The Sandbach is a river in the districts of
Rastatt
Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50,000 (2011). Rastatt was an ...
and
Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with France, ...
in the German state of
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
. From its source it runs, initially as the Bühlot, northwestwards within the
Northern Black Forest
The Northern Black Forest (german: Nordschwarzwald) refers to the northern third of the Black Forest in Germany or, less commonly today, to the northern half of this mountain region.
Geography
The Northern Black Forest is bounded in the north b ...
, then out onto the
Upper Rhine Plain
The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the s ...
heading north-northeast at first before swinging northwest again to its confluence. Its mouth lies 29.1 kilometres below its source near
Iffezheim
Iffezheim is a town in the district of Rastatt in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It lies close to the Rhine river, where the Lock Iffezheim is also situated. Iffezheim is also known for the horse races, which takes place three times a year.
Pol ...
, where it discharges from the right into the lower reaches of the
Acher which are known as the ''Altrheinzug'' ("Old Rhine Course").
Geography
The source region of the Sandbach lies near the
Black Forest High Road
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...
(
B500) between
Hundseck and
Unterstmatt on the
Hochkopf at a height of about .
The Sandbach, in its upper reaches called the "Bühlot", flows steeply downhill in a northerly direction, meeting several small streams such as the ''„Rotwässerle''. At its confluence with ''Wiedenbach'', which joins from the direction of
Sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a soil texture, textur ...
and has a tributary, the ''Gertelbach'' on which are the
Gertelbach Falls beloved of hikers, the Sandbach changes its direction to the northwest. Here it runs through the municipality of
Bühlertal, where it is joined from the left by the streams of ''Grünebächle'' and ''Eichwaldbächle'' and, from the right, by the ''Liehenbach'' and other small brooks. In addition, in Bühlertal, it crosses the lake of ''Bühlot-Bad'', named after the local name for the Sandbach.
In
Altschweier the Sandbach turns in an arc and flows southwestwards to
Bühl. From there it swings west again. At the town gardens in Bühl a small ditch branches off, the ''Kirchgaßgraben'', which joins the river again later on. Shortly afterwards the stream passes under the
Rhine Valley Railway. After crossing under another bridge, the river becomes known as the Sandbach. Behind the bridge bearing the
B 3 the Sandbach turns towards the north in a wide bend and continues in a north-northeasterly direction.
In
Vimbuch the ''Rittgraben'', another ditch, branches off only to reunite with the Sandbach further downstream. The Sandbach Flood Channel (''Sandbach-Flutkanal''), which links the Sandbach to the ''Scheidgraben'' ditch, also branches off at Vimbach. In
Weitenung, by contrast, two right-hand tributaries empty into the Sandbach, the ''Steinbach'' and the ''Grünbach'', and a few kilometres further on, in
Kartung
Kartung or Kartong is a coastal village in south-western Gambia on the border with Senegal. It is located approximately 60 kilometres from Banjul and 9.5 kilometres from Gunjur. It is located in Kombo South District in the Western Division. As ...
, it is joined by the ''Sinzheimer Dorfbach''. Shortly thereafter, where it meets the Oos Canal, that links it with the
River Oos, and passes under the
A 5 motorway, the Sandbach bends again and flows northwest. It runs in this direction for another 4.6 km, before discharging from the right into the ''Altrheinzug'', the name of the lower reaches of the River Acher. Shortly before the confluence the Sandbach crosses over the
Rhine Valley Canal
The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...
.
References
External links
Map of the Sandbach from source to mouthat: {{GeoQuelle, DE-BW, LUBW, ref=nein
Rivers of Baden-Württemberg
Rivers of the Black Forest
Rastatt (district)
Baden-Baden
Rivers of Germany