Rat Race Run Britannia - Week 4, day 6 - Fort William to Fort Augustus
The Caledonian Canal and the Great Glen Way
Distance: 55.06km (total so far 1185.80km)
We left Fort William along the edge of the bay, heading for the very end of the canal we were to follow for most of the day. The Caledonian Canal is built to connect across Scotland from Fort William to Inverness, and does it by linking several existing lochs to provide a navigable route. It was built during the canal heyday of the 1800s, but is still well used today, as it provides leisure boats of all types with a way of getting from east to the west of Scotland without having to take on the often stormy seas of the route around the very north of Scotland.
The walk alongside the lochs and canal was called the Great Glen Way, and we followed this all day and for a good part of Sunday.
It was still early, so there were no boats on the locks - just a few moored for the night above them. We squelched along the edge of the canal in the rain - without any activity, and with the rain stopping us seeing much bird life, it was a fairly quiet walk along for us.
After a while, we'd obviously passed boating wake-up time and there were a few boats going along to watch. We also saw something new to us - someone putting sails on a canoe. I'd have thought that was an excellent way of exploring the underside of the Caledonian Canal, but unfortunately the canoes were tied up and we didn't get a chance to see the combination in action.
Feedstation 1 for the day was at the end of the first part of the canal, and the start of Loch Lochy - with the rain, there wasn't much to encourage is to hang around, and so we stocked up on snacks and kept going.
The end of the loch brought us to lunch, and my first and only meltdown of the trip. The accommodation for the previous two nights had been shared bunkrooms with hostel beds not designed to fit a tall person, and as a result I'd barely slept - I was somewhat hanging on for the rest day tomorrow, but some combination of the constant rain and very minor additional diversion had temporarily tipped me over the edge. I think if I'd seen a bus marked "Oakham" I might have jumped on it - it was the only real "why am I doing this" moment I had. I took ten minutes to sort myself out, decided that if I'd done the first 5 days of this week without needing a jump in the minibus I could manage the last half of day 6, and generally pulled myself together. I also layered up under my waterproofs - when tired, I get cold easily, and that wasn't helping anything - ate my lunch and set off for the next section.
This was an old railway line alongside the canal, and so both flat and easy going, which was probably what I needed as the rain (as forecast) had decided to go from heavy showers to steady rainfall. I was now much warmer though, and able to plug along at a decent speed - and the terrain meant that my trail shoes weren't having to pick a path through rocks. (I also noticed later when looking at my Garmin tracking that despite my speed having picked up, my heart rate fell significantly - from consistently over 100 to consistently around 75. Amazing what being warm can do!).
The canal gave way to Loch Oich, but the route continued alongside. By the time we'd reached feedstation 3, with only a few km to go to Fort Augustus, the main rain had eased back off again.
There were far more moored boats now, and plenty to look at. This included a set of electricity pylons overhead, with a warning that boats with a mast height of more than 35m might need to be careful. I wasn't sure how you'd get a boat that big into the canal in the first place, but I suppose they have to sign it.
However, after a better afternoon than I had expected, Fort Augustus awaited. This is the end of another section of canal, where it empties into Loch Ness. But monsters would have to wait until Sunday - I'd completed week 6 in its entirety, and we were finishing at a pub in Fort Augustus. That was a pint we might have earned!
Not sure I have a song for this particular day - rain, tiredness, lochs and canals. I'll leave suggestions to the reader!
Total climb: 432m (total so far 21,287m)
Steps: 64,917 (total so far 1,416,203)
Also:
Number of locks passed: 31
Number of diversions: 1
Number of meltdowns: 1
After the three days of the West Highland Way, this should have been an easier day. It was shorter, and considerably less climb. However, Scotland had decided to compensate by giving us a soaking wet day from the start, just to even things up.
We left Fort William along the edge of the bay, heading for the very end of the canal we were to follow for most of the day. The Caledonian Canal is built to connect across Scotland from Fort William to Inverness, and does it by linking several existing lochs to provide a navigable route. It was built during the canal heyday of the 1800s, but is still well used today, as it provides leisure boats of all types with a way of getting from east to the west of Scotland without having to take on the often stormy seas of the route around the very north of Scotland.
Our route deliberately took us round to the sea loch so we could see the start of the canal.
The walk alongside the lochs and canal was called the Great Glen Way, and we followed this all day and for a good part of Sunday.
The first sight along it was called Newton's Ladder - a set of (I think) 7 lochs shortly after the start of the canal. There was also a cafe serving breakfast, and I was very tempted use this for a hobbit's second breakfast. However, we still had a long way to go.
It was still early, so there were no boats on the locks - just a few moored for the night above them. We squelched along the edge of the canal in the rain - without any activity, and with the rain stopping us seeing much bird life, it was a fairly quiet walk along for us.
After a while, we'd obviously passed boating wake-up time and there were a few boats going along to watch. We also saw something new to us - someone putting sails on a canoe. I'd have thought that was an excellent way of exploring the underside of the Caledonian Canal, but unfortunately the canoes were tied up and we didn't get a chance to see the combination in action.
Feedstation 1 for the day was at the end of the first part of the canal, and the start of Loch Lochy - with the rain, there wasn't much to encourage is to hang around, and so we stocked up on snacks and kept going.
The next part of the day was a lochside path, which was slightly harder going but still nothing much to worry us. It was still part of the Great Glen Way, and so well defined and waymarked. The views down Loch Lochy were impressive - the rain clouds ensured that we couldn't see the top of the hills surrounding it in any direction, but the loch showed what the view could be like on a better day.
After a heavy week, I was feeling both blisters and tired legs, so I didn't really need a notice telling me that the footpath was being diverted around the building of a pump storage station (however much I may approve of them!). The diversion zigzagged up the side of the hill until it reached a height that kept it clear of the works, and then ran along a forest road until it eventually rejoined the main route on the shore of the loch. It was a couple of km and a climb I could have done without.
The end of the loch brought us to lunch, and my first and only meltdown of the trip. The accommodation for the previous two nights had been shared bunkrooms with hostel beds not designed to fit a tall person, and as a result I'd barely slept - I was somewhat hanging on for the rest day tomorrow, but some combination of the constant rain and very minor additional diversion had temporarily tipped me over the edge. I think if I'd seen a bus marked "Oakham" I might have jumped on it - it was the only real "why am I doing this" moment I had. I took ten minutes to sort myself out, decided that if I'd done the first 5 days of this week without needing a jump in the minibus I could manage the last half of day 6, and generally pulled myself together. I also layered up under my waterproofs - when tired, I get cold easily, and that wasn't helping anything - ate my lunch and set off for the next section.
This was an old railway line alongside the canal, and so both flat and easy going, which was probably what I needed as the rain (as forecast) had decided to go from heavy showers to steady rainfall. I was now much warmer though, and able to plug along at a decent speed - and the terrain meant that my trail shoes weren't having to pick a path through rocks. (I also noticed later when looking at my Garmin tracking that despite my speed having picked up, my heart rate fell significantly - from consistently over 100 to consistently around 75. Amazing what being warm can do!).
We had a bit of fun at feedstation 3. Just before it, we needed to use the road bridge to cross the canal. I was a few minutes behind Andy, who was already at the feedstation, but had already decided with only 8km to go that I could manage without it - I still had supplies, and I really didn't want to stop and cool down again. However, I missed the fact that we needed to cross the canal, and so continued down my side - until I was being waved at by the team and Andy, who were pointing out that whether I needed to stop or not I wasn't going to get too far on the wrong side of the river.
Except that the first thing we came across after the feedstation was water running over the path to a depth of several inches - it was a type of weir where the canal kept itself to a given depth by dumping water into the river the other side of us. We weren't that keen on soaking our shoes and our feet again, but there wasn't a lot of choice. Except, of course, that we discovered a couple of km further along that if I'd stuck to my (wrong) side of the river I could have crossed perfectly happily back at the next lock and stayed dry. Oh well!
There were far more moored boats now, and plenty to look at. This included a set of electricity pylons overhead, with a warning that boats with a mast height of more than 35m might need to be careful. I wasn't sure how you'd get a boat that big into the canal in the first place, but I suppose they have to sign it.
Not sure I have a song for this particular day - rain, tiredness, lochs and canals. I'll leave suggestions to the reader!
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