Just outside Fort William in Banavie is one end of the Caledonian Canal, designed by famous Scottish civil engineer, Thomas Telford which links the Atlantic Ocean, via Loch Linnhe to Inverness and the North Sea on Scotland's East coast, in reality, turning the North of Scotland into an island and was completed in 1822, 12 years late!
Yet again, the weather gods were smiling kindly upon us. It was warm. The azure skies were punctuated by a few billowing white clouds and as always, the majestic mountains provided a dramatic backdrop.
The canal is only partly man-made as it connects a number of deep water, natural lochs together including the infamous Loch Ness where the monster is said to live.
To compensate for the natural rise and fall of the land, the canal has a number of locks which are staircases for boats that allow a canal to traverse the ups and downs of the landscape. Where we are, here at Corpach, the end of the canal drops down by a final 20 metres to sea level, using a staircase of 8 consecutive locks named Neptune’s Staircase.. This is the longest run of locks in not just Scotland, but the whole of the UK.
Looking up the staircase of locks. It's kept really neat and tidy with the path being the start (or end!) of the Great Glen Way National Trail that can walked or cycled. On the right is a cafe. There's always a cafe. Sadly this one was closed!
I’ve been here a number of times before but never managed to see any boats using the locks but this time, I was lucky. Doubly so as they weren’t just boats, but sailing boats, and I love sailing boats!
Several YouTube sailing channels I follow have traversed the entire canal in the last few years, and I’ve followed with interest as ocean-going yachts cross the Scottish highlands on a body of water that becomes as narrow as 10 metres in width, so I was really happy to see this pair of yachts making the trip down the staircase at what must have been the end of their trip across the canal.
In the final lock chamber. Watch the water level...
Its quite a drop. Probably around 2.5m for each step of the staircase.
But never mind the width, what about the depth? Sailing boats have a weighted keel which drops deep into the water to provide them with stability, using the same effect as a pendulum. When the wind blows the boat heels and the keel stops it from blowing right over and capsizing. The problem is that usually, canals have a water depth of only around a metre and the draft (depth underwater) of these two boats could be as much as double that. Luckily, Thomas Telford designed the canal to be used by very large heavy steamships and the maximum dimension of watercraft that can safely navigate the canal is; Length 150 feet (45.72m), Beam (width) 35 feet (10.67m), Draft (depth below the water) 15 feet 6 inches (4.1m) and Air Draft (Height above the water) 115 feet (35m).
Our timing was extremely lucky as they only had the final three locks to go before the swing bridge that carries the railway over the canal opened and they sailed the final few hundred metres to the sea lock that sets them free into the tidal Loch Linnhe.
The lock gates are angled so the weight of the water behind them pushes against them to keep them closed. The sluices are opened to release the water from one lock chamber to the next. When the water has drained into the lower, next lock and becomes level, it's quite simple for one person to push each gate open. However, here at Neptune’s staircase, the gates are electric and hydraulically operated and you get help from the very friendly local team of lockkeepers who also found time to happily answer a few questions and chat about the operation of the locks. One of the things they did say was that boats needed to be booked in advance to traverse the locks so a quick phone call to them for the schedule and the guesswork of turning up to see the locks in use would be removed!
The lock gates are angled so they are forced tightly together when the level of the water in the chamber above it is higher than the one below.
There is something so aesthetically pleasing about a sailing boat, even when running under engine power. The sleek lines and graceful motion is soothing and graceful as they appear to move effortlessly through the water.
One last set of gates and they're free, all the way to the Atlantic....except for the swing bridge railway crossing and sea lock about 500 metres further on!
As for these boats, I couldn’t work out the smaller of the two but the larger one was easy to identify, it being my dream boat. It’s a Rival 41A. The ‘A’ model is the one with an aft (rear) cockpit, the ‘CC’ model has a centre cockpit and aft owner's cabin. She’s just over 12m long and displaces 10 tonnes and she's gorgeous!
There were only 57 of this model made between 1973 and 1982 and if you’re wondering how much you'd have to pay for one, a well-maintained, later model will set you back around £100,000. Bloody hell! That’s a lot of money for a 40+ year old sailing boat.
Despite her size, she can still be set up to sail single-handedly, as in the case of this particular craft which only had one person aboard. The front boat had a crew of three.
On 'Truant of Oamaru' (talk about pretentious names!), notice the lines (ropes) all running neatly across the cabin-top and back to the dodger (tent thing covering the companionway, or hatch to go below deck) where they are all hanked ready for use and also, the additional winches in the same location.
And they're gone. In this photo, you can just see the barriers for the rising road bridge in front of the final set of gates, and as always, a stunning backscene.
The boats take about 90 minutes in total to pass from top to bottom and this was a really pleasant way to spend an hour, especially in such glorious weather.
Thanks so much for dropping by and I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.
Martin
@nathen007
As always, sources and further resources for your own interest. This post has been pinned to the wonderful @worldmappin
www.rivalowners.co.uk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonian_Canal
Where’s your boat?
Just awaiting my round the world race entry forms and final approval from valueplan :-)
I will be taking people for a quick float around the local park boating lake at the next Hivefest :-)
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That is cool! I have only conquered just a couple of locks in my sailing career, and honestly...they are always super stressful as everything is tight and narrow and also with tons of other boats around.
But getting the sailboat into scotland? Damn, that must be a dream with the landscapes over there (and quite the challenge reaching over there because of the big difference in high tigh and low tide)
I should have posted this video of Erik going through. It just looks such an amazing journey for a sailboat to do. You don't see many sailboats inland, especially under sail as they pass through the lochs.
The tides around Scotland create many races through the narrow sounds with currents getting up to 4 or 5 knots in places so timing is everything, I presume.
Here, the lockkeepers are marvellous. The skipper just has to keep the boat against the wall and they do all the work!
Thanks so much for dropping by and I hope you had a lovely weekend :-)
Where's the The Loch Ness monster? That's what first came to mind when I read the word "Loch"😂
Almost at the end of this passage you'd pass through Loch Ness where he, or she, lives.
In this video,
Sam and his sailing boat go hunting for Nessie. But does he find him? ;-)
These locks are really fascinating, and especially so when there are boats passing by, though I doubt @millycf1976 will agree with me because I know it's pretty hard work going through the locks
Hehe! These locks remind me of the ones on the Thames. A lot more sophisticated than the regular ones on the canals across the UK:)))
Aren’t they just! Based on kayaking some of the Thames.
Yeah, the Thames Locks were a welcoming break, after operating some stiff ones on the K & A Canals:)
Absolutely there are some challenging ones along there that need a little servicing!
I'd forgotten about @millycf1976 and her 'canal life'! I loved those posts. I wonder, do you miss that life on the boat or enjoy the fond memories but happier back on dry land?
Hey @nathen007
We still live on a boat, but we haven't been cruising for the last 2 months (which I miss), we will be on the move again in a few weeks and I'm excited about that.
I can't see myself living in a house/flat again while in the UK :)))
That's wonderful news. I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up for most of the year but will be paying much closer attention in future.
Take care and best wishes always.
Thank you and best wishes to you too. I haven't been so active the past few months, but hopefully, I've be more active soon:)
Wonderful! You were lucky with the weather and the timing. That is a very pretty boat. My boat fund went into a caravan, although with some of the storms this past year I have wondered if I'm going to float away. One of the questions on the insurance form is are you more than five miles from the sea ... yes, and uphill. I'm wondering what kind of weather we would need to have for sea flooding at five miles.
I did have to go and check Foxton Locks as I thought they were longer than Neptune's staircase, but it appears there are two sets of five locks (although it just looks like "lots" when you're at the top or the bottom of it). There is a cafe in the old lock-keeper's cottage (with his vegetable garden at the side) - open at weekends I think in the winter). There's a spooky life-size model of ye olden-days lock-keeper just inside the cottage at one of the windows which never fails to make me jump. At one end of the lock is a pub overlooking the canal, with the usual pub grub menu. Much more interesting is a tiny bar in one of the canal side buildings. It has an open fire in winter and sells pork pies and other snacks, nice with a glass of beer after a brisk walk canalside. Although you have to resist the urge to have a nap.
That answers a question. I'd been wondering if you'd ever bought your boat :-) Caravans are less hassle and can be shared with family so probably a good choice although worrying when there's big weather.
I've not been to Foxton Locks but sounds wonderful. Bingley Five Rise used to be a lovely place to hang out for a couple of hours in the summer but compared to Foxton Locks, is severely lacking in the availability of vittals!
I love wandering the towpaths in the UK as they give you access to a whole new part of the countryside, often well away from roads and access that one would never normally see. And very few people!
I trust you've had a lovely weekend and thank you, Shani :-)
Thomas Telford - what a guy! He engineered so much across our country. Have navigated a narrowboat once and have portaged our kayaks around many.
Absolutely agree, and it is a little sad he gets overlooked in the populist psyche by Isambard Kingdom Brunel but his contribution to civil engineering was huge and diverse.
Kayaking the more rural stretches of canals must be a glorious way to spend the day, how do the fishermen and narrow boats treat kayakers on the network?
To be honest they are, as a rule all very accommodating. Sure, there the occasional morons but we tend to travel with our club, so when there is a few of us it’s a bit easier.
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Beautiful and I was watching a youtube vid with people yesterday around the canal.
Thomas Telford what a legend for bridges and canals.
Funfact about him, his mother was Janet Jackson!
The weather you timed it well! If the weather is right, then they are not many better places than Scotland.
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