Caledonian Canal - a visit in March2003
Although we had seen Neptune's staircase (the
flight of locks in Fort William) we had never explored the rest of the
Caledonian Canal and we thought it was high time we did so. We booked into a
hotel for a few days and spent a super day driving along the length of the
Caledonian, stopping to inspect locks, swing bridges, boats etc along the way.
The Caledonian is unlike any other UK canal in
that it is a series of lochs joined by short stretches of man made canal which
are deep and wide to enable fairly big boats to use them. The west end (at Fort
William) is a lock from Loch Linnhe and it then goes through Loch Lochy,
Loch Oich and Loch Ness before it enters the sea again at Clachnaharry lock (in
Inverness) where it emerges into the Moray Firth. The whole canal is 60
miles long and has 29 locks which are 160 feet long and 36 feet wide. The
canal is mainly used by boats crossing form one side of Scotland to the other
(it saves them going round the north coast) and there are a few hire fleets,
trip boats and pleasure boats which moor there permanently. We even saw a narrow
boat being used as a live aboard in Inverness. Sadly, the combination of Foot
and Mouth and September 11th, has more than halved the available hire boats and
it is to be hoped that this situation is reversed as it is a beautiful canal,
unlike anything anywhere else in the UK.
The following photos show some of the lock
flights and a sample of the variety of boats we saw . Some of the photos
make it look as if it was a dull day but it wasn't! However, the presence of
very high mountains all around can make the light change very quickly. The first
few photos were taken when we took a very unusual ferry across Loch Linnhe on
our journey to Fort William.
Looking across Loch Linnhe to Ardgour with the Corran ferry
just leaving |
Looking up Loch Linnhe towards Fort William |
The Corran ferry. Note the unusual ramps, both almost on the
same side of the ferry. Presumably so that it can brace itself against the
jetty against the tide |
Neptune's staircase near Fort William |
A Dutch barge and some other craft moored at the top of
Neptune's staircase. |
The top of the flight with Ben Nevis in the background |
a catamaran |
Some hire boats at Gairlochy at the head of Loch Lochy |
Looking back along Loch Lochy
|
Locks at Fort Augustus |
looking up the locks, Note the lights which were along side
all lock flights on the canal |
The bottom lock and swing bridge. That is Loch Ness in the
background and you can just see Nessie sitting on the left of the lock |
Looking up Loch Ness |
looking back to Fort Augustus. This gives and idea of the
width of the man made bits of canal |
Urquhart castle half way along Loch Ness
|
near Inverness. More boats and Dutch barges |
Yet another Dutch barge. Most are used as trip boats |
Muirtown locks in Inverness |
A rather large trip boat! |
and a narrow boat! |
Clachnaharry lock with the Kessock bridge in the background.
This is over the Moray Firth near Inverness. |
