Day 95/96 - Crinan Canal to Portavadie.

Crinan Canal to Portavadie

 Day 95 Crinan Canal

Left Bellanock Bridge mooring at 10:30 after a night of rain.  The day threatened to rain some more but apart from a small try at it the passage of just 3 miles was truly stunning.  Unlike the Caledonian Canal where all the locks are operated hydraulically for you, in the Crinan Canal apart from the Sea Locks all others must be operated by boats crews.  Frank and Julia did the first 5 rising locks group and then Frank and Steph did the next 4 falling locks group.  Luckily, after all the hard work there was a nice mooring after all these at Cairnbaan with electricity and more importantly a bar and restaurant the other side of the canal.  I was very happy indeed to buy the first round of drinks for all the hard work endured by all of the crew and with no dramas to speak of apart from the frustrations caused by a cantankerous old gent in the boat before us who insisted that he wouldn't leave the lock until the lock gates of the next lock were opened ready for him.  He had enlisted the help of others but it caused a lot of delay in the end, but hey ho!!

Typical Crinan Lock Basin
Frank and Steph - ready for action in Crinan Canal

Day 96 Crinan Canal to Portavadie (Loch Fyne)

I felt we had a lot to achieve today so we left just at 10:00.  We had a short 2 mile cruise along the Canal and stopped at Lochgilphead so that we could stock up on victuals as we were unsure of what we would find at Portavadie.  A good call as it happened as there was nothing at Portavadie without going further afield to speak of. As we were coming up to the mooring our old friend was just about to leave - it was just a 15 minute walk from the canal into the town at the top of Loch Fyne.

Lunar Sea at Lochgilphead

View of Loch Fyne from Lochgilphead

Having left Lochgilphead stocked up there was just a swing bridge and 3 locks to negotiate before booking out at the Sea Lock at Ardrishaig at the Loch Fyne end of the Canal.  The last lock saw the heavens open with a vengeance and the drizzle never stopped.  A shame as it spoilt slightly the memories of this 'most beautiful shortcut'.

Ardrisphead

It was just a short 10 miles to Portavadie about half way down Loch Fine's Eastern shoreline.  The wind was behind us, at times mid 20 knots, and eventually the drizzle stopped as we got closer to Portavadie but we again had a good sail for the couple of hours we took.
At least we had arrived in sunshine at 17:25.

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