Free at last!




 Hooray - yesterday a lock keeper turned up at our boat at around 8.15 am and said we are opening the bridge - leave to get down there as soon as you can.  I had just had my shower but Roger was still down in the toilet block. I hollered through the window (at the wrong man it turns out), ‘Roger you need to get back to the boat - we’re off’. Luckily Roger was queuing for the shower rather than in it so within minutes we were heading off down the canal towards the bridge. We had about an hour and then, wonderfully, the bridge swung open and we were free. 

Rachel and Alan had left on Sunday for Greece and today, we were meeting Steve who flew into Inverness and then caught the City Link bus.  Miraculously, as Steve got off the bus at Laggan Locks, we came out from the locks and hardly had time to moor up.  Steve was on the boat and we were off the to catch up the OGA fleet to get to the next bridge.  The day went well except in the lock before last, the lock keeper was not very helpful. This was a surprise, the lock keepers have been friendly all the way down.  There were eight boats jammed into the lock and it was very deep.  Nobody could throw up their lines to the top and the lock keeper said he had no lines to throw down.  Eventually he found one or two but it was chaotic. Surprisingly, no boats were damaged and we arrived, still in good spirits, at Fort Augustus - a charming place. 

It is great to have Steve with us. We have had another good day and we are now just below the Dochgarroch Lock. There was one moment of panic for me. At the last lock in the Fort Augustus flight we were the last boat in on the port side, and Roger and Steve were too high up to get back in the boat. The lock keeper didn’t want them climbing down the ladder, so asked me to take the boat through the bridge and moor on the pontoon on the other side of the bridge. There was no option - I had to put on my big girl pants and have a go!  I’m not keen to become a single hander.

Tomorrow we have been told to be at the next swing bridge by 8.20 in the morning and we will be let through.  This still feels like an unexpected blessing.  We are aiming to be at Inverness Marina by tomorrow afternoon. We can then prepare ourselves and the boat for our journey in the the North Sea to Peterhead, via Lossiemouth and Whitehills via the notorious Rattray Head. 

Photos of the escape plan order, the chaotic lock and Loch Ness


Banovie Top Basin to Fort Augustus above lock flight        23.3 nms

Fort Augustus to below Dochrarrick Loch        23.5 nms

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