We moved a little earlier this morning, as we wanted hot showers before we got on our way, with the intention of getting to Gairlochy for lunchtime ……. which is about a 2hr motor!

Anyway, hot showers accomplished, breakfast sorted we called the lock and were informed it would be opened in 10mins, so off we went and nabbed the stbd forward slot, followed in by a ‘rental’ motor cruiser in the port forward slot and 2 Dutch yachts, either side behind us……. Libra the yacht behind us we’d previously followed up the Fort Augustus flight, Kytra & Cullochy locks ……. we were lowered in the lock, gates opened, and we were to be the first out, wind gusting 20+kts it took plenty of bow thruster & throttle to maintain some semblance of steerage as the wind bounced off the port side of the lock forcing us to the stbd side …… we exited cleanly, looking back the ‘cruiser’ cast off and was promptly blown straight across the lock, fortunately with both bow & stern thrusters he missed the stbd wall (just) & exited safely, but I could feel his stress.

At this stage I was looking forward as Ruth tidied up our ropes, shortly after I again looked back to see Libra stuck directly across the lock & appeared to be pressed hard against the shut lock gates at the back, it’s never pleasant to see someone else in distress, but there was nothing we could do to help, so we continued on our way. Radio traffic afterwards appeared to indicate that Libra had been damaged, as the lock was closed to other traffic for over an hour! A sad day indeed!

We progressed down through Loch Lochy ….. similar conditions to yesterday; gusting 25kts (on the nose), whitecaps & waves, rain showers and bloomin cold! Thankfully the spray hood did its job as we hid down behind it with the autopilot doing the work of steering, then down past numerous fish farms at the bottom end;

we were safely alongside just before 12, we had lunch and then got ‘togged up’ to brave the elements and walk to the Clan Cameron Museum …… an advertised 2.5m ……. initially following google maps we had to backtrack after 15mins, so the outward walk was nearly 4miles, we’d also only been going 10mins, when it had warmed up so, jackets and waterproof trousers were removed, next off came the fleeces, then it rained a little so jackets back on etc etc

In between the ‘inclemency’ it looks quite nice on the hills?

On our walk we came across a plaque in relation to training commandos for amphibious landings on WWII Landing Craft Assault (LCA);

Before they were allowed on the actual LCAs they had to practice embarking & disembarking from these land based concrete mock ups!

The museum was ok, could really do with a good curator to put a lot of stuff into some semblance of order, but interesting none the less and a ‘every day’s a school day’ moment when we read about the ‘Commando’ training that was done there many years ago! They started off by having to walk/march from Spean Bridge railway station to the estate approx 8miles, although they were ‘piped’ the last half mile from the estate gates!

Our walk back to SW was significantly wetter than our outbound journey, but suitably attired we stayed fairly dry and had a good bit of exercise with around 8miles covered…… although Ruth was disappointed that it didn’t involve alcohol…… which our normal long walks do!

There’s snow on them there hills;

It’s Ben Nevis, although we’ve not managed to actually see the top yet due to the cloud covering!

After a comfy, warm night on board, we topped up our water tanks this morning and then departed on our leisurely way ……. still windy, cold and showery, so full foulies and boots were the order of the day,

after 15mins on the ‘man-made’ section of canal we approached Kytra lock, only a short wait on the pontoon required before we were in and getting ‘lifted’ …. the very nice lock-keeper did give us a warning though that the Cullochy lock was experiencing delays as the engineers were repairing a gate, as this was our next lock we stopped on exiting for some pickies;

Then took a meander towards Cullochy lock ……. not saying it was a long delay, given the lock-keeper told us; 20mins to finish the work & 10mins to empty the water & get the 4 boats going in the other direction on their way ……… but Ruth had time to; weigh the ingredients, mix them up, get the oven hot and then bake fresh Guinness bread all before we got in the lock, this time with 3 other boats!

On exiting the lock, which is the highest level we get to on our transit journey through the Glens …….. so it’s all downhill from here ……… we then all charged off around the corner …… obviously downhill is easier, whence the Aberchalder Swing Bridge was opened for us to pass through and enter Loch Oich.

We went part way down the loch, found a shallow area and dropped the hook, ready for lunch …… fresh Guinness bread and nibbles …… absolutely scrummy! Then we had a quick fly past from the RAF …….a very low flying Hercules, went right up the loch with its rear ramp down, unfortunately we didn’t have a camera ready at the time!

The hook was well and truly dug in, and came up covered in thick, peaty mud, fortunately the deck wash pump was used to good effect! The wind continued to blow, gusting 25kts at times, and yes you guessed it, right on the nose …… Oich is a very narrow loch with a clearly buoyed channel, although not that wide, especially when you have a large trawler from Stornoway coming in the opposite direction …… in all honesty they were very good, slowing right down and keeping to their side of the channel, which was a relief.

Next up was the Laggan swing bridge, we called them up from 1/2mile away, they said keep going and we’ll open it as you get nearer, we kept going, the bridge was just about fully open as we passed through, which meant they could shut it again and not delay the A82 traffic for too long. We then entered another man-made section – Laggan Avenue, which was absolutely beautiful,

generally these sections are about 4.5m deep or deeper, however, this section was hovering around 3.5m ….. until it got shallower …… minimum depth we registered was 2.5m, given we ‘draw’ 2m when in freshwater, this was not a lot of margin!

Laggan Avenue leads to Laggan locks, which is where we are tonight, tied on a pontoon, with electric hook-up …….. the little fan heater from Screwfix in Inverness, will again be working overtime tonight me thinks!

Last night at the bottom of the Fort Augustus lock flight we saw what looked like a new fishing boat tied up, today it has been following us most of the day until eventually it passed through the Laggan lock where we are alongside, Bridie Mary is apparently brand new and on delivery to Arklow in Ireland.

Monday 17th June

At the risk of repeating myself ……. we had another lazy start…… well Barry went in search of the lock-keeper at 08.30hrs as you need to ‘book in’ to get a locking slot. Anyway the first 2 ‘lifts’, were full and we were in no rush …… have I told you we’re cruising? Hence we asked for a post lunchtime slot.

Our ‘adventurer’ who was berthed behind us in his wee boat last night, departed on his way around 10am,

saying that after a very cold night he would probably call it a day this pm and return home!

Our lock slot turned out to be around 2pm, after the lock-keeper’s late lunch break, when they opened the A82 swing bridge to allow us into the lock ……. at which point the heavens absolutely opened and we had torrential rain …… possibly not as bad as the biblical proportions Lincolnshire has recently experienced, but certainly wet enough for us.

As we now have the ‘Muvi’ camera working (we’ve worked out how it works), we managed to successfully capture our transit!

As you’ll have seen from the video, we exited the lock and went straight alongside…… here we shall remain for tonight, as there’s electric hook-up and we can get everything dry after today’s inclemency, before we depart tomorrow afresh to further our Scottish adventure!

Today’s funny sight ……. sheltering from the rain …….

(Sunday 16th June)

We had a lovely peaceful night on our buoy in Dochfour Loch, in fact the evening was so peaceful we got some amazingly reflective pictures;

A lazy start and with a good breeze ….. right on the nose, unfortunately a bit of a theme going on here, we set off motoring down Loch Ness, approx 2hrs later after a few rain showers and whitecaps on the waves …… yes whitecaps & waves on an inland water way! We then picked up a buoy in Foyer Bay, with the intention, after a spot of lunch, of going ashore to walk up and see the waterfalls, however, rain and wind gusting 20+kts put paid to that idea …… it turns out that Ruth needed to inspect the inside of her eyelids for the afternoon anyway!

We dropped off the mooring around 3pm and headed for Fort Augustus, which is where we are alongside the waiting pontoon for the night, ready for the swing bridge and 5 flight of locks in the morning, however, it would appear that earlier today there was a 4-5hr delay on transiting, so maybe not too prompt a start!

This evening we used the canal company washing facilities to get some clothes washing done, as it’s nearly a week since Barry last did the domestics, and also had a lovely meal in The Bothy, a local eatery. If there’s a wait for the lock tomorrow then there’s plenty to locally explore before we head off further down the canal …… next stop ….. who knows!

This chap is parked behind us….. for some reason his wife didn’t join him on his adventure from Lagan to Inverness?

(Saturday 15th June)

Last evening’s plan of have drinks on Aries and then off to the local restaurant for dinner, were significantly changed due to the chef being off sick. John met us half way down the pontoon to his boat to inform us of the ‘good’ news, hence we returned to Summer Wine and made immediate use of the microwave to defrost some mince beef. After a few drinks and nibbles, the onboard chef disappeared and 30mins later a chilli con carne miraculously appeared ……. this met with everyone’s approval and the general chat continued for a number of hours aided by red wine! It’s amazing how small the world is, as many of John’s ex-airline colleagues Ruth knows them extremely well from work!

We had a nice quiet sleep and after a lazy start / breakfast, cast off our lines heading down through the canal and Loch Dochfour towards Loch Ness, once past Bona Lighthouse at Lochend, we were finally into Loch Ness, noticeable by the depth gauge suddenly flashing as the water was too deep to register! We continued motoring for another hour, with many of the tourist ‘ferry’ type boats plying their trade and creating substantial wash! We then dropped anchor in Drumnadrochit Bay and just around the corner from Urquhart Castle, by now it was time for lunch, then prep the dinghy ready for a run ashore for some ‘culture’.

The F-Rib really came into its own, the solid bottom makes stepping in and out so much more safe and the drop down wheels at the back means it can be pulled up the beach put of harms way. After paying our dues we then spent a good hour or so exploring the castle ruins, before relaunching the dinghy to take some castle pictures from the water …..

Safely back on SW we had decided to head back up towards the top of the loch and anchor near Dores for the night ……. hmmm after an hour’s motoring, anchor safely deployed we then came aware of lots of noise from a field near the shore, revving engines, flags, horns blowing, music and big queues at a food van ……. obviously some sort of event, anchor quickly retrieved and back up through Dochfour loch we headed, as I write this blog, we’ve picked up a mooring buoy, the sun is out and the water is like a millpond ……. absolute bliss!

After the extremely cold and wet weather of the last few days, it was pleasant to wake up this morning with some semblance of blue sky and a slight wind from the south, rather than the frozen north.

With the boat again provisioned with fresh produce, we cast off our lines from Inverness Marina @ 08.20hrs, and headed West on the Beauly Firth towards the Clachnaharry Sea Lock – our entry point to the Caledonian Canal.

We joined to other boats in the lock, a large dutch barge type affair, that was belching black smoke (so much for ‘turn your engine off in the lock) and Aries a 36’ motor cruiser driven by John (an ex airline pilot …… so Ruth felt at home!). After the sea lock and purchasing our 7day licence, we headed off towards the rail swing bridge and next lock, another uneventful lock transition, despite the wind gusting and rain showers.

We then approached the Muirtown swing road bridge and 4stairs lock, unfortunately they couldn’t open the road bridge until 11.30, so we had an hour to kill ……. just enough time for a brew and chat to ‘John’. Around 11ish the swing bridge operator contacted us and said he would open it in approx 10mins, but we’d need to wait for another large dutch barge to exit first …….. obviously we weren’t important or big enough to get it opened! The staff on the ‘lock flight’ were brilliant, which was a great help to Ruth’s confidence, once out of the flight we headed the 10mins towards Tomnahurich road swing bridge,

having been informed that it wouldn’t open until 13.30 it was time for a spot of lunch. By now the rain clouds were easing and sun was making an occasional appearance, once through the bridge we were out in open countryside, which was fabulous and much higher than the river Ness;

Another 40mins meandering through the countryside got us to Dochgarroch pontoons and lock, where we found a mooring for night ……. overall a lovely easy start to the cruising lifestyle, mixed bag of weather, met some really nice people along the way …… going for drinks on board John’s motor cruiser this evening!

After our late Friday night arrival and celebratory cold beer, it was a quiet night followed by a lazy start, after breakfast cereals …… nothing exotic from the chef on Saturday morning, Al O departed ….. heading first to his boat in Ardossan for a few days before heading home.

The 3 remaining ‘amigos’ set about cleaning the boat and putting things away, then after a late lunch it was time to explore the delights of Inverness …… well the MacGregor Bar to be more precise …… some 8hrs after entering the front door to avoid the rain, we departed back to Summer Wine! A very pleasant afternoon, whence we met some incredibły intriguing locals.

Sunday dawned and Mike departed, Al B & Barry borrowing 2 bikes from the marina to explore, after a great ‘full english’ breakfast in a local cafe we then ventured across to the Canal and Seaport lock, did some shopping ….. not getting back to SW until late afternoon, the chef was then back on duty ……. Aberdeen Angus rib eye steaks, garlic mushrooms, tomatoes, baked potatoes, carrots, peas & peppercorn sauce …… absolutely scrummy, thence cheese board and some very nice LBV Port, who says you can’t eat well on board?

Monday we again explored this time on foot as the ‘bikes’ were already out, some 10 miles later our feet were ready for a rest so, collected a hire car for the airport transfers on Tuesday. Al B returned home on Tuesday late morning …… forgetting the ‘haggis’ he had bought and in the boat fridge, Barry then did all the ‘domestics’ whilst dodging the rain, before collecting Ruth late evening!

Wednesday …… weather was again fairly poor, so we did a supermarket run for all the fresh goods, had a drive around to the canal and then dropped off the hire car, after a wander around Inverness, a few drinks and a meal it was time to head back to SW …… fortunately we had all our ‘walking waterproofs’ with us as the skies provided us with constant rain. Tomorrow’ weather is forecasted to be similar, so nothing planned apart from getting ready to depart at 8am on Friday for our Caledonian Canal Seaport entry.

Sorry no pictures this blog!

After Aberdeen the next port to pass on our northward journey was Peterhead a very busy fishing port, then Rattray Head,

before starting on our course to port. Next on the list was Fraserburgh another busy fishing location, at this time the wind picked up and we started to sail with the spinnaker, but an hour or so later the wind again disappeared and it was back to the diesel sail.

After a spot of lunch the wind again filled in and although behind the beam was gusting 20+kts so the sensible option was full genoa rather than spinnaker, this sped us on our way touching 9kts through the water at times. The weather was fantastic fairly clear skies and sun shining, although the occasional rain clouds came scurrying through, and plenty of layers were required to keep warm!

For dinner the chef provided oven roasted sausages, potatoes, capsicums and tomatoes, the fare again seeming to go down well and appreciated by the hard working crew. Our excellent progress meant we reached Inverness Marina ahead of schedule, being tied alongside at 23.45hrs, but who’s complaining about getting in early.

This delivery trip has gone exceptionally well, the skipper is extremely grateful for the assistance from Al B, Al O & Mike in all working hard together to make the delivery trip safe and enjoyable. Everyone seems to have learnt something about offshore sailing /passage making, which is the aim of the game. Overall we have completed 695Nm in our 7days since leaving Northney!

Barry now has a few days to get the boat sorted before Ruth joins him on Tuesday, as they cruise through the Caledonian Canal towards the Western Isles later in the week for the next part of the Summer Wine Scottish adventure.

After an easy day in Blyth Marina, Mike led us off into the metropolis to get some dinner ashore & give the onboard chef a night off, we walked through a rather pleasant park facility and then down to the northern arm of the port, where we saw the ‘tall ship’ Williams II a Baltic Trader built in 1914 that has been refitted over 2yrs by community volunteers. We then had dinner in the Commissioners Quay Inn hotel.

Thursday morning was an easy start, refilled the boat water tanks, breakfast, engine checks and then departed pretty post haste for Inverness (243Nm leg) as a large cargo vessel was about to enter the port, this would have delayed our departure for quite some time as it needed to manoeuvre back into the same basin we were in, but in actual fact; Mike’s local contacts let us nip out and we then met the vessel at the port entrance breakwaters.

Once outside there was again little wind so we used the diesel spinnaker, passing the Farne Islands on our way;

the onboard chef making fresh potato soup for lunch, which appeared to go down quite well. Then with a little breeze filling in we got to use the big coloured spinnaker,

turning the engine off was bliss, this continued for a few hours as we made our northerly course, until heavy rain showers and darkening skies to our West made us take the big coloured hankie down. Shortly after, and now with rain also approaching from the East, the wind got flukey, however, just before the rain started we deployed the bimini to give us protection. After the rain stopped the wind disappeared, so engine back on …… the chef cooked a ‘one pot special’ for dinner, with crew going back for second helpings!

As we got into the evening the sun shone brightly, and under a clear sky it was very warm, possibly the warmest time of the trip thus far. Expecting nightfall at around 10pm, it was still light enough to clearly see everything at 11.30pm, this photo was taken at 11pm ……

the joys of more northerly latitudes! We also had just enough wind to sail, so a peaceful night on board without the engine.

We passed Aberdeen at 5am and with little wind it was back to diesel propulsion, we estimate arrival in Inverness in the early hours of Saturday, just in time to miss the Force 7 predicted for NE Scotland and the North Sea for later on Saturday!

As intimated in the last post, we had another good night’s sailing and we were safely alongside on the Royal Northumberland Sailing Club ‘visitors’ pontoon at 09.20 this morning! 315.5Nm in just less than 24hours, has been very good progress, although the wind ‘gods’ do appear to play tricks too often!

Another night dodging big ships, playing the tides, keeping the boat flat in the swells but by and large just having fun! Crew are still in fine fettle and coping with the skipper’s cooking …… tonight we eat ashore!!