Banavie to Laggan

We were pretty tired after our exertions of yesterday. The fizzy stuff and wine that we consumed yesterday evening were not significant contributors to this state of torpor of course. We finally roused ourselves and had a brief walk around the area and then headed off for pastures new.

Trundling along, we discovered how good the local jungle drums were. As we passed through Moy swing bridge we gave “Margaret” the lady operator a thank you wave. She then called the next set of locks and bridge to tell them that a large private motorboat was en route. A little later she called them to say that 3 hire cruisers were en route and that the large motor boat had just passed Mrs McGillivrays.

Who is Mrs Mc Gillivray we wondered?? There were two tasteful green plastic chairs on the towpath and they were empty so perhaps she had scuttled back to her house to report our movements? Along the canal was a strange sign – maybe water has different physical properties in Scotland under the SNP?

Later on we heard another call from Margaret saying that we were opposite the small island in the Loch. We wondered if Mrs McGillivray’s son lived up there and was responsible for phoning in the later status updates. Kind of a neighbourhood watch on steroids…. Clearly we were being stalked even more closely than the sad folks who watch us on AIS manage to do. This is getting spooky.

The trip across Loch Lochy was wonderful. Temperature (too hot in the canal wearing a T-shirt and shorts and yes, this is Scotland!!) scenery and general mood on board:

There were one or two tempting houses along the lochside too:

Of course, with all that water and all those trees the midges must be pretty rampant in the right weather. Perhaps we will not save up to buy it. (For the foreign readers, midges are a life hazard here. They are nice little flying things that simply try to eat you alive. Have a look at WIKI link)

After clearing the Laggan locks, we dropped onto an empty mooring and had a look at the local barge restaurant the “Eagle barge inn”. Despite being peak season a little notice explained that it was shut on Tuesday and Wednesday due to “staffing issues”. Perhaps not a good place to try on the way back? The view from the mooring was good though:

 

And in the evening the wind died away totally leaving some great reflections that the camera tried to capture:

A great end to another great day. This is becoming habit forming now.