Heath (, ) is a large area of heath (habitat), heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen and is ...
in North
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It is a right tributary of the
Luhe.
Course
The Lopau rises with two headstreams from the ponds known as the Süderteichen and the Westerteichen in the Westergrund in the
Munster North Training Area
The Munster Training Area (German: ''Truppenübungsplatz Munster'') is a military training area in Germany on the Lüneburg Heath. It comprises two separate areas with different purposes: Munster North (''Munster-Nord'') (size: ) and Munster ...
, near the abandoned village of Lopau, that lies within the borough of
Munster
Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...
. In its upper reaches the Lopau flows through uncultivated grassland, which is becoming increasingly afforested by alders and invaded by the wooded area of the Raubkammer. In
Bockum, a village in the municipality of
Rehlingen
Rehlingen is a municipality in the district of Lüneburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the ...
in
Lüneburg District
Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic city, Hamburg, and belongs to that city's wider metr ...
, it picks up the
Ehlbeck, a left-hand tributary. East of
Amelinghausen the river is impounded by a dam by the
B 209 federal road to create the tourist lake of
Lopausee. North of
Amelinghausen the Lopau discharges into the
Luhe near the gravesite of
Oldendorfer Totenstatt by
Oldendorf (Luhe). From source to mouth the river is 12.7 km.
References
Rivers of Lower Saxony
Lüneburg Heath
Amelinghausen
Rivers of Germany
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