Thursday 10 August
A prompt, rather than early start at 8:00am to head down Loch Craignish to the
Dorus Mor in time for the North Bound Tide. Dorus Mor ("Big
Door" in Gaelic) is a narrow passage leading out towards Corryvreckan and
the Sound of Luing. The tide rips through at about 8 knots - so you have
to get it right. The wind was whistling through from the Gulf at 26 knots
- kicking up a chop where it was against the tide.
Needless
to say we did not go through the gulf (it is one of the most dangerous bits of
water in Britain in these conditions), but headed north up the sound towards
Oban. Once we'd passed Fladda light, and turned towards Oban, we got a
cracking sail.
Oban
is a meeting place for all sorts of boats - just look at this boat, "Moby"
- on which its owner plans to cross the Atlantic!
Friday 11 August
Off
from Oban at 7:40 for Fort WIlliam & the Caledonian Canal. A nice
gentle sail up the Lynn of Lorne - then through the narrows at Appin and, being
adventurous, through the shallows and up the Sound of Shuna, before turning up
Loch Linnhe for Corran.
Through the Narrows, and up to
Corpach, just beyond Fort William - and into the sea-lock, were were in good
time to climbe right up Neptune's Staircase (an eight-rise at Banavie), meaning
we climbed a total of 11 locks from the sea.
Although
the forecast was decidedly iffy, we had quite good weather - and even Ben Nevis,
Britain's highest mountain at over 4000 feet, showed its head for this
photograph:
A leisurely cruise past Moy Bridge to Gairlochy - then through to Loch Lochy
(the first of the 3 main Lochs which constitute about half of the length of the
Caledonian Canal. We managed to sail about 2/3 of the Loch to Laggan -
then through the beautiful tree-lined Laggan Avenue to Loch Oich - which means
we're now "on top" and - descending towards Inverness from here.
Sunday 13 August
Downhill
today - from Great Glen Water Park to the East end of Loch Ness - itself over 20
miles long - and including the tourist trap of Fort Augustus - where the coach
trips make a point of stopping to view the boats in the locks (its a five-rise).
Two single locks - at Cullochy and Kytra are much quieter - and the epitome of the pretty waterway lock complete with cottage and gardens.
Hopefully we'll be off out of the canal tomorrow - to hold in Inverness marina
then down to Nairn on Tuesday for a night.
Monday 14 August
At
8:40am this morning we learned that "Lord of the Glens was due through
Dochgarroch Loch at 9:00am. This ship fits the Caledonian Canal locks -
just and is cruising from Inverness to Oban. Its more akin in size to the
orginal paddle steamers that used the canal back in history - to link Glasgow to
Inverness when road transport in this part of Scotland was very difficult.
Once safely passed, we continued - along with a group of charter boats returning to their base in Inverness - then down the Muirtown flight, and out through the Clachnaharry locks and out into the Beauly Firth. We're staying Monday night in Longman Yacht Haven, part of Inverness harbour - then off Dolphin spotting on Tuesday - with hopefully a night in Nairn.
Tuesday 15 August
Our
journey against the incoming tide took us past Fort George - and Channonry Point
where the Bottle-Nosed Dolphins were playing in the tide rips. Its always
a great thrill to pass this way - and watch these wonderful animals passing
under the boat from side to side.
On then to a "new" harbout
(for us) of Nairn. Its a shallow entrance - so we timed our arrival for an
hour before high water - and passed through into the inner harbour - now laid
out with pontoon berths as a marina.
Wednesday 16 August
We
crept out of Nairn very early on the tide at 11am - taking advantage of the
Southerly's 3-foot draft - "officially" we should have waited till
12:30! This gave us time to dally at Channonry and watch the Dolphins who
were leaping clear of the water just a few meters away - brilliant!
Back up into the canal - and a push on to get through into Loch Ness and to Fort Augustus by evening. We arrived at the last Lock before the Loch (Dochgarroch) at 17:10 - to find it locked up for the night. Since the canal is supposed to be open until 17:30 we were a bit miffed! Ann rang the "Freephone Canals" emergency number to try and find out what was going on - trouble was the BT operator connected her to the Samaritans who kept asking her "Are you suicidal?". Her answer has not been recorded......
We eventually got hold of a helpful engineer who arranged for the lock-keeper to let us through - and pass through Loch Ness in the evening. This saves us about half a day - holiday times are valuable, after all :-)
We promised ourselves a visit to the
chippy on arrival at Fort Augustus - after a long bash down Loch Ness at 9:15pm,
Ann discovered the shop was closed due to a bereavement :-( A
hurried look-around took us into the "Scots Kitchen" - who offered us
fish & chips to carry out - then charged us £18 - yes a total
rip-off. Worse, you needed a magnifying glass to see these tiny portions
of freezer to frying pan foods. Take warning all you who pass this way....
Thursday 17 August
Up
and ready for an 8:00am start to climb the 5 Rise at Fort Augustus - we went up
with a yacht from Adrigole, London plus one outbound from Sweden - planning to
head for South America and round the world - this was week one! We also
had 5 charter boats AKA dodgems.
Although we made good progress, the
keeper at Laggan shut the lock as we approached - took a set of boats down, a
set up then went off for 45 minutes for lunch - so we lost nearly two hours -
and arrived too late it Banavie to descend Neptune's Staircase - so that's on
the agenda for first thing Friday.
Friday 18 August
An
early start again to head down Neptune's Staircase at Banavie - then out into
Loch Linnhe. The mist was swirling around Ben Nevis and the high mountains
around Fort William - but soon cleared to a glorious day.
Once inside the Lynn or Lorne we were able to sail - out pas Kerrea, towards Insch Island. We saw several pods of dolphins - begor entering the Sound of Luing - against the flood tide still bubbling North. By the time we passed through Dorus Mor, it has turned south-east, and we arrived at Crinan Sea-Lock by 5 past 8. Once more the British Waterways staff seemed to have beetled off early - the lock was supposed to be manned until 9pm - so another call to Freephone Canals was required to get us locked into Crinan Basin.
Saturday 19 August
There
was quite a constrenation amongst boats at Crinan - as the canal was so short of
water some boats had been held for two days. British Waterways were
pumping sea-water into the reach to try and make up the missing gallons - but it
all seemed to be puring back into the sea again.
We were in the second group locked up - of course this is a busy weekend as many Scots schools return on Tuesday next. The water level in the reach was about 1m lower than it should have been - and several yachts kept hitting the bottom. A great reason to be smug - as we only draw 1 meter!.
It was very hard work locking
through the canal - partly because we were packed into the locks to conserve
water - but also because the locking height has increased due to the water drop
- probably our hardest won 9 miles this holiday.