Sailing Alone Through a 200-Year-Old Canal in Scotland

I've come aboard this week as I set sail for the wild west coast of Scotland. A journey that will take me from the Clyde, through the village of Tarbert and eventually on to the Crinnan Canal, a nine mile stretch of water that cuts across the Kintyre Peninsula. If you're new here, my name's Kayleigh and three months ago I bought this 26 foot Victoria. Since then I've been learning by doing, getting to know the boat and sometimes figuring out what I've done wrong. But now it's time to leave the familiar waters of the Clyde and see just where this wee boat can take me. Once I'd arrived in Tarbert, I spent a bit of time wandering around the marina and meeting some of the lovely locals. The village itself is situated on the shores of Loch Fyne with a natural harbour that's been used by fishermen for thousands of years. I was also met here by my sister and brother-in-law and after a wee catch up we decided to head further inland to Loch Gilphead where the Celtic and Pictish festival was taking place. The festival was set up to celebrate the medieval heritage of the area and it was much more than just a few historical displays. There were living history camps, traditional crafts, food and people demonstrating old skills like carving, spinning, weaving and live music. There were also plenty of people dressed in historical costumes, axe throwing and of course my favourite, battle reenactments. After spending the last few months exploring Scotland from the water, it was nice to leave the boat behind for a day and step back in time instead. The following day I spent a bit more time exploring the old village, wandering through the narrow streets and along the waterfront. From there I followed a path up to the ruins of Tarbert Castle. Dating back to the 12th century, it sits high on the hill overlooking the entrance to Loch Fyne. There isn't much left of the castle today, just a few sections of old stone walls, but after the climb the views really make it worthwhile looking back across the harbour, over the boats below and out towards the loch. As of today I'll be officially leaving the Clyde, which is kind of scary because up until now I've always been able to run back to Millport if the weather turns or if something goes wrong on the boat, but now once I'm through the Crennan Canal I won't be able to just turn round and go home, I'll just be that wee bit further away. So I feel like this is sort of the start of a bigger adventure and I'm not entirely sure exactly where I'm going to end up. I've also met up with Charlie and Lauren, so I was at school with Charlie and we did windsurfing lessons together when we were like 12, so it's been good to catch up with them and they're also doing the canal over the next few days as well, so it's nice to have a wee buddy boat and especially people from home that you're already familiar with. I literally came into the harbour straight into the loch. There we go, no turning back now, that was just straight in. I didn't even have time to breathe. The Crennan Canal is a 9 mile stretch of water cutting across the Kintyre Peninsula connecting Loch Fyne with the Sound of Jura. Construction began in 1794 and was finally completed in 1809 after more than a decade of work. The idea was to create a shortcut through the peninsula saving boats from the long and often dangerous journey around the Mull of Kintyre. It became an important route for the fishing and trading vessels that connected Scotland's west coast communities and later became famous for the Clyde Puffers that carried supplies to the islands. Today, 15 lochs, bridges and narrow channels carry boats across the peninsula before the canal eventually opens out into the Sound of Jura. It's definitely a bit tighter than the last one isn't it? It's been a bit of a baptism by fire here. I'm just sort of drifting along with the wind, I'm not actually in gear. Depth gauge just hit 0.7 metres so not much room below the keel. I'd be lying if I said the journey through the canal was easy. I was making the trip completely alone but thankfully the lochs were staffed so I had help with operating the gates and managing the loch itself. My job was to mainly keep Enya under control with the lines as the water level rose or fell. As the water moved through the loch, the current became surprisingly strong and turbulent, pushing the boat around quite a lot. So even with the loch keepers there to help, I still had to stay focused and constantly adjust the lines to keep the boat where she needed to be. Four lochs down and apparently it's about half an hour to the next loch and I think we're going to stop before that but yeah, it was good on that last one, I had a lady helping me so that was much easier but the first three were very, quite difficult. As I've been going along the canal here, the VHF is picking up a mayday, two people have gone overboard on a yacht somewhere not too far away and they've just requested to see if anyone can help, unfortunately I can't because I'm in the canal but yeah, it's the first MOB that I've heard and yeah it's scary, it sort of makes you realise that these things do happen. Coast Guard, yes the Coast Guard team at the shore there have confirmed the casualties are now ashore, we're contempt for you to return on passage. This was the beginning of day three in the canal and I was feeling pretty happy knowing that I only had a couple more lochs to get through. For the very first time I could actually relax and just take in the views around me. I'd finally made it through the second last loch and into the Crinan Basin where I'd end up spending the next two nights as the weather took a turn for the worse. With the boat safely tucked away I spent some time exploring and catching up on a bit of editing. Crinan sits at the western end of the canal with the harbour and boats right at its centre. After a few pretty full on days I actually didn't mind being forced to slow down. I'm not sure exactly what it is but there's something about walking through a forest when it's raining, it's just the most amazing thing. Like all the colours really pop, there's lots of mosses and lichens, yeah it sort of reminds me of the west coast of Tasmania which is sort of the last time I was in an environment like this. This mo- oh my god I can't even talk. This walk's made me realise that living on a boat I've just lost like all my fitness. Like I used to work as a walking guide in Tasmania and I'd walk for 10-20km a day no bother but I'm struggling to walk three. What's happened? And I've been thinking about what else I've learnt in the last couple of days during my time on the Crinan and I think I've gotten over my fear of hitting things with the boat and just being, like having the boat and sort of tight confined spaces and I'd always try to avoid that but now after the last few days I'm not, I think I'll be fine, I'm not gonna be as scared I don't think. Would I do it again single handed? Yes. Now knowing what it's like and how to set the lines up properly, yeah I would but if anyone is thinking of doing it single handed and wants or has any questions let me know because yeah it was definitely a wee bit more difficult than I thought especially at the start. So I've only got one lock left which is the Crinan Basin Lock and that'll take me out into the sea and then from there I might head up to Ardfern Marina and then back down towards Jura and Islay. Yeah I'm feeling pretty good about it all. I honestly wasn't sure if I'd make it this far, I thought I'd maybe spend the whole season in the Clyde but here we are, I'm through the canal so hopefully the weather will be kind to me over the next month or so and then I'll aim to head back to the Clyde probably start to mid-September, I'm not gonna go too far so we'll see how we go. I've officially left the safety of the canal, I'm scared and excited in just all these islands, I'm overwhelmed, wow. I didn't think I would get this far so I don't know if I'm crying because I'm scared or because I'm excited or because I'm proud of myself, maybe a combination. Oh my god, I'm so happy, so happy I've made it here. It is absolutely beautiful!