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Crinan canal


blackrose

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14 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Does anyone here know anything about it? I was up in Scotland recently and stumbled across it. I assume it must be brackish water, or is it all sea water?

 

What's to stop someone craning their narrowboat in there? I know it's less than 10 miles long but just wondered.

 

It is a well used 'short-cut' that saves many miles of cruising all the way down the Mull of Kintyre and back up the other side.

 

The visitors licence (max 4 nights) for one way is £13 (£23 for out and return)

 

Boating on the Crinan Canal | Scottish Canals

 

 

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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38 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Does anyone here know anything about it? I was up in Scotland recently and stumbled across it. I assume it must be brackish water, or is it all sea water?

As far as I'm aware it's fresh water, which falls from the sky in the required amounts. The canal even has a "water waster" which automatically discharges water when there is too much of it - what the advantage is over a conventional weir I'm not sure.

 

It's one if very few canals in the British Isles that I've never set eyes on 👀 perhaps a new year resolution could be to remedy that

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2 hours ago, blackrose said:

Does anyone here know anything about it? I was up in Scotland recently and stumbled across it. I assume it must be brackish water, or is it all sea water?

 

What's to stop someone craning their narrowboat in there? I know it's less than 10 miles long but just wondered.

It is entirely filled with good clean fresh water.  Well, it is most of the time as the Crinan Canal has a fairly limited water supply and a very short summit pound. and was partly closed for a while this year due to lack of water. The biggest problem is the long embankment past Bellanoch at the western end of the canal, which has leaked constantly for many years.  The man currently in charge recently told me that when he first joined BWB he was sent to Crinan for a long cold winter (as every young graduate Civil Engineer has been ever since) to find a solution to the leaky embankment.  He was convinced he knew what to do: but it didn't work, and no-one yet has the answer.

 

A back-pumping system was installed a few years ago to lift sea water up passed Crinan Sea Lock and the one above (lock14) so your assumption of brackish water would have been right a few years ago in that one area; but not any more as salt water upsets the ecological balance in a SSSI.    I've attached a photo showing the embankment with the sea beyond and one of the rocky outcrops on this section.  Photo taken from the stern of the steam puffer, VIC32.

IMG_20211002_104349692_HDR-1024x768.jpg

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It is a beautiful little canal and our Sea Otter narrowboat was the first narrow boat to cruise it. The journey by sea is not suitable for narrowboats and we trailed gamebird up and launched her in the sea at Ardrishaig and cruised round to the sea lock. At Crinan the lock was being used and we went out into the sea for a hundred yards or so before returning back trough the lock. Shortly after our first trip on the Crinan (we have done it twice) Ocean Princess also cruised the Crinan but she came all the way by sea!  There were folk living on boats at both ends but they weren't narrow boats, more sea going craft.  

 

haggis

Edited by haggis
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4 hours ago, PeterScott said:

From 6 March 2020

P3069195s.jpg.d3c10338fc4c19e2529799be2936a175.jpg

 

 

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Ardrishaig  Crinan Canal

Vic 32 looking very smart  Google or YouTube Vital Spark , originally these little coasters played their trade round the Clyde and the islands, they were  coal fired of course, to save oil which was in short supply in the 1930's Robust and reliable, manned by skipper, engineer a deckhand and a boy to supply mugs of tea. 

They could get in to most natural harbours or dry out on a beach, providing coal to the islands, and every other cargo one could think of. 

The Vital Spark series on TV (B&W), was pure dead brilliant. Para Handy. 

Also try 

The Crinan canal song on YouTube. 

 

 

Edited by LadyG
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We went on Vic 32 with a group from the Ashby Canal Society some years ago. Stayed one night before joining the ship in theCrinan hotel and it turned out to be the Queen mothers birthday so the owner cafe us all pink champagne. It’s a great canal as is the trip on Vic especially if you can charter it as a group.

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