 | 7 th of July 2010 - Caledonian Canal - Day 4 - Loch Ness in a Gale |
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| Crew : | Helen and Andy | |
| Destinations : | Fort Augustus. | |
| Distance : | 20 miles |
Today, we were up at the crack of dawn. It was really peaceful and sheltered in our little bay and the sun came up early and strong. We had the company of 5 herons and lots of gulls and swallows.
When we looked out into the main Loch what we saw was deceptive. It was clearly windy, but it was so sheltered where we were that we didn't quite expect the reality of the winds that hit us.
Fortunately we kept the first reef in. However, we quickly put in another. We tacked down the Loch, however, there was another clang so we decided to motor sail into the wind. I didn't expect the wind and waves to be quite so strong in a Loch. We had 40 knots consistently and waves over the bow and spray hood. This confirmed a few leaks which need fixing. Fortunately we only had 3 hours to go to Fort Augustus. It was only quite close to the canal that the waves subsided. The pontoon was just inside, at the bottom of a flight of 4 locks and another swing bridge. We were disappointed not to see the Loch Ness monster.
The sun came out and we had good views up Loch Ness.
The wind continued to blow hard and howl around Fort Augustus, but we had little rain. We moored with 2 bow springs and 2 bow lines and the boat rocked from side to side. There was a good butchers, so we were able to have haggis and buy more bacon!
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