Fort Augustus to Dochgarroch

The first lock down was promised at 8am in the morning and as there was a good gaggle of boats about, we decided to get into pole position. Well, except for a fishing boat who of course cast off as we headed up the canal. He used the snooker ball approach of bouncing off each lock wall and then kept his very smelly engine running all the time, as did a Dutch flagged Elling cruiser alongside us so the foredeck crew got well and truly gassed out by the time we emerged from the 5^th lock in the flight.

Of course, it had been misty in there but as we hit Loch Ness, it was thick fog. The folks who had been behind us in the locks, in a hire cruiser, had already said they might try to follow us as they had no navigation aids at all. We were third boat out and the fishing boat and Elling seemed to take a strange course, heading for the shore of the loch. Andrew on the other hand used the radar and headed up the middle of the loch. Suddenly the Elling made a big turn and fell in to line behind us as did the fishing boat. Both had radar – and it was going round so…... The hire boats stuck to us like glue and mummy duck (Andrew) was leading his brood of little ducklings across Loch Ness. As the fog started to burn off, they became more photogenic:

Some stunning views of the Loch emerged, with layers of fog hanging around, reflected in the water too:

The fog cleared as we approached Urquart castle and, surprise surprise, the fishing boat and Elling overtook us. The hire boat we had chatted to in the lock came alongside and waved their thanks before they headed for Drumnadrochit and the Loch Ness monster centre etc. We pressed on to the top of the loch, finding a few more houses that were imposing:

We planned to moor on the “pontoons” shown on the chart before Dochgarroch lock. When we got there, they all had a “reserved mooring” sign on them bar one tiny stretch just before the lock. Think the canal guide needs to be updated. The crew went to ask the lock-keeper who was on his lunch break so we did the same. When she asked again he said that we would be better passing through the lock and using the longer waiting pontoon on the other side. So, after waiting for the Jacobite Queen trip boat (a real old stager):

We locked through. This was the first lock where the keeper didn’t help us with the lines. Mind you he had a fearsome limp and so probably minimised his walking each day. He also had fearsome teeth –so bad that he might have come from Cornwall (you have to look at last year’s posts to get this one). To cap it all his accent was a real islands one. Very sing-song and hard to follow.  We slotted onto the end of the pontoon but it was not a great spot to leave the boat tomorrow for our planned trip into Inverness as all the hire boats would be using this as a waiting area. Hum.

That problem didn’t materialise though as the man with the limp staggered up to us and said that he was sorry, but he had forgotten that he had promised a trip barge the use of the pontoon overnight and so could we move. Where to – all the other moorings had the favourite “reserved mooring” signs? The lock keeper’s solution was simple – pick one, use it and say that I said it was OK. Not sure how that helps if the berth holder returns later on but….

So, we duly picked one and a local resident confirmed that the yacht was away for a while. Result.  Of course, Patrick didn’t help with all these boat moves, he just sat and sunbathed:

This getting to Inverness was proving harder than we thought. Our next plan was to use the RIB for a trip up there tomorrow so we launched it and decided on a practice run into town. Mummy duck had estimated a two mile trip. The crew moaned a bit when it was a touch longer. Still, the RIB, under Linda’s command, reached the swing bridge at Tomnahurich safely only to discover that it was too low to pass through by dinghy. As it was already nearly 6 pm and the bridge stops working then, we had a fair chance of being stuck the other side. Hence, we turned around and came back – at least it was sunny…. Inverness gets even more elusive.

That evening, plan B was hatched. Mummy duck found the bus timings and we decided to take the bus tomorrow. Surely nothing else could stop our quest now??? Especially as mummy duck had morphed into Crocodile Dundee:

Talking of famous people. we also saw J R Hartley walking along the canalside:

For younger readers or the non UK folks, look at this Yellow pages advert

The nice family from the hire cruiser that acted as a duckling in the fog came for a chat and thanked us again for getting them safely to their destination. They also gave us some “smidge” repellent that we might well need looking at the forecast for the next few days.

If this Inverness saga has kept you breathless with excitement, then you had better read on….. If not, then you are a normal balanced human being.