04/06/2025
Caledonian Canal / Great Glen Way - Day 2
Clunes to Fort Augustus
30km on the dot.
After trying to post these pics for the 5th time now I’m so close to rage quitting and denying I ever went to Scotland.
My second day started at 6am which is frankly unacceptable in my book. It was cold and wet but I needed an early start to avoid the potentially troublesome winds on Loch Lochy.
There was something quite enjoyable about starting so early, even if it was wet. The water was a little rougher than ideal and I toyed with paddling the 2km or so to the other side of the Loch to the safer, more protected side. Every time I tested the waters, literally and figuratively, I was strongly reminded to stay where I was or I might end up going for a swim.
I caught up with an organised group of sea kayakers when I stopped for a break. It was nice to see that I wasn’t the only person out in one. Their guide, Stewart was really generous with advice and that’s always handy on a trip like this.
The weather did the usual Scottish thing of changing every few minutes but I was getting a few promising minutes of sunshine, until the next downpour that is.
As the Loch narrowed I was advised to move across to avoid the ‘magnet’ of a sandbank that I didn’t want to find myself on and got a little closer to a road. You could hear a little traffic noise at times but at one point I could hear what I assumed was some sort of loud lorry. Then it got louder and a few seconds later 4 ($100M) F-35’s flew over my head and scared the life out of me. It was bluddy cool though.
A little while later I arrived at Laggan Locks. The other type of lock! I made a bit of a mistake here and struggled to get out of my boat on a jetty that made a bit of a mess of my hand. It turned out there was a much easier way off the water hidden round the corner but I couldn’t have known. 🤷🏻♂️
Francesca met me before heading along what turned out to be a very pretty canal as was Loch Oich. I met up with the kayakers again and was invited for lunch then I went on my way. It was all plain sailing until I reached Fort Augustus.
