For thousands of years the GreatGlen, that dramatic geological gashthat splits the Highlands in two, hasbeen an important trade and commu-nications route Since the Great Glenalready had lochs Ness, Oich and Lochyalong its length, and a sea loch at eachend, it was ideal for a sea-to-sea canal.So in 1802, that great Scottish-born civilengineer Thomas Telford recom-mended the construction of the Cale-donian Canal, a ship canal linking theNorth Sea with the Atlantic Oceean.The government agreed to fund thework; it was the first state-funded trans-port project in the country, and hasremained in public ownership ever since.When the canal opened on 24th

October 1822 it was unfinished, andregarded by Telford as a comparativefailure — it was only twelve feet deepand so could not accommodate thelarger vessels that Telford had hopedfor. The project was too important toabandon, however, so in 1844-7 thecanal was closed for major improve-ments costing £228,000, but when itreopened the railways were alreadywell-established for transporting goods.Less than half of the Caledonian

Canal’s sixty miles are manmade, theremainder being navigable lochs, withtwenty-nine locks (staffed by fortyfull-time and part-time lock keepers)and ten swing bridges along its length.Its towpaths are now part of two long-distance routes for those wanting to

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Exploring the Great GlenMark Whitley cruises the Caledonian Canal

Urquhart Castle, on the banks of Loch Ness.Photo © Picture Finders / travel-pictures.co

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account of what became known as theLoch Ness Monster, that appellationbeing coined by the Inverness Courierin the 1930s.Loch Ness itself is huge: deeper than

the North Sea for most of its length (inplaces 900 feet deep), twenty-fourmiles long and with a surface area ofthirty-five square miles, the volume ofwater it contains is more than all of

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explore the length of Scotland: theGreat Glen Way, for walkers; and theGreat Glen Mountain Bike Trail. Themore adventurous can even navigatethe Caledonian Canal by canoe, camp-ing en route.A more leisurely way to explore the

Great Glen is by boat, such as on boardRos Crana, a converted Dutch barge,under the expert and friendly guid-ance of skipper Martin Balcombe,of Caledonian Discovery.“The Caledonian Canal is

pretty unique; to have thiswater in a largely remotearea for large vessels isjust fantastic,” Martinexplains. ““We havethis mix of wide

open spaces and enclosed protectedareas, wonderful mountain sceneryand interesting shorelines. You canexplore the Great Glen through a vari-ety of walks — towpaths and forest

trails through tomountain hiking —

as well as mountainbiking, or canoeing and

sailing on the lochs, and weoffer a range of outdooractivities direct from the barge.”For Steve Robinson this

cruise was his second explo-ration of the Great Glen: “I firstcruised the Caledonian Canal in

the late 1990s, to try hill walking,canoeing and cycling — little did Ithink it would be nearly twenty yearsbefore I returned, this time with mywife Sue to walk the Great Glen Way.”The Caledonian Canal’s norther-

most point is at Muirtown, Inverness,where the River Ness flows into BeaulyFirth. In AD 565, St Columba of Ionapassed through here on his journeysouth along the River Ness, where hehad an encounter with a “water horse”(in the River Ness rather than the lochof the same name) — the first eyewitness

Above, Loch Oich; below, cruising on Loch Lochy. “The Caledonian Canal is pretty unique,”says Martin Balcombe (bottom) of Caledonian Discovery. Photos © Caledonian Discovery.

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At the southern end of Loch Ness isFort Augustus, “the most centricalpoint of the habitable part of theHighlands” according to Edward Burtin 1754. Here the Five Locks raiseCaledonian Canal by forty feet. Build-ing these locks was “the most arduousand uncertain work” in the whole ofthe canal’s construction, said ThomasTelford — and in fact one of the lockscollapsed in 1837 and all of them hadto be rebuilt.Alongside the lower lock is the

Jubilee Fountain, dedicated to QueenVictoria — though she found canaltravel tedious during her excursionsalong the Caledonian Canal in 1847and 1873, and thought the inhabitantsof Fort Augustus “very rude” for star-ing at her as she ate her lunch onboard the royal steamship.From Fort Augustus our waterborne

journey continues south-west along athree-mile stretch of the CaledonianCanal to Loch Oich, the smallest of thethree main lochs along the Great Glen,and arguably the most attractive, withits quiet wooded shores and islets. It isalso the perfect place to spend thenight at anchor, with wonderfulopportunities for stargazing.Here, the Bridge of Oich is an ele-

gant double cantilever bridge, built in1854 by James Dredge, a brewerturned engineer from Bath, after thestone bridge spanning the River Oichhad been swept away by floods fiveyears previously. From Loch Oich the Caledonian

Canal continues along the picturesque

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lakes and reservoirs in England andWales combined.“Only by travelling down its length

at a sedate pace do you properlyapprec iate the immensity of LochNess,” explains fellow passenger IanGreaves. “I was most impressed by thefact that more people have trodden onthe Moon than have descended to theicy depths of its bottom — and thatthe winds can whip up six-foot wavesthat can crash over the deck of the boat.”Urquhart Castle on its western bank

is a major landmark while travellingalong Loch Ness, and is particularlyimpressive when viewed from thewater. The castle, which dates mainly

from 1691, is on the site of a Dark Agefortress that was reputedly the strong-hold of Brude, king of the Picts.From the eastern shoreline there is a

pleasant and easy stroll up throughwoodland, with opportunities to spotred squirrel and pine marten, to theFalls of Foyers. These dramatic water-falls, plummeting ninety feet into arocky amphi theatre, were a favouriteof Romantic poets including Words -worth and Keats, and inspired RobertBurns to pen a verse on the spot dur-ing a 1787 visit:Among the heathy hills and ragged woods The roaring Fyers pours his mossy floods; Till full he dashes on the rocky mounds…”

A glorious view of Loch Lochy from Creag nan Gobhar. Photo © Caledonian Discovery.Above, a glimpse of Loch Ness from itssouthern end. Below, the Falls of Foyers.

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Laggan Avenue to join Lochy Lochy atLaggan Locks. Hereabouts (the exactlocation is unknown) is the site of theBattle of the Shirts, a clan dispute

fought in July 1544 over who wouldbecome chieftain of MacDonalds ofClan Ranald; the day of battle was sohot that both sides took off theirplaids and fought in their shirts —hence the battle’s name.Loch Lochy (or Loch of the Dark

Goddess, in Gaelic) looks natural butin fact the canal engineers raised itslevel by twelve feet. At its southern endis Gairlochy, where a regulating lockwas built to maintain different waterlevels between loch and canal. The final stretch of the Caledonian

Canal leads to Banavie, and the eightlocks of Neptune’s Staircase (RobertSouthey called these locks “the great-est works of art in Britain”) whichlower the canal by sixty-two feet in aquarter-mile of continuous masonryand link it to Loch Linnhe and the sea.Here now is our journey’s end, in

the shadow of Ben Nevis, as we disem-bark full of happy memories and plan-ning our next visits to the Great Glen.“Exploring the whole length of the

Caledonian Canal by boat,” MartinBalcombe concludes, “is a great way toexperience what the Highlands has tooffer.” ■

Caledonian Discovery, The Slipway,Corpach, Fort William PH33 7NB;01397 772167; info@caledonian-discovery.co.uk; www.caledonian-discovery.co.uk

Visit Scotland tourist information,Ocean Point One, 94 Ocean Drive,Edinburgh EH6 6JH; info@visitscotland.com; www.visitscotland.com

Above , the elegant double-cantilever Bridgeof Oich. Below, journey’s end at Neptune’sStaircase, Banavie.