Fort Augustus to Banavie Locks
The forecast of rain for this morning did not materialize. At 8:00am on the dot, we set off up the flight of locks at Fort Augustus. Our captain, Bob Raitt, made it look easy to fit our ship, Lord of the Glens, into the locks, which are only two feet longer than the ship. Bright shafts of sunshine illuminated the buildings and landscape of our surroundings. It was a truly stunning morning. As soon as we exited the top lock a large, beautiful, wooden, two-masted sailing yacht slipped into our space to make its descent down the flight of locks. This vessel was just one of many interesting yachts and barges we have seen along the way.
As we continued our traverse of the Great Glen on the waters of the Caledonian Canal we could not help but be impressed by this massive feat of engineering that was built around 200 years ago. The scale of this construction is truly awesome. The first two locks that we came to this morning, Kytra and Cullochy looked wonderful in the morning sun. These two locks have a real feeling of remoteness and look almost exactly the same as they would have when originally built. The lock keepers’ stone-built cottages beside the locks are well maintained and had delightful gardens full of colorful flowers. Passing through Cullochy Loch meant we had reached Loch Oich and the summit of the canal. Once we had traversed the wonderfully scenic Loch Oich we were on our way down, heading for the west coast of Scotland.
As we passed by the ruins of Invergarry Castle, Iris Barry presented an informative explanation of the succession of past kings and queens to rule this land. All too soon we had reached the southwest end of Loch Lochy with just the last few miles of the canal ahead of us. Along this stretch of water buzzards and peregrine falcons were seen flying high above.
After lunch, with the Lord of the Glens tied up alongside at Banavie, we wandered down beside the flight of locks known as Neptune’s Staircase to meet the coach that was to take us out to Glenfinnan Monument and Loch Sheil. The rain that had been forecast arrived but seemed to do nothing to dampen our enthusiasm. The stunning, lush green mountain scenery that surrounds Bonnie Prince Charlie on his monument still impressed us all. Low clouds and occasional heavy showers added another dimension to this evocative setting. The impressive railway viaduct that spans the valley of Glenfinnan behind the monument looks so spectacular with a steam train passing over; it was chosen as one of the principal locations in the Harry Potter films. We caught a glimpse of the steam train on our way out to Glenfinnan.
After another excellent meal on board we were entertained with live Scottish folk music. What a day.
