A Canal is a canal is a canal

...and you often meet the same people as you go along. Many other features are also similar. The meandering waterway through a pastoral landscape and banks lined with trees, single locks and flights of locks. You can hear the many birds singing and not a single seagull (what a relief!). The smell of grass and freshly mowed hay in the summer accompanies along the way.

We have been through three canals so far. The Crinan Canal on the west coast of Scotland, between the sound of Jura and Loch Fyne. It is a small, beautiful, narrow canal with locks that can hardly accommodate two yachts.

The Göta Canal, that runs through Sweden from the east to the west is much longer, some 180Km and is much more busy. It also runs along more populated areas and towns, and provides more facilities. But the landscape is not its primary feature.

The Caledonian Canal (96.5Km of which 35 are man made) doesn’t have many facilities but the scenery is wild and stunning! Coming from Inverness, the mountains and glens become more and more imposing until you reach Banavie and have Ben Nevis (1350m) just in front of you. It is not always easy to see Ben Nevis in its full glory because the mountain top is often shrouded in clouds, but we did have a few hours the benefit of a cloudless sky.

'locked in', Inverness sea lock

We entered the canal on the 11^th of July, climbed the four Muirtown steps and merged with the river Ness once past Dochgarroch Lock. It took a while for skipper and crew to work in harmony, but by the end skipper and crew were working together as a well-oiled machine.

The sail through Loch Ness seemed quite monotonous (even famous ‘Nessie’ did not show up). Hills covered in fir trees as far as the eye can see and not much more. About a third way down Loch Ness, we moored in a tiny harbour (2.1m) in Urquhart Castle Bay. It is a private harbour and had to pay separately (£10.00 at a parking meter, without electricity) for our stay. If you stay in any facility provided by the canal authority, this is included in the price (£242.00 for a 12.19m, vessel, electricity and pump out services extra!).

Urquhart castle ruin, Loch Ness

We enjoyed the tranquility during a short snooze…when we suddenly started to hear bow thrusters and engines dangerously close by. When we looked out, at least 8 small charter motor boats had moored in the tiny harbour. We were the only sailing boat.

We took advantage of a collect and dine offer advertised there and had a tasty dinner overlooking Loch Ness at a nearby hotel.

On the 12^th July we stopped at Fort Augustus. It is not only mid-way through the canal but it is also the most visited ‘touristy’ spot. Many chartered motor boats wait in Fort Augustus to climb or descend the five steps lined with café, pub, restaurant, butcher (excellent) and Highland souvenirs in this picturesque small

getting in touch VHF74

Fort Augustus locks

village. We had to wait until after the lock-keepers lunch break to get ‘locked in’ under the gaze of many onlookers during our way up.

The further west you get in the canal, the more interesting it gets. On the 13^th of July we went through Loch Oich and Loch Lochy. The wind was still blowing from the southwest and we had to go under engine the whole length of the canal.

the tourist attraction of Fort Augustus

We had time to absorb the majesty of the mountains covered in a velvety sap green. Laggan, our first lock on our descent towards Fort William provided us with a sweeping view down into the valley and Loch Lochy.

Ben Nevis seen from Loch Lochy

We anchored in the northwestern corner right at the end of Loch Lochy just before entering the Gairlochy Lock and swing bridge. From there we had the first glimpse of Ben Nevis towards the south. We were anchored very securely in 4m and as it turned out in the morning we had dropped the anchor on a very large tree trunk which took some effort to get rid of.

In Banavie (14.7.16), after a day of beautiful warm sunshine with a glorious sight of the Ben Nevis range, the weather has turned bad. It is raining heavily and the wind is howling through the shrouds. In a way it doesn’t matter, because we are waiting for our new crew. Christian, Sydney and Andy are arriving on Sunday (17^th). On Monday the weather is supposed to be very wet with bad visibility, but at least it will not be too windy to go down the Neptune Steps (8 locks) and sail towards Fort William and Loch Creran.