Loch Ness

We got up early, for us, at 06:45am and it was a lovely summer’s morning. We had hoped to descend the staircase of four locks down to Loch Ness at 08:00 am. Unfortunately, the lock keeper decided to move two locks full of boats ascending the locks first. This took nearly 2 ¾ hours so it was 10:45 am before we entered the fist lock. As a group we were reasonably well organised and the complicated descent of the four locks, plus a swing bridge, was completed by 12:15. However, Ann found it quite tiring, largely because of the large number of spectators who all seemed to want to talk to her as she was trying to concentrate on handling Jomima’s ropes from the side of the locks.

After passing through the swing bridge, we began our journey across the full length of Loch Ness. The Loch is a very long and deep stretch of water. Our depth gauge stopped working at 180m. From our charts, I know that it exceeds 200m in many places – which is over twice as deep as the English Channel. There is more water in Loch Ness than all of the other British reservoirs put together. Much is made locally of the Loch Ness monster – which is obviously their biggest tourist attraction. Unfortunately, I failed to capture anything on camera and we were generally disappointed with Loch Ness. For us it was just a long trip between two relatively uninteresting mountainsides. Fortunately, the trip along the canal the other side made up for it.

Fort Augustus

After an overnight stop on Loch Oich, we arrived at Fort Augustus. Loch Oich is the highest point of the canal so we are now descending. This is easier than going up because you start of level with the top of the lock and can easily place the ropes over a bollard rather than having to throw a rope up to a lock keeper. We have been advised to moor at the top of the flight of four locks and will therefore pass through them later.

We walk down past the locks to the start of the famous Loch Ness. It stretches into the distance for twenty miles and a considerable swell reaches into the bottom moorings – which is why we are moored at the top. The small town itself is delightful with an interesting canal museum, post office and small super market. We take the opportunity to stock up with supplies because we may have to moor next time at a much more remote location.

In the evening, we visit the local pub, which is full of many nationalities. A number of boats from Finland and Holland are moored in the basin and we learn that there is a coach party, mainly of Australians, staying at a local hostel. The cosmopolitan crowd are good fun and everybody seems to be enjoying themselves.

We wake up in the morning to heavy rain and wind against us - if we decide to cross Loch Ness. It was an easy decision to stay here for another night.