4 Kidneys and a Wonky Leg

From our berth at the top of Banavie Locks Ben Nevis looms high beside us, I’d love to share a photo but the peak is obscured by cloud and at times you cannot see it at all because of the scotch mist. And this is the way it’s likely to be for several days yet.

We were expecting to move down the locks this morning, and were up at 7.00am all togged up and ready to go, only no lockeepers appeared. There is a shortage of lockeepers apparently, so those that there are have to travel from lock to lock. I hope they get some more before it gets busy in the summer.

Around 11.00am 2 keepers arrived at the bottom of the flight escorting 2 commercial boats and a yacht up the locks. A quick chat with them reveals that they will reach the top around 12.00 noon and then have an hours lunch break before getting yachts at the top, down the flight. It’s a bit of a marathon, 8 locks in one go, which takes about two hours, then there’s a bit of canal to go down, a double lock from which we watched “the hogwarts express” stream by, then finally the Sea Lock.

At 5.00pm we sailed out into Corpach Bay and the head of Loch Linnhe, we are in salt water once again, now on the West coast of Scotland. We sailed as far as Corran Narrows where we anchored in a bay at “An Camas Aisieg” (however you pronounce that)! A beautiful spot with waterfalls cascading down the mountainside and sheep roaming along the shoreline.