the Göta canal, Sweden

This poster for the Rederi SVEA - "cast loose from everyday; holidays on Sweden's beautiful waterways" - features the Göta Kanal or canal.  This was built in the early 19th century by Thomas Telford as the backbone of a waterway stretching 614 km (382 miles), linking a number of lakes and rivers to provide a route from Göteborg or Gothenburg on the west coast to Söderköping on the Baltic Sea via the river Göta älv and the Trollhätte kanal, through the large lakes Vänern and Vättern.

The canal itself is 190 km (118 miles) long, of which 87 km (54 miles) were dug or blasted, with a width varying between 7-14 metres (23–46 ft) and a maximum depth of about 3 metres (9 ft). It has 58 locks and can accommodate vessels up to 32 metres (105 ft) long, 7 metres (21 ft) wide and 2.8 m (9 ft) in draft. The Göta Canal is considered a "sister" canal of the Caledonian Canal in Scotland, which was also constructed by Thomas Telford.

As in the UK, the coming of the railways in the late 19th century rendered most of the canal's cargo transport task redundant.  Parts of the canal are still used to transport cargo, but it is now primarily a tourist and recreational attraction, dubbed Sveriges blå band ("Sweden's Blue Ribbon") and around two million people use the canal each year on pleasure cruises and related activities. The canal is nicknamed the "divorce ditch" because of troubles that couples have to endure while trying to navigate the many locks by themselves. The canal was the subject of a 1981 Swedish comedy movie, Göta kanal eller Vem drog ur proppen? (Göta Canal or Who Pulled the Plug?).