The Caledonian Canal

Arrived in Corpach, by Fortwilliam late in the evening and moored in one the side of another yacht preparing to go in through the locks in the morning. Already by the jetty we could see that the climb through the locks onto the lochs would be considerable. Alec at the sealock office was great and gave us sound advice for the passing.

After a much appreciated good night's sleep we headed into the canal. Massive gates opening, sliding in, waiting for them to close and then the water rushing in, causing quite a bit of restless movement of the hull of the yacht next to the Victorian stone walls of the basin. The fenders needed to be in the right place and still we had to push the boat off the wall at times. The sun was shining and we pulled out all of the stuff from the forecabin to dry on deck - a failure to lock the hatch from inside had probably caused an accidental opening of it during the previous night (doesn't take a lot to have your foot swipe a lever open unless it is locked from inside). Something that was already rectified then by closing it properly, but drying of the cargo and cushions had had to wait.

Fuss expertly cooked a fry as we made steady progress through the Neptunes staircase and some more locks and swing bridges. We put on our Slender Delta Viking Quest 2010 T-shirts and smiled and sang for the tourists watching the canal operation, wondering why it was that we had had to pay 178 pounds for the passage and not the other way round. Fuss in particular stood out with his Welsh baritone. Dynamo and Chief Eng. kindly stayed quiet and concentrated holding the boat steady with the warps that we sometimes attached ourselves and at other times were thrown down for us by the canal staff.

It was easy going and lovely on the lochs Lochy and Oich. We made steady progress, arriving in Fort Augustus in the evening. A nice curry in the comfort of the cockpit of the boat and some friendly conversation about various aspects of the life of man and the appreciation of the opposite sex that makes all this possible was just what we needed.

Just a little drop through a couple of locks first thing in the morning and we'll be in Loch Ness. The total passage time without any pressure and going by the 5 knot speed limit will have taken about a day and a half as estimated.