A visit to the Crinan Canal, May 2004.
The Crinan canal in the west of Scotland cuts across Kintyre and enables sea going boats to get to the Firth of Clyde without going round the Mull of Kintyre, which can be stormy. The Canal is 9 miles long and has 15 large locks which measure 88 feet by 20 feet. The Crinan goes through some beautiful scenery in a part of Scotland which is dear to me - my mother was brought up on Gigha, an island near there, where her father was ferryman.
Although the Crinan is not a canal associated with narrow boats it is still a canal and as such must be boated upon and Iain and I had wanted to take Gamebird there but there just never seemed to be enough time. This May, we saw a space and after making arrangements with the very helpful Alec, of BW, in Ardrishaig, we set off very early one Sunday morning to trail Gamebird to the Crinan. The road there was interesting in itself as we drove up the side of Loch Lomond and went over the "Rest and Be Thankful". Beautiful!
We arrived at Ardrishaig in plenty of time to get ready to launch into the sea at high tide and this gave us time to examine the slip when it was partly uncovered and see where the drop off the end was. A very useful bit of information! As soon as we reckoned there was enough water for us, in she went. When launching into the sea, we adopt a different launch procedure in that instead of controlling the launched boat from the bank with ropes, I am on the back, ready to start the engine as soon as she floats and reverse her off the trailer. I had already opened the ballast valve and in seconds she took in her water ballast and sank to her cruising level. In flat calm conditions I cruised round the harbour where logs are stored before being transported by ship to be processed, to the pontoon outside the sea lock. We had arranged for a lock keeper to open the lock for us as it was Sunday and BW was still on winter hours but as he was not due for an hour or so this gave us time to get the trailer and Landy sorted out and parked up in front of the BW office.
When we were in the lock, sorting out the paper work (our Lowland Canals Licence covers the Crinan) another boat, a beautiful wooden sailing boat, Bojangles, came in and joined us. Once through the sea lock and the swing bridge we moored in Ardrishaig basin to have lunch. Here, as happened right through the canal we aroused a lot of interest as everyone seemed to think this was the first time a narrow boat had been here. On the Crinan, although you work locks yourselves, you are not supposed to use them outside BW hours. This struck us as very strange, being used to boating down south, but as we had already agreed with Alex that we could go up a few locks to moor as the basin was pretty full we worked up the first 4 locks to moor on a pontoon. The last lock had a swing bridge over it and as all bridges have to be operated by BW, we carefully paced out the space either side of the bridge and reckoned that Gamebird was small enough to go through the lock without opening the bridge and this we did. Alec freaked a bit when he saw us above the lock later and was relieved to find that we hadn't opened the bridge.
This part of Scotland is renowned for the magnificent rhododendrons and azaleas at this time of the year and there were some super specimens of all colours, growing wild and in gardens. There is a road alongside most of the canal with villages nestling at the foot of wooded hills and the atmosphere of the whole canal is unlike any other canal we have been on. Even the canal water was different as it was lovely and clear with a peaty tinge. None of your stirred up mud which we normally associate with canals. The Crinan is wider and deeper than most canals to enable sea going yachts to pass. The limitation is fresh water draft of 9 foot 6 and air draft of 96 feet! Gamebird felt quite dwarfed by some of the craft we encountered.
Next morning, we set off and worked our way to the summit pound where we stopped along side the reservoir to have lunch. As the locks were a bit heavy we reversed our roles with Iain doing the hard work. The gate paddles were quite fierce and with Gamebird being so small in such big locks we held her on ropes. When we come up here again, we will bring longer ropes and the monkeys paw which is a great help when throwing ropes. After lunch we set off again and made our way to Crinan, marvelling at the beautiful scenery and the views across the sea as we neared the sea lock. We were locked down into the basin where we arranged to moor overnight in the company of some big boats, including the Vital Spark which was used in the Para Handy films and TV series. Again we aroused a lot of interest and by the time we went through the sea lock to do a twirl in the sea and come back in again, there were people lining the locks sides and another boater kindly took photos with my camera. We had asked the lock keeper if she would let us out if other boats were using the sea lock and we were glad when a couple of yachts came in!
The next day, we retraced our steps to Ardrishaig in typical west coast dampness and the highlight of that trip was meeting Princess Anne on her yacht in one of the lock pounds. Unfortunately she was too busy coiling ropes to notice Gamebird. The yacht we travelled back with had employed the services of one of the locals to do the locks for them. This seems to be a common practice on the Crinan and will not only help the boaters but puts money into the local economy. We moored in Ardrishaig basin for the afternoon and sat watching the word go by. As the day wore on, the wind got up a bit and I then started thinking about how I was going to drive Gamebird onto her trailer in a cross wind when we couldn't get ropes ashore.....
The next morning, it was dry and not quite so windy but still more than I would have liked. Some yachts were coming into the sea lock first thing so we took the opportunity to go back through the open road bridge and down into the sea where we again moored on the pontoon while we got ready for the retrieval.
By the time we had the Landy and trailer sorted out and backed down the slip to await the rising tide, a couple of local people had appeared to help us. When we had enough water, I was despatched to bring Gamebird round and I enjoyed the little sea trip as although it was a bit windy, it wasn't enough to affect Gamebird's handling and I put in a couple of twirls just for fun. Our retrieval was not our best effort, it has to be said as the wind was coming at us sideways and in the first attempt, as soon as I cut the speed a bit as I neared the trailer, the bows were blown round and despite a very smart burst of reverse, I made contact with one of the trailer supports (again!) and we later discovered that I had in fact knocked it off completely this time. It has been bent and re -welded a few times and I am now glad to report that it has been strengthened by the addition of a metal bar welded up the outside at the vulnerable point. However, back to Ardrishaig. A conference with those ashore and it was agreed that we had to try and get ropes ashore. I first of all tried coming in on the windward side of the slip but abandoned that as I was again being blown onto the trailer but our luck changed and as I was making my way to the leeward side, the wind dropped just a I was lined up for the trailer and this time I didn't slacken off the speed till at least some of Gamebird was on the trailer. She was still sitting about 3 feet back but one of the helpers securely roped her and Iain edged the Landy forward till we heard the water drain out. Once this was done and the valve closed, it was a quick reverse back into the sea with me standing on the trailer and winding for all I was worth. One of the helpers held a rope to keep her against the trailer support to stop her blowing off the other side where there now was no support. On the next pull out, she was sitting perfectly on her trailer and after preparing her for the road journey we drove home.
This was an excellent trip but it is a pity it was so short. The next time we will take more time to explore this wonderful canal. Everyone we met was so friendly and helpful and they took a lot of interest in Gamebird who, it has to be said, was looking magnificent after her make over.
We would like to thank all the BW staff, Alec in particular, for making our visit such a pleasant one.