Week 5
| Date | Blog Entry | Related Pictures |
| 27/07/08 |
Today was a great day, with the short hop of
about 18 miles it only took about 3 hours due to fair tide and
once again the scenery was stunning. Leaving Oban in brilliant
sunshine the sea was blue, only broken by the occasionally group
of dolphins swimming along. As the day went on and the
temperature of the land increased, some sea breezes built up so
we were even able to get some sailing in. To get to Croabh Haven
from Oban there are two ways, either down the Sound of Luing or
through the Cuan Sound, the latter cutting miles off of the
journey. I decided with a fair weather and more
importantly tide to take the Cuan sound, the sound is only 1
mile long and 3/4 of a cable at its narrowest point (10 cables
to 1 nautical mile) and the tide passes through at over 5knots
on neaps and more on springs. The sound is hard to see at first
and it looks as though you are just heading for the rocks until
the last minute where the entrance opens up and you can see the
channel. With the tide running through at a fair pace when I
arrived Padiwak was being pulled one way and then by the time
you correct it with the helm she was pulled back the other. Due
to this I found it was easier to keep steering straight and just
let the boat follow the tide. We shot through the sound at over 8knts and was then spat out at the end into Shuna Sound, by this stage the wind had increased and we had a cracking sail all the way to Croabh Haven. It was a very good day and thank you to the marina for all of their help and assistance. There are a few options for tomorrow and with a good forecast, North going South 3-4, the anchorage at Gigha is looking good before going over to Ireland the following day. |
   |
| 26/07/08 |
Padiwak is now back into salt water, it was a
great feeling to open her up the with the salty spray lashing
the decks as she motored into the wavelets. To get out to sea we
needed to go down Neptune's staircase which although rather
slower was pretty easy as Padiwak was walked down with lines
ashore all of the time. Another single lock and then it was into
the sea lock and then out to sea. As we were in the first lock
out at 8 o'clock it meant that I could use the tide to get all
the way down to Oban Marina which is actually on the island of
Kerrera just off Oban. The weather wasn't the best and it meant
motoring all of the way. Low lying cloud meant that the
visibility was low and as the day went on fog developed but
luckily we managed to avoid the worst of it. With the tide
underneath us we made good progress and arrived in Oban at about
5 o'clock. The beauty of the West Coast is already becoming evident and the good thing is that even if the wind does increase you can always find some shelter behind one of the islands or up one of the numerous lochs. Hopefully we will get some sun which will burn the fog away and reveal the real west coast. Thank you to Oban Marina who donated their berth and for the very friendly service, tomorrow we will head for Croabh Haven which is only about 18 miles further South West, the forecast is for pretty much no wind so it could be another motoring day......... |
   |
| 25/07/08 |
Simple day today through a few more locks and
then had to motor down Loch Lochy as there wasn't any wind, the
good thing about the Caledonian Canal is that you can stop on
pretty much any pontoon or jetty along the canal so you can pick
some brilliant spots for something to eat or to spend the night.
Once through the Moy swing bridge some other creatures were
taking advantage of the good weather for a walk along the canal
side, from there you could see Ben Nevis but he still had his
'hat' on, his hat being the cloud which often covers the summit.
We proceeded up until the moorings just before Neptune's staircase and moored the boat up, looking out across the canal the Ben Nevis range was in the background and instantly rivalled Loch Oich for the best view from the mooring. As I was motoring to Fort William the fuel line on the outboard kept popping off the engine with fuel going everywhere each time, for a temporary fix I put a couple of cable ties round but before going to sea I would need to fix the problem fully. We found that it was just the clip on the connector had worn away so a new one would be needed which meant a trip to the chandlers. After asking one of the lock keepers we found out that the nearest chandler was Oban, chandlers in Scotland are most definitely few and far between so if anyone wants to open a business in Scotland I would recommend a chandlery! I would like to thank British waterways for their help by way of reduced fees for my stay on the canal and also all of the bridge and lock keepers for their superb service and help throughout the journey along the canal. For more information please look on; www.scottishcanals.co.uk |
   |
| 24/07/08 |
We had to wait at the Fort Augustus lock
flight for a few hours just because of the number of vessels
passing through, luckily because Padiwak is a small boat she was
rafted up to another bigger boat. This meant that I didn't need
to keep throwing lines up at each lock but instead helped with
the bigger boats lines. The sluices on this flight seemed more
intense than others and you can see this in the photos. After
the flight it was onto another few single locks at Kytra and
Cullochy before we were onto Loch Oich which is the highest
point of the canal at 106ft above sea level. Loch Oich was
stunning and we managed to sail all the way down to the Great
Glen water park, creeping along under genoa (front sail) alone.
I think here was the best mooring so far throughout the trip
with beautiful views of the completely still loch as the sun
dipped behind the trees, pure peace and tranquillity! Words
cannot describe the scene so please have a look at the pictures
in the gallery. We should be able to get onto Fort William tomorrow but before going to sea will spend the night there charging the batteries before the simple task of just heading down the nine locks, the biggest lock flight in the canal consequently named Neptune's Staircase and then back out to sea. |
   |
| 23/07/08 |
First proper day on the canals with the final
result being Lock Ness conquered and Padiwak moored at Fort
Augustus, the weather was wonderful and the scenery simply
stunning. After leaving Seaport Marina it was the first 'lock
flight' where there were 4 locks all together, doing this by
yourself can be quite tricky as you have to steer the boat into
the lock and then when your alongside throw two lines up to the
lock keeper or someone onshore. Luckily I had my shore crew
(Dad) to catch lines and then with a boat the size of Padiwak
you can just simply walk the boats through the lock flights.
Once up the Muirtown locks it was under a few swing bridges and one more lock before Docharroch and Loch Dufour where we stopped to have some lunch. At this point the wind was blowing quite strong and with Loch Ness being over 20miles long I was wondering how lumpy it would be. After talking to some other people who had came from Lossiemouth the same day as me I decided to carry on as the wind was dropping as the temperature dropped. Loch Ness was simply 'wow', its such a huge expanse of water surround by some beautiful scenery and as the evening went on it seemed as though I was the only boat on there. There are some interesting facts about Loch Ness like you can fit two St Pauls Cathedrals on top of each other in the deepest part, it could take all the worlds population without overfilling and it also contains an elusive monster. At its deepest part its over 900ft deep and as the mist set in I did see something which looked liked the tail of something disappearing into the murky depths........... We moored just below Fort Augustus along with lots of other boats all waiting to go up the next lock flight, have a look in the gallery for more pictures from the canal. |
   |
| 22/07/08 |
Padiwak is now in freshwater after a hard day
heading to Inverness before locking into the Caledonian Canal
through the Clachnaharry locks. The
weather forecast was good with light Southwesterly winds with
one forecaster saying nothing above 10 mph. The harbour
entrance still had a bit of swell but nothing as bad as the
previous day. The wind was slightly more than expected but the
sea was still quite flat so I didn't mind but as I kept on
pushing the wind kept increasing making the passage quite
uncomfortable. Padiwak kept punching through the steep waves
regardless but it was that uncomfortable that I started looking
at what other possible harbours I could pull into. Being low
water the options were limited so the only option apart from
turning back was to carry on towards Inverness, the boat was
perfectly safe it was just an uncomfortable ride. There was no let up in the weather but the sun was shining and the highlight of the day was seeing the dolphins off Fort George about 5miles east of Inverness. They are resident to that area as they feed in the narrows where the tide runs strongly, there must of been about 15 all together and they didn't take any notice of the boat but came quite close so I managed to get some good pictures. The entrance to the canal was a relief after the hard passage to Inverness, after the sea lock there was one more lock before we moored up at Seaport Marina in Muirtown. Thank you to the sea lock keepers for their help. |
   |