magpie patrick

Jack Parkinson was a friend of dad's, along with Edmund Bastow, who owned "Grey Dove", I think both Jack and Magpie the Elder joined Edmund on his adventures. IIRC correctly Jack and Edmund were ten and twenty years older than dad, but I'm not sure in what order - both died in my life time but long before dad. Jack was a canal enthusiast who covered canals by car, Edmund wanted to cruise them so owned a boat. Edmund's boat appears in a lot of Jack's pictures and some sources state he owned it, he didn't. Back to the original post - good to see schemes being promoted that interpret canals even where full navigation isn't a viable option.

That is where CRT's jurisdiction stops, there is a public right of navigation all the way to Pool Quay, albeit obstructed by a weir in Shrewsbury. The experience of others suggests you won't get to Bewdley

It's been edited slightly and approved

Are CRT trying to close the lift - no, and indeed until at least 2032 they can't formally close it because of HLF funding requirements (I didn't work on this one, but a grant of £3.3 million won't have a contract length of less than 30 years). Are CRT trying to close anything? No Are CRT running out of money? Yes, and as a result one day something will fail and it won't be fixed. Those of us with an eye to history will know this happened before when the canals were in commercial decline. Every year planned maintenance is put off because they can't afford it. Unless they get more money from somewhere then either they close things by default or they decide which waterways to stop maintaining. The only thing we, as boaters, have control of is how much money we pay (or gift!) to be allowed to indulge in our hobby.

Your wish is my command! Cawdor Castle Cawdor Castle, historic home to the Thane of Cawdor, now open to the public for a fee, which given it includes the gardens was surprisingly low (around £15 each - the cheapest of any attraction we had to pay for on this holiday). Note that although Shakespeare's MacBeth features both the Thane of Cawdor and the Castle, this is up to the Bard's usual level of accuracy, MacBeth is set in the 11th Century and the castle dates from the 15th century and the title from around the 14th. The original fortification is the tower, the rest are basically residential extensions The Cawdor/Campbell crest (if I've got it right, the Thane of Cawdor was a Campbell, and subject to the same caveat, my understanding is that surnames relate to the clan, it didn't mean everyone in the clan was a blood relative!) There is a goblin at the bottom said to be some minor and presumably irritating member of the family Interior décor and furnishings I've been round many a stately home but I don't think I've seen single four posters before. As an aside, one bedroom was described as the "overflow" the the adjacent one, which boggled the mind slightly, and until modifications in the 18th century, the access to bedroom 3 was via bedroom 2 and that via bedroom 1 - there was no external corridor - rather like some big holiday narrow boats French guns captured by the Scots in Wales - from the failed invasion attempt of 1797 (see Battle of Fishguard)

Final morning, having spent the night at Gairlochy our route home started by going past Neptune's staircase - the first thing that struck us was how untouristy it is, especially after Fort Augustus. In fact tourist traffic generally seemed to reduce west of Fort Augustus, that's not to say there wasn't any, just that nowhere seemed overwhelmed, Fort William, what we saw of it. seemed very workaday. Most tourism seemed to be aimed at climbing Ben Nevis. So, Neptune's staircase, our 100% record of seeing boats in locks help up.... It was raining hard as you can see, and any walker with any sense was not climbing Ben Nevis, but they weren't here either. I should add that anyone with any sense wasn't looking at the locks either, but other than petrol at Morrisons our next stop was Penrith on the way home so needs must (and Vanessa did walk the locks with me, I'm not the only lunatic in this relationship). It wasn't just the lack of tourists though, it was the lack of services for them - one hotel and eatery compared with probably a dozen in Fort Augustus. This at the longest staircase in the world - the only 100% 8-rise (Fonserannes in Beziers is now 6 and some weird arrangement at the Ottowa 8-rise means boats often pass though one or two chambers on the level) - there isn't even a sign commenting on this, in fact we saw no interpretion at all! There is a big-ish car park for the locks but that's about it. There is a very impressive house that I took to be an original canal property - presumably an office rather than the lock keeper's house. As the book I bought commented the flight originally had 12 lock keepers I guess they all lived in the village rather than on the bank. A couple of miscellaneous bits - this is the hydraulic ram for opening the gates, very discreet, I assume to minimis the risk of boat strikes. Again, Cameron's book mentions that they learnt a lesson the hard way when propellor driven steam craft started using the canal, and safety chains were needed. These hooks are on every lock side to secure boats to - simple yet effective. In the middle of the lock they had two hooks, near the ends just one. Here they are in use at Clachnaharry Works Lock The gates were originally worked with chains and capstans (or at least they were after the 1840s rebuild - comments in the book suggest the locks were much slower before this, and I do wonder if capstans were one of the 1840's improvements) - I think this is a fixing point for the chains just below the top gates of Clachnaharry Works Lock For those of you wondering about Nessie - she was on the holiday with me - seen sitting on a bollard with one of the capstans in the background, this appears to be the only picture I took of a capstan! And so, then home. It was after 12 noon when we left Banavie, headed for Penrith. I'd chosen this route partly because Banavie to Frome is a good fifty miles shorter (520 miles) than Inverness to Frome, but I hadn't reckoned on a combination of the weather and the A82 heading south, which is not a good road. No complaints, but if I did it again I would consider whether the extra fifty miles might be easier given the A9 is straighter and flatter! We stopped overnight in Penrith, where we had a good B&B and an very good meal at Foundry34 (which was recommended for gluten free) and then did the final 280 miles to Frome the next day. I'd noticed they walked the boats between the locks but wasn't aware it was a rule - it does seem sensible though as most hirers either can't stay on the wall under power or can't get off it! err no... I think I did well to get Vanessa to agree to this lot without adding in an archive! In my defence the idea for the holiday came from Ness suggesting she'd like to see Loch Ness, and give we drove and were away from Frome for only seven nights I think we packed a lot in! (Photos of Falkirk will appear in another thread - I'm guessing no-one is bothered about Cawdor Castle....)

Next up, Fort Augustus - we took this in on our way to Gairlochy, where we stayed a night before heading south. The idea was that 1) we would see the whole of the Great Glen and 2) Fort William is appreciably further south and this knocked critical miles off our journey home. That didn't entirely work but more on that another time. We had another boat trip on Loch Ness, but first a look at the locks - is there a more splendid setting for locks anywhere? That's the top lock of the five rise staircase, when we walked up I noticed that the gates were overflowing on locks 2, 3 and 4 The bottom lock was empty, in keeping with good practice, but there was a constant flow through the flight maintained by having the paddles open at both ends of the top lock and at the tail of the bottom lock, between the two the water just flowed over the gates. Looking at the middle lock from the lower gates of the second from bottom the middle lock looked unusually shallow It took me a few minutes to twig that this is because, with water weiring over the gates, the locks are overfull - compare the gates on this one to the gates on the top lock in the first picture - And once again we were treated to boats going through... These were hire boats, but the first one up was not. Bow thruster and tender on the swim deck. I'd seen this in Muirtown basin the day before. The thriving tourist trade is witnessed, almost literally, by the tin tabernacle, which is now a shop selling very nice woollies And so onto our second trip on Loch Ness - again you start on the canal For those wanting to do this trip - it's shorter at only one hour and doesn't have an obvious turning point the way that Jabobite have with Urquhart Castle, however the commentary was very good and very informative, and a useful supplement to our earlier visit to the Loch Ness Centre - which contrary to my expectations patiently explained why there probably isn't a monster... You are very quickly into the Loch proper, and already at the end where the mountains are impressive The two trips miss each other by about 12 miles, such is the scale of the loch. On this trip they do explain the geology and the origins, with the North bank being in effect part of Canada and the south bank having splintered off Africa. They guide also talked of the clan system and the raids across the loch in the past as each side was the territory of different clans - I'm not a Scot and I'm not going to risk controversy by making mistakes in repeating the stories! They do cruise quite close to the shore, as not only is the lake some improbably depth like 700 plus feet, it's deep close in And, just for completeness - the view down the loch from the other end and in brighter conditions Finally these are the boats that operate from this end - if you wish to follow in our footsteps do bear in mind the A82 from Inverness is narrow and winding, there's lots of parking but none dedicated to the trip boats and most of it is the wrong side of the swing bridge at the bottom of the locks! Allow plenty of time - whatever your satnav says, double it...

Thanks Peter, I was going to question the 1965 date as I have copies earlier than that with the canal line in brown, but none to hand to check exactly how old they are (they're in the office, and as that's being redecorated I'm working from home). I don't know of any with the canal line in black, but that may mean I just haven't found them yet!

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should...."

Next up was the first trip on Loch Ness (second boat trip of the holiday as we'd also done the Falkirk Wheel) - apologies the photos are a bit grey as the day was very grey and I haven't yet worked out how to use the new photo editor that Microsoft have foisted on me. The previous day's cruise had been cancelled so we'd gone to Cawdor Castle instead - the rearranged cruise followed a morning in Inverness - @nicknorman was right, only enough there to entertain us for a morning. To my delight the trip starts on the canal at Dochgaroch just above the lock, so we did a bit of canal before getting to the Loch Next is the weir where the River Ness leaves - the crest height was apparently increased in the 1840 reconstruction, there is no need to increase the depth of Loch Ness so I assume there was another issue Next up you enter a Loch, but not Loch Ness, Loch Doufour intervenes for half a mile or so until a short length of canal brings you to Loch Ness. There is a former light house at the end of the canal Doesn't much look like a light house, but the green framed upstairs window hosted a paraffin lamp back in the day - apparently the reek of paraffin wasn't popular with lighthouse keepers. Then onto Loch Ness The eastern end, seen above is not that dramatic (although probably a shock if you're used to the Norfolk Broads!) - looking west from Drumnadrochit is much more impressive, even, or perhaps especially in the misty gloom. One can easily see how this area generated myths and legends, and one certainly gets a sense of being drawn along through a gateway where such things might be imagined for those who've such inclinations (or been imbibing the scotch) And of course, Urquhart Castle - we hadn't expected the boat to stop here, but it did to pick up and drop off, we got such a good view as the boat circled to moor and then set off again that we were glad we'd picked Cawdor for the previous day. We were even more glad when we past Urquhart on the road the next day and saw the queues to get in! And then back to Dochgarroch - on the way this handy little B&B was pointed out, a mere trifle at £28,000 for a night 😮 And finally, for this leg of the log, back to Dochgarroch lock where a boat was descending - meaning I'd seen boats in all seven of the locks seen so far on the holiday. Dochgarroch Lock has a fall of about 2 feet. Happy to oblige! Glad you're enjoying this - I enjoyed your photos when you did your trip.

Well, we did it! Just got back from our expedition, mostly by car but there were three boat trips, two of them on loch Ness. Logistics - I'm the end we made the car journey part of the adventure. Day one we stopped at the ancestral castle in Marple to show Vanessa where I grew up, day 2 we got to falkirk and saw the Kelpies and the Wheel (separate post to follow) so it was day 3 when we got to Inverness. I'd left accommodation to Ness and this was the view we had from the patio drinking our morning coffee... The cottage lay between the railway and the canal seaward side of Clachnaharry railway bridge... On our first evening we had a walk down to Clachnaharry Sea Lock - as some of you will know a peninsula was built for it to ensure sufficient depth By the peninsula at the landward end there is the skeletal remains of a boat Seeing boats go through locks then became a bit of a theme for the holiday... Although that one is going through the swing bridge immediately below Clachnaharry Works Lock... Ascending Clachnaharry Works Lock There were two boats up and then two down, it was interesting to hear the crews have exactly the same discussions as we do on the canal network "where you been, where you headed" but the answers included Largs, Banff, and Bergen! More to follow....

Well, we finally visited Gairlochy, almost at the end of our Highland Odyssey - there will probably be two separate threads on the rest of it but I managed to have a look at the locks as we left on Monday morning. Our B&B was high on the hillside above the locks so a morning walk was not an option, we stopped briefly as we drove to Fort William. It was pouring down, so on this occasion Ness demurred and stayed in the car as I had a look round. This book, purchased at the Falkirk Wheel on the way up, was very informative - having enough extra detail to really bring light to various questions on the canal without overdoing it and making my eyes glaze over. One point it makes is that the reconstructed canal from 1840 onwards could handle boats drawing 16 feet. This next view is looking up from the lower lock to the swing bridge Three things struck me - one is that I think @John Brightley is right, the swing bridge is the main reason for adding an extra lock above the original - the road already climbs to the bridge from the right of this picture and the bridge couldn't readily be raised higher, and also the height of the bridge above the water suggests that the lock had a lift of no more than 8 feet when in regular operation after the 1840s, otherwise the bearing would be under water. This suggests there is still 8 feet depth above the lock, more than enough for most of today's pleasure traffic. The other thing that struck me was they probably don't need to open the bridge very often now, although paradoxically this is one of the quietest roads across the canal. You can also see the top gates of the lower lock are fenced off - I'm assuming they've been decommissioned. When we crossed the bridge on Sunday evening at about 630pm the bottom gates were closed, tiredness and hunger dictated we get to our B&B and on Monday morning they'd been opened. During our holiday VIC32 arrived in Inverness from the Fort William direction, I should imagine that boat would need the levels raising between the locks.

Mum and Dad took Tingay's boats on rivers, and they certainly didn't have an anchor! I think having an anchor is a more modern ideal, possibly born of bitter experience.

It's more that given a fixed budget you can only replace half as many gates - how will those not replaced be dealt with? Presumably by closing the lock?