The Wee Lass at the Stern

When we decided to go to Norway, the next obvious exercise was to figure out the route to get there. I was all for the northern route, Newfoundland, Iceland, Faeroes, Norway. Of course I wasn’t going to do the crossing so my vote didn’t count. We debated leaving from the Bahamas or even Sint Maarten in the Caribbean, but soon realized returning to True World Marine would be the least expensive option and allow us the flexibility for repairs with the excellent boating resources there. We started looking at maps of the British Isles. The English Channel sounded really scary with all the ships and going around the northwest of Ireland seemed a little too exposed. We then looked at the Irish Sea. The northwest of Scotland still seemed a bit scary. Neither Bob nor I remember who said it but someone said, “wouldn’t it be cool if there was a canal across Scotland?” We checked into it, and found one! Not only did it go through Scotland but it passes right through Loch Ness! We were sold and Scotland became one of the most looked-forward-to destinations of the trip. For the same reason we chose the Caledonian Canal on our trip to Norway, we chose to return there after our Norwegian departure.

After the Bobs arrived in Ireland, we allowed them to take a break; and we had to wait on a sail repair from the local sail maker.  I drove the sail over in our little rented car, a Fiat 500. The sail loft was a beautiful old barn with lovely stonewalls and gardens, a picture from an Irish post card. The sail maker was fantastic and gave us lots of advice and encouragement. They even have done some work for Lin and Larry Pardy.

Our little Fiat 500

Apparently I am not the only one who liked the little Fiat, so does Barbie!

While waiting for the repair, we spent a lot of time repairing and prepping the boat and went to eat at several nice restaurants. We were in a pub one night with Grandma and Grampa, the gentleman at the next table had on a Volvo Race jacket. This is a prestigious sailing race and the Bobs were buzzing about whether this guy had done it. We were in a town called Crosshaven, which claims to be the sailing capital of Ireland, so anything was possible. After listening to the Bobs for several minutes, I did the sensible thing and asked. We spent the rest of the evening chatting with the very nice couple.  He had not sailed in the Volvo Race but knew an awful lot about sailing. He even told us the Irish Agriculture Minister was in the yacht club marina, right near our boat. The best part of the evening is he told us about the Crinan Canal, a canal constructed about the same time as the Caledonian Canal and cuts off the Mull of Kintyre, a long peninsula that cuts off the passage from Glasgow to the north, making ships go out into a very exposed area. The Crinan is a much smaller canal and boats in passage must operate the locks themselves. After a brief discussion (and  lots of refrains of the song ¯Mull of Kintyre ¯) we decided it would be great. We still had Grandma and Grampa on the boat so the extra hands would make operating the locks not as scary, many hands make light work.

 

It took 2 ½ days to reach the canal, the last day in pouring rain. We arrived in the morning and looked around for a dock or mooring. The doors to the lock were open and Bob drove right in. We scrambled around getting lines and bumpers, Bob hollering and the nice lady from Scottish Canals 

The Sea Lock entering the Crinan

trying to give us instructions. I didn’t understand a word she said. We tied up and they started filling the lock. I was in the bow which careened madly back and forth as the water filled the lock. We made it through, miraculously, with no mishaps and rafted up for lunch in a small basin below the next lock. We were rafted with another boat and were snapping photos of the kids, the locks and the quaint village we found ourselves in. One of the occupants of the boat we were rafted with (rafting is common here!) explained that they were getting help with the locks because they were short-handed and they would be our new best friends if we stuck with them. His wife leaned over and told Bob, camera in hand, that if he posted her photo on Facebook, she would sue him. Hmmm, not sure we want to stick with these folks.  We went through one more lock with them while we got a lesson in lock operation from the lock keepers. We settled into roles very quickly, Bob at the helm, Grampa operating the locks, I was at the bow and Anna at the stern. Grandma was still feeling funny but she mustered and sat in Mark the Chair and let the action happen around her.

Grampa the Lock Keeper!

See Midwatch UP the hill!

We went through several locks and stopped for the night adjacent a small gas station/market. It was an odd feeling to look down from Midwatch to the store and see cars whizzing by. Bob and I walked down to the market to see what we could find. They actually had a nice collection of local foods including smoked salmon, haggis and local Ice Cream. We brought home Ice Cream and salmon and left the haggis for someone else, gas station haggis??  As an aside, Mackies Honeycomb Ice Cream is worth a visit to Scotland alone!

We enjoyed a great weekend on the canal, nice weather and calm conditions. We all slept well and decided we really liked canal living. A pass to the canal includes dockage and facilities including bathrooms, showers, coin-op laundry, water, etc. We arrived at the end of Crinan late on the second day, a Sunday, and had a lovely dinner at the local hotel.

We exited the Crinan on a Monday morning after the lock operator at the sea lock discovered we had been overcharged and credited several hundred dollars back to my card. A good end to the canal!

It took us 12 hours to get to the Caledonian Canal from the Crinan and most of the journey was in the pouring rain. We caught glimpses of tall, moss-covered mountains periodically through the day. We finally arrived in Fort William at the Corpach Sea Lock late in the evening with just enough light to tie up at the float at the sea lock entrance. We were eating breakfast in the cockpit the next morning when the lock keepers called us into the lock. One thing followed another and we were soon ascending Neptune’s Staircase, an eight-step lock, breakfast half eaten, hair uncombed with busloads of tourists snapping photos of the famous flight. I gently ribbed Grampa, who claims to hate being a tourist, that he did a great job as a tourist attraction!

Neptune's Staircase

The locks are all operated in the Caledonian so we had extra hands. We had fun chatting with the other occupants of the lock, a Swedish couple that were finishing a six-year circumnavigation and

A lock in the Caledonian Canal

the Norwegian, whose boat had been busted up and towed in by the Irish Navy during the storm Bob wrote of. We stopped at the top for a well-deserved rest.

It was at this time that Grandma and Grampa decided to return home to seek medical attention for Grandma.  After getting them safely on their way, we headed off, a family of four once again, east towards Inverness and Norway.

We quickly got into a rhythm on the locks. Anna and I each had a boat hook. Anna would hand up the stern line and then I would pass the bow line to the lock keeper; many times with a nice compliment made by the lock keeper on the skills of the wee lass in the stern. There were on or two comments about the ‘lad’ but Anna quickly set them straight.

 

The Wee Lass at the Stern

 

Fort Augustus

We enjoyed our trips through the canals tremendously. The plentiful docks, nice people and the beauty of Scotland all made our trips special. We took our time on the return trip, stopping to see two castles and stretching our legs with some fine walking trips. We all loved the little town of Fort Augustus and we stayed there both ways. Bob and I did see something funny on Loch Ness, a boat perhaps, that was there…and then gone.

Uroquat Castle (or however you spell it!)

We had a great afternoon checking out this castle and the surrounds

Finn looking for Nessie

 

We are back at the Royal Cork Yacht Club, 1,000 miles south of Lauvsnes, Norway. The reality of the distance we have travelled over the past few weeks is settling in and the distance still to go is staggering. The kids have become very good at entertaining themselves in the back room (Atlantis) while travelling but the signs of approaching autumn keeps us moving.