Once there was an islandback

 

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Many place names along the River Rhine still survive although the place they once designated is no longer there. The river itself has changed the landscape through which it flows. The word "Ort", for example, refers to an island in the river. Accordingly "Ortweg" is the path or road leading to this island. Today the island that gave Ortweg its name is no more than a hillock on the riverbank. The river's channelization in the mid-nineteenth century meant that its bed became deeper and the water level receded. When the water level rises, however, the hillock turns back into an island. This occasional island is not the only result of the river's landscaping work. In the past, the river altered its course with every flood – on a scale which would be hard for us humans to achieve. The high bank on which we stand has also been formed by the river, as were the hollows and embankments we can see along Ortweg. These landscape features are in fact old riverbanks left high and dry after one of the river's many changes of course, and they invariably involved moving vast amounts of earth and rock. The wetlands were also moulded and carved by the River Rhine.
But nothing is final for a large river. During floods it returns to its old beds, and the hollows and channels fill with water. The former island, too, turns back into a proper "Ort" lapped by the river on all sides. It's precisely this habit of the Rhine – its regular return to its old beds – that makes the Urdenbacher Kämpe so special.

Photo: Joschka Meiburgback