21 to 23rd June, days 6,7,& 8 in the Caledonian Canal. Needless to say the good weather didn't last but we decided to walk into Fort William and find a bus stop on the way.
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The road to Fort William
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We finally found a bus stop just as the heavens opened to a crack of thunder and lightning! I was just phoning for a taxi when one passed us and we flagged him down; Simon the taxi driver had come to the rescue. He dropped us off in the High Street and as it was still pouring with rain we dived into a Costa and had a heavenly cup of coffee, my first since Ipswich!
To be honest there isn't much to see in Fort William, especially in the pouring rain. We dived from one shop and pub to another, the men decided to stay in the pub and Linda and I found our way to the end of the High Street to a Mountain Warehouse shop. I took Linda's advice and purchased a wonderful pair of waterproof breathable walking trainers and some dry socks, all to prevent the real possibility of me getting foot rot!
We rejoined the menfolk and decided to have dinner in the pub restaurant upstairs overlooking Loch Linnhe, which we caught glimpses of every now and then when the mist and rain cleared momentarily. We got a taxi back to the boat and decided to stay where we were for a few days. It is a pleasant mooring with electricity and water.
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| Our mooring at Banavie, Fort William with Ben Nevis in background. |
The toilets, showers and laundry block are a short walk away and when the cloud clears you have a view of Ben Nevis. We are at the top of Neptune's staircase, a formidable flight of 8 chambers which will take us down 19.5 meters (64 feet) in 500 yards, to Corpach and the sea lock into Loch Linnhe.
The next day as the weather forecast was for a dry day, Josh and I decided to take the scenic train journey to Mallaig, the Road to the Isles as it is know. It is famous for the viaduct and the steam train that were featured in the Harry Potter films as the Hogwarts Express. We phoned Simon, our trusty taxi driver, who came and picked us up in the morning to take us into Fort William because Mick and Linda were leaving us today. They were taking the bus to Inverness where they had left their car, so we waved them goodbye at the bus station and crossed the road to the station to catch our train, the 12.12 on platform 1.
We were doing the route on the ordinary train (not the Jacobite steam train) and we started off in anticipation. It is indeed a very scenic journey and I wondered how on earth the Victorians managed to build a railway so high up in the Highlands. It follows the edge of lochs, you also get sea glimpses and then you are high up in the Highlands passing through tunnels blasted out of solid rock and of course the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct.
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| Glenfinnon Viaduct from the train . |
It takes just over an hour to get there and I made friends on the way with an eleven year old golden Labrador who was having his first journey on a train and was very relaxed about it!
Mallaig is a small but busy commercial fishing town with a few touristy shops and cafes. We had lunch at the Fisherman's Mission restaurant and bumped in to my Labrador friend again while Josh enjoyed the second hand bookshop. There are ferry services here to Skye and the small isles (Eigg, Muck, Rum and Canna.) The return journey was just as spectacular and we got off one stop before Fort William at Banavie and walked back to the boat.
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| Mallaig |
Friday 23rd June, day 8 on the canal, dawned cold, wet and windy again. The five day forecast was for more of the same with some gale force winds, so we decided to see if we could extend our licence to stay on the canal and go home for a week or two, by which time the weather surely must have improved. We walked, dodging the showers, the couple of miles down to Corpach, the last stop on the canal and the sea loch, to speak to the harbour master about extending our licence, which runs out tomorrow. (The model train was just starting it's journey to Inverness, more of that in a separate blog which I won't put on Facebook as we have been asked not to.) We found the harbour master to be very friendly and obliging. We extended our licence to 16th July and the harbour master kindly gave us a lift back to our boat. We booked our sleeper train tickets for Monday. Sad to leave but we will be back, hopefully to better weather. We know that the boat will be safely moored in the canal. The lock keepers have assured us that they will keep an eye on the boat for us and will phone us if there are any problems. So for now it's goodbye from Lunar Sea and her crew but our trip and the blogs will resume in July.
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| Goodbye for now. |
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