Lake Edersee, Eder River, Lake Affoldern

The variety of water sport opportunities, the fleet of passenger ships, healthy fish population and numerous attractions make Lake Edersee into an great destination for local and distant visitors alike.

The spring of the Eder River is located on Ederkopf Mountain in Westphalia, and the river reaches Waldeck-Frankenberg County near Hatzfeld. In tight loops, the river meanders past villages high above the valley, reaching Frankenberg Bight near Battenberg.
Densely forested slopes characterize the subsequent valley segments which begin to fill the dammed waters of the reservoir after Herzhausen. Once upon a time, the Eder River flowed in many winding turns through the valley, sometimes narrow, sometimes wider, past the Waldecker Castle Mountain through a natural narrowing of the valley. These narrows are today closed by the dam. The streaming river turned into a quiet reservoir lake.
Steep mountain cliffs became new river banks, narrow side valleys became attractive bays, and stony peaks became bizarre headlands.
Only once past Lake Affoldern below the dam wall, the Eder reoccurs as a river and makes its way toward the Fulda River.

Cause for construction of the Edertal Dam (1908 through 1914) was the necessity to create a large reservoir to feed the Midland Canal. With a height of 48 m and a length of 400 m at the crown, 270 m at the foot of the valley, the curved gravity-reinforced wall is certainly obvious in this landscape. Its construction created an artificial lake, 27 km in length, 202 million cubic meters in volume, with a shoreline of 69 km in length and a depth up to 42 m. The lake measures 1,000 m across its widest spot, and 175 m at its narrowest. ,

Lake Affoldern with a volume of 5.4 million cubic meters and a maximum surface area of 180 hectare offers leisure and recreational opportunities along its shores. No swimming is allowed due to the rapidly changing water levels. The entire lower basin is designated as a nature preserve.
Discover the Eder River in its natural state, whether as bicyclist, hiker, or car driver, using the “Ederauen Bicycle Trail“ (Ederradweg), the “Upper Eder Trail“ (Ederhöhenweg) on foot, or the marked “Eder Vacation Road“ (Ederferienstraße).

Cyclists start their tour in Siegerland-Wittgenstein, at the source of the Eder in the Rothaar Mountains and then leads to the valleys of the low mountain range area in the Waldecker Land along the Eder down to Lake Edersee. In the Kurhessisches Bergland it continues all the way to Fritzlar and Guxhagen. Here, where the Eder empties into the Fulda, the Ederradweg comes to an end.