Sailing the Caledonian Canal and Glenfinnan

Another bright morning dawns as we set sail from Fort Augustus. The first two locks still take us up the canal, until we reach the highest point at 106 feet. Here at Aberchalder Swing Bridge, one of the characters of the canal is waiting for us: Skipper, a gorgeous golden retriever. His owner used to work as a lock keeper and sometimes at breakfast he’d get a bacon roll for sustenance from the Lord of the Glens. The dog would get a sausage. Now the owner runs a café along the canal and Skipper still remembers the sound of the ship and comes out looking for sausages – he is never disappointed by the crew of the Lord of the Glens.


Loch Oich is a particularly nice stretch of the canal, with added interest of the ruin of Invergarry Castle (17th century) and the ‘Well of the Seven Heads.’ (Too nasty a story to tell here!)


The next highlight is the sail through Laggan Avenue, where the trees come right down to the narrow channel of water – lovely. Laggan locks are our first locks down the way toward the Atlantic. On Loch Lochy, Konia gives a presentation on “Highland Life and Clothing.” After Gairlochy locks we sail past the last original swing bridge at Moy – it is still hand operated!


Once we reach Banavie we sail during lunch down Neptune’s Staircase, a series of eight locks lowering the water level by 64 feet over a distance of 500 yards. We tie up at the bottom of Neptune’s Staircase and await the Jacobite Steamtrain – which spectacularly passes close by us. Our afternoon excursion is to lovely Glenfinnan. Beautiful scenery invites us for a walk with Rick or a photo stroll with Konia, or for those of us wanting to know more about the Jacobites, we are entertained by Steve who gives us further details on this important part of Scottish history and then we have a chance to read up some more at the exhibition centre. Our return journey to Lord of the Glens is not by coach but by sprinter train, giving us a chance to cross the famous Glenfinnan viaduct ourselves – built in the 1890s and now famous due to the Harry Potter films.


After dinner on Lord of the Glens we are entertained by the Scottish Music Show, with singing, bodhran (traditional hand-held drum), harp, fiddle playing and a squeeze box. A lovely finish to a lovely day.


Good night – or I should say in Gaelic: Oidhche mhath.