From the marina of the canal at Inverness, it’s straight to the five-stage lock; each chamber brings the ArgoFram about three to four metres higher. Then follows one or two swing bridges and another lock until I finally enter Loch Ness – a long, narrow moat about 35 km long and 2.5 km wide that runs through the Highlands here. No sign of the monster. But the scenery is breathtaking.
Driving-wise, this lake is a breeze; in half an hour I’m at Fort Augustus in the middle of the Gret Glen.
Fort Augustus is a small spot with great attraction for all kinds of tourists (Arabs, Indians) who have strayed here by car for whatever reason. Perhaps they are here because of the six-stage lock? Built some 200 years ago, it is a masterpiece of engineering of the time that will take me to the apex of this canal at Loch Oich. – Other tourists, mostly English, hire a canal boat and sail through this canal in relative comfort in a week. (And it’s funny to watch these tourist boats rocking back and forth in the lock chambers while water is being put in or taken out). Fort Augustus is ideal to linger, to eat an ice cream or to have a drink, I think to myself. Do-nothing mood in dazzling sunny weather!
I spontaneously decide to stay here, to spend the night. I feel myself in a do-nothing mood. Arriving at the top of the five-chamber lock, I moor my ArgoFram at the jetty and bask in the warming sun.
The next morning, two SUP paddlers approach me, wanting to look at the ArgoFram; we strike up a conversation: like me, they set off from Inverness the day before, and want to get through the canal, slightly wobbly, but standing upright on their floating base. There’s that too!
I like them, the two paddlers. Just like the old couple, he already over 80, she a sprightly lady with sporty charisma, who have stopped behind me with their 11-metre yacht. They go hiking a bit – and I don’t know what it is about them that fascinates me so much. But they belong together somehow, that’s clear (like the slightly younger couple in the RIB I met the day before yesterday). They are perfectly attuned to each other. – After the morning hike, he goes to get some sleep; she stays on deck reading and working in the sun. And when he’s recovered, they go out again into the greenery that spreads around us. These two are a strong team, you can feel it. I am impressed.
Apart from that, it’s a do-nothing day today. Except that I write my reports, do the laundry, fill up the tanks (and do some training). I’m so busy doing nothing that I don’t even make it to the ice cream stand in time; when I get to the door, it’s already closed, even though the sun is still shining down on us.