The summer sailing season of 2023 has turned into the summer of canals. After transiting the Kiel Canal in May on our way north to Scandinavia, we took the Trollhattan Canal in June into Lake Vanern, and back to sea level, in western Sweden.
Now in Scotland, the next canal adventure is the Caledonian Canal. Running about 60 miles roughly northeast to southwest, the Caledonian Canal traverses the Great Glen in the Scottish Highlands. Designed by Thomas Telford (also responsible for St Katharine Docks in London), about a third of the canal is man-made, while the other two-thirds traverses a series of natural lakes (or lochs, since we’re in Scotland) that lie along the fault line that forms the Great Glen. The most famous (and probably prettiest) of the lochs is Loch Ness, but we also crossed Loch Dochfour, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy.
The practice that we got in managing a boat in locks while in the Kiel and Trollhattan Canals paid off in the Caledonian, as there are a total of 29 locks to navigate, in addition to passing 10 opening bridges. Luckily for us, the locks are all manned by friendly lock-keepers who are happy to help with shorelines and share local knowledge.
The scenery through the canal is outstanding, with the rounded mountains of the Scottish Highlands looming over the tree-lined waterway. We had mostly good weather during the transit, and the few misty mornings we had just added to the mystique of the surroundings. The pace of travel is also nice – we took a full week to transit the canal, so averaged only 10 miles per day.
The only thing we missed during our transit was a glimpse of Nessie – perhaps next time!