Round Britain for the RNLI Blog

It is possible to transit the canal in about 14 hours for although the canal sections have a 5kts speed limit the route takes you through several natural lochs (the main ones being Lochs Lochy, Oich and Ness) and in the lochs there is no speed limit. However, there are two main things slowing you down… the locks where it can take some time to wait to get in and then pass through and the breath-taking scenery which makes you want to go slowly at all times. I had decided to split my transit into 4 sections with 3 nights in the canal itself… night 1 would be at the southern end of Loch Oich, night 2 in Fort Augustus, night 3 on the shores of Loch Ness at Drumnadrochit and finishing up at Seaport Marina, Inverness at the end of the fourth day.

That was the plan and so day 1 was from Corpach to Loch Oich a distance of only about 20 miles but in that short distance I would pass through no less than 11 locks rising me up over 32m (106ft) above sea level. It was going to be a busy day.

The morning started with a super view of Ben Nevis behind Fort William, sunny and almost calm. The first two were great but the third was not so welcome. I can’t remember any time on this trip where I have been hoping for wind but now I did. Its calmness meant that the infamous scottish midges would be out in force but a 5kts wind would keep them down but this morning, of all mornings, it was dead calm.

At 8.00 the lockkeepers start work and by 8.30 the first boats were emerging from the double lock at Corpach. This is the first of several lock “staircases” where the exit gate of one lock is the entrance to the next. Entering the locks for the first time going up is quite daunting in a little boat. The walls are high and very impressive towering over you and engulfing you as you edge in. Too high to throw up ropes the keeper drops ropes down. In this instance he suggested that I raft to the yacht ahead which meant that I didn’t have to control ropes this time. Once up the gates opened and we walked the raft into the next lock where it all happened again. Up again and I motored out into the serene canal section.

It is just what you would imagine in these sections… 5 kts or less, dead flat, peaceful water and stunning scenery. You just sit back and enjoy the pleasure and wonder of it. After about 2 miles there is a swinging railway and road bridge immediately before the longest lock “stairway” called “Neptune’s Staircase” or by its proper name of Banavie Lock. This is a set of 8 linked locks which is taken in one direction only at once and once boats start down then anyone wanting to go up must wait until the descending boats emerge at the bottom and this is what I had to do and there are holding pontoons at every lock or bridge for this purpose. It was only about a 20 min wait and then in we went. The same thing happened as at the double lock before with me rafted and walking the raft from lock to lock and one by one we proceeded up the staircase. It sounds fun but after you have done a few you just want to get to the top especially as it was starting to rain the the midges were out in force annoying me around my face all the time. Fortunately, the higher up the staircase we went the more the wind picked up and by the top the midges were gone.

At the top I decided not to rush off immediately and so I stopped for a coffee and a time to relax and plan the trip through the canal. I also had a very welcome call from Martin Douglas, crew member of the newest RNLI Lifeboat Station on Loch Ness and Press Officer and also from Rachel Martin, RNLI Media Relations manager for Scotland. I will meet Martin when I stop at Loch Ness and Rachel will make sure that the region’s media know I am passing through.

With this done I moved on and ahead was about 7 miles of canal section leading to the Gairlochy Lock, a single lock into Lock Lochy. This is the deepest lock in the canal and again the lockkeeper had to lower ropes rather than me throw mine up but this was the first lock where I had to handle my own ropes… easy, just keep on the tension!

So out into the first natural lochs, Loch Lochy. I know I said that I wanted to take my time and enjoy the canal but I wanted too to do a bit of motor boating through the mountains and so I decided to plane through Loch Lochy. What a buzz. There is something special about going slowly and peacefully through scenery like this but it is also very special to go at speed through it too. The pleasures are different and if you don’t motorboat then you may not agree but it was a great ride. It took just 30 mins to go the 10 miles and as that may well be the only planing I do on the canal I wanted to make the most of it and I did.

The north end of Loch Lochy is Laggan Lock. It is a double lock but at quieter times they use it as a single lock and this time it was quiet with just 3 boats to lock up. I rafted next to one of the many hired cruisers on the canal and got chatting to the family on board. I had been warned to try to avoid the hire cruisers as they are crewed mostly by non-boaters who don’t know boating ways and just want a caravan holiday on the water. I think that avoiding them is good advice when on the water to avoid incidents (which seem to happen at very regular intervals with the hire fleet!) but once tied up we started chatting and it resulted in a donation to the RNLI – thank you! Through Laggan lock and a short section of canal led into Loch Oich where I was to spend night one. I moored up on a near empty pontoon on the north shore. There were no facilities except a small shop nearby but that didn’t bother me. I set up “camp” for the night on board and enjoyed the peacefulness of my surroundings. Well, nearly because the main A82 was close by so the odd car and lorry broke the birds song now and then but it didn’t spoil the experience at all. Later in the evening a nice couple in a hire cruiser arrived and after helping them tie up a further chat resulted in another donation – thank you.

You know, it really isn’t fair how we boaters treat the hire cruisers. OK, you need to bear in mind that if you are close to them on the water then there is real danger of a collision. But you know, these boats they rent are not easy to drive. They are big and heavy, have just one very low powered engine and shaft drive so their manoeuvrability at low speed is almost zero. Add a bit of wind into the equation and almost no, or in most cases absolutely no experience and it isn’t surprising that they get it wrong. The good part is that the hire boats are built to handle the bumps they get but our privately owned boats are not and need more care so yes, give them a wide berth but don’t belittle them for it… the odds are very much stacked against them when all they want is a great holiday and a fun boating experience. Good luck to them I say and who knows, a few might even get their own boat as a result.

The end of a great day and a relaxing one with the prospect of the same tomorrow.

Again the phone connection in the highlands is not good and sending pics to the internet is just not possible… sorry I am hoping to get better connections later as I pass through the canal or possible be able to use wifi or an internet cafe in Fort Augustus. As the last resort I will be able to upload at Inverness so it may have to wait until then.

Looking at the forecast the day did not look great. F4-5 occasional F6 and heavy showers. None the less, I felt that as the direction was northerly that would give me shelter from the worst of it between the islands so I decided to go.

I need fuel and the only petrol available was at Puffin Dive Centre, about 3 miles south. Had I been a little more organised in my planning this stop I would have known to stop off there on my way in to Oban. So leaving the marina I first turned south in the Kerrera Sound. Puffin Dive Centre is a bit unusual in that they allow diving from the jetty and so it isn’t unusual for them to have divers in the water when approaching and that is what I had. The “A” flag was clearly flying and a dry-suited diver on the jetty confirmed that there were divers in the water. Gingerly I edged towards the wall that was the fuel stop.

116ltrs of  unleaded loaded I edged out again and headed north, past Oban town and the marina and out of the northern entrance to the sound.

No sooner was I out of the sound when I realised that the wind was indeed all of what was forecast and the sea state was decidedly choppy. No big waves, just a very active 1-2ft chop that meant that progress was going to be slow. In one way this was not good news… the sea lock at Corpach into the Caledonian Canal closes about 2 hrs either side of low water springs and it was going to be closed from about 1.30 to 5.30 today. This slow progress meant that I might miss the 1.30 deadline so I pushed on as quickly as I could given the sea state. On the other hand, it forced me to go slowly allowing me to enjoy the scenery and experience of boating in the Islands of West Scotland – wonderful!

Gradually the scenery became much more mountainous and much more breathtaking as I moved further north. The thing that struck me most was the distances. The islands were further apart visually than I knew them to be on the chart and the areas of sea bigger and much more sea-like in character than lake-like as you might imagine sheltered waters to be. When compared with open sea they are sheltered but make no mistake – it is still the sea in every respect and should be treated with the respect it deserves.

My route would take me to the east of Lismore Island and then inside Shuna. There is a small castle on a little island on the eastern side of the entrance to the Shuna Sound where two good friends, Paul and Anne, met and so I stopped to get some pics. The weather wasn’t the best for photography with clouds and rain but it was fun to be there as it was a place close to their hearts.

Inside Shuna gave me some shelter from the wind and the sea flattened enough for me to get up some speed and for a while I was hopeful I might make the 1.30 deadline but once out of the sound the chop got up and I was down to my 6kts again.

Continuing north up Loch Linnhe there is a narrows where the usable water is only about 1 cable (150m) wide and with the spring tides I was expecting some changes in sea state there. I was not disappointed but instead of overfalls and rough water it smoothed out and went incredibly flat. That is not to say inactive… there were swirls and boilings everywhere and clearly the water was moving around a lot and moving with some speed but it made the surface flatten out so that I could get up speed again. In fact, planing through that water was by far the best option. If I were not planing then I would have been buffeted by the swirling water but whizzing through at 20kts, just skimming the water, it made the boat less troubled and all I felt were occasional slight lurches to one side or the other.. Yet again my hopes were up that I might make the 1.30 deadline but it was now touch and go and I would need to be maintaining the 20kts all the rest of the way and as I passed this narrows at Corran Point I was very hopeful. However it was not to be. Once through the narrows the chop picked up again and I now had to accept that I would be late and so I decided to slow down completely, save a bit of fuel and enjoy the stunning scenery. I would like to have said peaceful , stunning scenery which I am sure on a different day it was but on this particular one the sea was making the passage anything but peaceful even at 4kts and so I continued to bash my way towards Fort William.

It wasn’t until I got to within a couple of miles of Fort William that I could see Ben Nevis towering above the town and I was surprised to see that it still had some snow in gullies near the top. Amazing! What was even more amazing was that I could see it at all because although the wind was still up the cloud had cleared to become intermittent… the weather was clearing.

Just before Fort William I had a call from Anne (the same Anne that first met Paul near Castle Stalker near Shuna) who told me that a relation of hers has a house on the banks of Loch Linnhe and they could see me! She knew I was about to pass her relation’s house from tracking me on Google Earth. It is spooky for me to think that people can see exactly where I am when at sea but exciting too.

So, on past Fort William and just a bit further on to Corpach where the sea lock entrance to the Caledonian Canal is situated. Yes, I missed the 1.30 deadline but only by 30 mins so I nearly made it but now I had a 3+hrs wait on the holding pontoon before I could enter the canal. I rafted alongside an 8m yacht that surprisingly had 3 adults and two children staying on board on holiday and while we waited we swapped stories while the children fished.

The time flew by and eventually the lock gates opened and out came a lifeboat! The lock keeper said he thought it was a relief boat for somewhere in Ireland. Anyway, with the lock having disgorged its floating contents we entered what would be the first of 29 locks in the 60 miles of canal passage to Inverness. The lock keeper could not have been more friendly or helpful and he issued me with the licence and explained about how to use the locks and where I can buy provisions and get showered etc. The canal is operated by British Waterways Scotland and they clearly have listened to customers and made the canal as easy to transit as possible. They are still improving and adding to the recent £20m upgrade program.

So, after the formalities done I moved into Corpach lock basin where I moored along the quayside for the night. Normally, they don’t allow overnight mooring in the basin as it is a holding area for people going through the sea lock but it was late, there was little point in going any further that day and so they allow us, myself and the yacht to which I rafted when waiting outside the lock, to stop the night.

I was in the Caledonian Canal! For me this was a big moment because it represented a half-way point in the trip. Not necessarily half-way in miles but in a split between west and east. I intend to try to relax through the canal and enjoy what may be my one and only trip along it so from now I go into holiday mode and concentrate on chilling out, enjoying the fantastic scenery and not having to worry about weather, deadlines and dare I say it, fundraising. I have done plenty on this trip so far and will do plenty more so this bit in the middle is for me and not the RNLI and I intend to enjoy it!