Day three captain's log 19 June 2017, day 49 of our adventure to go where no man or woman has had the sense to go before!
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| First mooring at Fort Augustus with Loch Ness in background. |
After our lock in at the Bothy and our last two days experiences we decided to stay in Fort Augustus for a night. We left our first mooring and went up the flight of locks to the other side so that we would be ready to go tomorrow. The locking up went without incident, but it proved to be a tourist attraction as literally coach loads of tourists would line the canal watching all the boats go through the flight of five locks. This is our last long flight up, after this we will be going down which is much easier. Going up requires more skill and the idea is two crew stay on the lock side with the lines (one bow and one stern) and "walk" the boat through. This is safer as no getting off and on the boat, although there is the danger that someone might slip and fall into the lock from the top. Some of these locks are quite deep. You start low down in the lock and the water rushes in and causes quite a stir which can swirl all the boats around in the bottom of the lock, which does happen. There are a lot of hire craft on the locks, some of the crews/skippers have never been on a boat before and their first experience is facing five locks going up. (Going down the water is much calmer, you can all stay on the boat and just gently sink as the water drain outs. You don't get the same turbulence as you do going up when the water rushes in. Think of filling a bath as opposed to letting the water out.)
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| The start of the flight of locks at Fort Augustus, evening, after the tourists have gone. |
That evening we decided to go out for a meal at the other local pub, the Lock Inn. I had been chatting earlier to a Scottish lady who lives in Aberdeen and she recommended the Macaroni Cheese at the Lock Inn. Let me explain; here in Scotland, on almost every menu, you see Macaroni Cheese, either as a main or a starter and usually with chips. My source had told me that it is a staple dish in Scotland, whereas as I explained that down South you only see it on a children's menu. So at the Lock Inn I had to try the Macaroni cheese, although not with chips, and it was very nice.
As the evening was sunny we decided to walk after dinner to the edge of Loch Ness, only a short stroll because Fort Augustus is right at the end of the Loch. It was a beautiful still and clear evening with a pink sky and the view of Loch Ness was simply stunning.
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| Loch Ness in the evening, looking back from Fort Augustus. |
The remains of the fort, which is located right at the end of Loch Ness and gave it's name to the town, then became an abbey and is now an exclusive hotel chain (£500 a night!). We did wander through the private grounds and saw amazing numbers of rabbits including baby bunnies. There is a boat house which was part of the fort/abbey which has been converted to a restaurant in the grounds. Fort Augustus is a lovely spot and I am so glad we decided to spend some time here.
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