The Caledonian Canal - A 19th Century Marvel of Construction!
This 62mile (100km) waterway links Inverness (Beauly Firth, Moray Firth & North Sea) on Scotland's east coast, with the west Coast at Corpach. From here, you can navigate down Loch Linnhe and out in to the Atlantic Ocean. It was constructed between 1803 and 1822. The Scottish Highland's Great Glen fault is a tear fault, that runs for almost 300 miles through Scotland. It forms a natural valley in which lochs have formed, including four lochs that make up the Caledonian Canal. Just south of Inverness is Loch Dochfour which leads on to a rather famous one - Loch Ness! Next is the rather unimaginatively named Loch Lochy! Loch Oich then leads you down to Corpach. The lochs are connected by 22 miles (35km) of man-made canals to complete the route. 
In order to accommodate differing levels, there are 29 locks along the length of the Canal. Its fascinating to watch the labour intensive process of a boat navigating a set of locks. For example, it takes boats the best part of an hour to navigate the 7 locks at Fort Augustus. Best places to watch this process are at the main sets of locks, which are located at Muirtown Locks (Inverness), Fort Augustus Locks and Neptune's Staircase at the southern end of the canal near Corpach. The canal was built to provide a direct shipping route between East and West Coasts avoiding the often stormy waters of Scotland's North coast. Initially, it was built too shallow to accommodate the boats of the time, that were being built to increasingly larger specifications. 
It wasn't until 1847, when work to increase the depth of the canal was completed, by which time most ships were too large to navigate its length and a faster method of reaching the Highlands provided further competition - the completion of the railway to Inverness in 1855. Today, the canal is busy with fishing boats and pleasure craft. How about a holiday spent exploring the lochs, the villages and towns alongside and learning how to navigate the locks? Caley Cruisers (Inverness) and West Highlands Sailing & Cruisers (Laggan Locks, Spean Bridge) both offer boating holidays on the Caledonian Canal. Return from Caledonian Canal page to Loch Ness page.
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