Waiting for a Truck to Plymouth

Jomima is at present out of the water so that I can do some jobs on her hull. So far, she is anti-fouled and the hull is polished. I have also replaced the anodes and cleaned the propellers and rudders - she has two of each. She is scheduled to be moved by truck to Plymouth, Devon on 6 April 2009. If the weather is suitable then I may start the long job of polishing her top sides before she goes. Otherwise that will have to wait until she is in the water.

Once she is in the water I will service the engines. This is quite a big job because they are big engines. I have 25 liters of oil ready along with various impellers and filters. Let's hope that the sun shines this summer and we can enjoy our cruising in 2009.

Trucking Back to Newark on Trent

On the 6 August at 0800 prompt, the crane arrived. It was an enormous 60-ton capacity machine that they had hired for lifting a large steel boat. It was easily big enough to lift 10 tons of Jomima. Normally, she is lifted by a specialist boatlift, which straddles the boat and lifts her on two adjustable straps. When they came to lift Jomima with a crane with straps that were a fixed distance apart, they realised that they would have to lift her nose down. I am not usually nervous when they do this but today, with an ‘ordinary’ crane, I was. I actually had difficulty watching as they made the lift and raised her comparatively high in the air before putting her on the back of the truck. I should not have worried, they certainly knew what they were doing and the process went relatively smoothly.

By 10:15 am, we were on our way south and into the heavy rain. Jomima was clean when we set off but she was covered with a traffic film very soon afterwards. The route south down the A9 was magnificent – or it would have been if it had stopped raining. Still, from my position high up in the passenger (second man) position it was possible to see a good deal more than you normally can from the seat of a car. The rain continued all of the way to where we stopped for the night at Penrith. This is a secure trucking stop where we were able to get a good meal, and limitless tea, for a very reasonable price.

I slept in my usual bed on Jomima but was woken at 05:30 by the roar of trucks leaving for their next destination. We left at 07:00 and were in Newark for midday where she was safely unloaded and returned to the water.

Inverness

This was our last port of call and we arrived a couple of days ago. Ann is now back in Nottingham, having caught the train back to Inverkip, Glasgow (where the car was) and then driven back home.

I am in Cayle Marina cleaning Jomima and waiting for the truck to arrive to take us back to Newark. This should happen on Wednesday but these things sometimes change.

Today dawned sunny but the weather forecast was for rain. I therefore decided to make best use of the sun, while it lasted, and take some photographs. I wanted to visit the end of the Caledonian Canal so that I will have seen all of it. The best way to do this was by bike, so I assembled my faithful stead and pedalled along the towpath. It was a lovely ride and, like all tow paths, apart from near the locks, it was relatively flat. The route took me past the Muirtown Flight of three locks and then over the swing bridge to Seaport Marina. This is a British Waterways marina and it looked well organised and a pleasant place to stay. Next I made my way past the Clachnaharry Works Lock and swing bridge. Then finally I reached the end of the canal at the Clachnaharry Sea Lock. Sadly, the tide was out so I was unable to see any boats passing through the lock although two yachts were moored near by waiting to pass through. I hope that you like the resulting photographs.

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.

Gairlochy

Now that we are safely in the Caledonian Canal, we do not have to hurry. Jomima has to be at Inverness, at the other end of the canal, by 31 July 2008 to await collection by truck. She will then be returned to Newark-on-Trent. Today we only completed 5.4 miles with one lock and two swing bridges. All of them are operated by staff from British Waterways so it is considerably easier than our passage through the Crinan Canal.

We found a beautiful mooring at Gairlochy, which is just before the start of Loch Lochy. The guide that we have indicates that the museum of the Cameron Clan is only 4km away. Therefore, we unloaded our bicycles and made our way along a picturesque road to the museum. Unfortunately, the guide gave an incorrect distance and it was more like 4 miles to the museum – particularly when you take into account the long driveway. However, the museum proved very interesting and supplied a lot of information about the Clan as well as the commandoes that trained in this area during World War II. Who knows, the Clan may even supply the next Prime Minister.

The Jacobite Steam Train

Ann, as you may know, is both a Harry Potter and steam train enthusiast. As a result, it was difficult to pass this way without having a ride on the steam train from Fort William to Mallaig – a distance of 41 miles. This is known as the Jacobite Train after the uprising that took place in these parts and it follows ‘The Road to The Isles’.

We left at 08:15 and caught the bus to Fort William and joined the queue for tickets. All of the pre-bookable tickets available had already been sold so we were pleased to be able to get two seats together. The ride did not disappoint Ann although she had obviously forgotten how sooty you could get riding in the carriage of a steam train with the window open.

It is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular and memorable rail journeys in the world with views of mountains, Lochs, seashore and Islands. We had lunch in the important fishing port of Mallaig (fish and chips for me and scallops for Ann). What a great day out.