Lock yourself in for a canal cruise

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 15 years ago

Lock yourself in for a canal cruise

Unspecified

Unspecified

Look for Nessie as you float past the 42 locks in Scotland, writes Kevin Pilley.

From its 10-million-year-old home, 227 metres down, it came from the deep. First, there was a ripple followed by a wave and a bubble. Then froth. And then it emerged, surfacing through the grey cold water.

First, a small head and then a slender neck. Its mouth gaped, displaying a picket fence of primeval dentistry. In all, from its head to tip, I estimated it to be about 160 centimetres and weighing about 57 kilograms.

I would recognise my wife anywhere. Even swimming in Loch Ness.

Loch Ness is 37 kilometres long and has more fresh water than in all the lakes and reservoirs of England and Wales. At the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre at Drumnadrochit you learn that "Nessie" was first spotted by St Columba in AD565 but the myth took hold only after roadworks near the shore and a photo by a gynaecologist in 1934, which some saw as a prehistoric monster and some as a stick wearing a surgical glove. (It was probably a sculpted head stuck on a toy submarine.)

A South African tourist's 16mm film shot in 1938 further bolstered the reputation of the Loch. In the stylish exhibition centre, you are de-sensationalised and learn that the Loch has an average depth of 132 metres and has low visibility due to its high peat content. It is also subject to mirages. So sightings of strange objects can be explained by boat wakes, floating logs, rocks, swimming deer or multi-humped wives in far-too-tight bathing costumes.

If you are lucky you may meet naturalist Adrian Shine on the water's edge. He has been studying the Loch for 30 years. "It's a hidden world," he tells me over some shortbread. "Enough water to immerse every man, woman and child in the world three times over. So room enough for a few mysteries." He believes if there is a big fish it may be an Atlantic sturgeon. He is keen to de-Nessie Loch Ness but he admits there is an enduring mystery: "If a monster exists, then science has ignored the most exciting wildlife mystery in UK. If there isn't one, more than 1000 people - including a saint - have lied."

The Drumnadroicht Hotel is inextricably linked with the Nessie phenomenon. In 1916 a local gamekeeper came in "as white as paper" claiming to have seen a huge fish. In 1933 the manageress, Mrs Mackay, claimed she had seen a whale-like object breaching in the loch. In 1993 there were three sightings in one night. The only humps we saw this year were from the kids when they couldn't go quad biking.

Not seeing the infamous monster is not the only thing you can do in north Scotland. Invernesshire has many other attractions. You can visit the battlefield at Culloden (1746), play golf at Royal Dornoch or Nairn, visit weaving exhibitions and factories as well as Britain's most active earthquake zone at the Great Glen. Glenmorangie has tastings at its distillery in Tain, as does "the perilously drinkable" Glen Ord whisky. And the world's most northerly winery is at Moniack Castle, which specialised in Prince Albert's favourite tipple: silver birch wine.

Advertisement

Perhaps the best and most relaxing way to see Loch Ness and the Highlands is to cruise along the Caledonian Canal. Originally built in 1822 by Thomas Telford as a shortcut between the North Sea and the Atlantic, to avoid the dangerous Pentland Firth, it is the latest waterway to be opened up for holidays afloat. The journey from Inverness to Fort William takes a minimum of three days sedately passing through some of the finest scenery in Scotland and past ancient clan burial grounds and the sites of battles such as the "Battle of the Shirts" fought at the end of Laggan Avenue between Lochs Oich and Lochy.

Caley Cruisers is run by Audrey Hogan. Her father Jim, a garage owner, pioneered boating holidays on the canal when he started the business in 1970, renting out a seven-metre boat. He appears now and then to hold your line for you as you pass through the locks.

The firm has a family-friendly fleet of 40 boats and 12 different classes from the top-of-the range 11.6-metre "Balmoral" (with flat screen and DVD ) to the smaller "Brodie" and "Iona" class. Audrey says: "The only strange things I've seen on Loch Ness are what some customers do with their boats. The lock-keepers are helpful. Safety is paramount and we advise [people to keep] life-jackets on at all times."

The Hollywood film Loch Ness was filmed mostly in Ireland. But you will see Urquhart Castle as well as other castles along the way such as Aldourie, Achnacary, Inverlochy and Great Glengarry. You will pass places like Ach an Todhair (Field of the Manure), Alltsigh (Burn of the Bitch) and Meall Fuar-mhonaidh (The Mound of the Cold moorland) from which the whole of Loch Ness can be seen. The journey's end is Neptune's Staircase at Banavie (Place of Pigs). You will impress your friends when you tell them you have just been on holiday to the Place of the Pigs and Neptune's Staircase.

There are plenty of hostelries en route, which is just as well as 42 lock gates build up a thirst and an appetite. The chains on some locks go back to the times when sailing ships used the canal. The chains prevented the shops from colliding with gates. The locks became fully mechanised by 1969 and are not to be feared. Every time a boat passes through a lock 946,353 litres of water is used.

If you have a low threshold for venison and haggis, all the boats are equipped with a galley. En route you can fish, walk the tow paths or scale Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain. There is a gondola for the lazy. There are three golf courses and horse riding at Drumnadrochit and Torlundy Farm. Most people sleep on board.

On the last night we had a hearing rather than a sighting. From beneath us it came. The sound of some prehistoric plesiosaurus. We went below to investigate and found Mrs Pilley snoring away, her head propped up on her buoyancy aid. You didn't need to be a professor of cryptozoology to recognise a knackered, but content, cold-blooded reptile when you heard and saw one.

She has always been a natural phenomenon.

Destination

Loch Ness, Scotland

GETTING THERE

The nearest major international airports are Glasgow and Edinburgh from where you can fly to Inverness. Many European airlines have fares from Australia via their European hubs - a good way of combining Scotland with another European country.

Airfares from Australia start at $1484 plus tax (variable depending on the exact itinerary and airline).

There are also trains and buses from Glasgow and Edinburgh and the remote pass of Drummochter. However, it's worth hiring a car as there is some fantastic scenery.

STAYING THERE

The village of Drumnadrochit on the banks of Loch Ness (22km from Inverness) has an eclectic mixture of souvenir shops, B&Bs and cruise boats. The ruins of Urquhart Castle overlook both the village and the Loch.

Caley Cruisers, Canal Road, Inverness. Phone +44 01 463 236 328 or see www.caleycruisers.com.

Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter

Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.

Most viewed on Traveller

Loading