6th August 2025
Reading Time: Fifteen minutes
Storm Floris was due to pass over Scotland on Monday 4th August. I was keen to check on Sumara which was moored in Inverness, but all the sleeper train tickets were sold out. The trains on Monday were all cancelled, although Trainline declined to tell me that, so I wasted four hours going to Kings Cross and hanging around like a twat. Douglas, who owns a lovely varnished McGruer yacht, also with green antifouling, had kindly sent me a photo of Sumara looking absolutely fine during the height of the storm which quenched my anxiety. I eventually arrived in Inverness late on Tuesday after a journey from hell. I was reading Aspley Cherry Garrard’s book “The Worst Journey in the World” which caused some amusement amongst those passengers still capable of smiling.
I dived into the Pizza Express on arrival as I was famished. After a visit to the Co-op for some provisions I grabbed a taxi to the boat.
My nephew Alex was due to arrive later the following day. I had prepped the boat all ready to sail so that when Alex arrived we strolled into town for a beer. We ended up at the Eden Court Theatre and sat outside listening to some live music.
We were due to lock into the canal at 10:30 the following day, Thursday. I set the alarm way too early, so we spilt some time walking along the sea wall. Although Storm Floris had passed through, the forecast still wasn’t looking good. These small journeys can catch you out. Reversing Sumara out of a berth into the wind can be tricky, especially trying to coax the stern to starboard. Luckily the wind had abated, and we managed to get Sumara out of her berth without too much fuss and made our way to the Sea Lock. A few minutes after we arrived a 32 knot squall swept through the Forth announcing the arrival of a fine-looking Dutch boat called Vita.
Our plan was to continue as far as Dochgarroch and pass through the final lock before Loch Ness. We had a cunning plan to leave early in the morning to cross Loch Ness, before the locks are operating and when the wind may be weaker. Alas the wind was to continue blowing old boots right through Friday and Saturday, so we stayed moored safely to the pontoon and visited Urquhart Castle on the 919 bus. We would have enjoyed to walk there but strangely it was not possible other than along a busy main road with no pavement. The bus journey was unusual because the driver spent most of the journey slagging off the English over the Tannoy which is a somewhat unusual approach to tourism.
One of our reasons to visit the castle was to gain an idea of the sea conditions in the Loch. The white horses and steep short waves verified our decision to wait it out. We were in no hurry.
It was interesting to note that there was no mention of the Loch Ness Monster at the castle. Even the gift shop refrained from partaking in such frivolous things, that was all left to the nearby village of Drumnadrochit which appeared to thrive on Monster Tourism.
The good news about all this wind was that there were no midges!
It was on Sunday when we eventually decided to cross Loch Ness to Fort Augustus, a distance of about 23 NM. Apparently Loch Ness contains more water than all of the lakes in England, according to the racist bus driver. It was still dark when we woke at 03:15 GMT so we had coffee and set off at 03:50 into a blustery wind. To begin with the waves were slowing our progress under power to 2.9 knots but as we passed Urquhart Castle we gained a slight lee and the boat speeded up to 4 knots. By 08:00 the wind eased and we started sailing, firstly with one reef and Yankee, then with the stay sail added but we were soon over powered with gusts and dropped the stay sail. Eventually we gave up with all the kerfuffle of constant sail changing and somewhat lazily restarted the donker.
We arrived at Fort Augustus at 09:37 GMT but had missed the upward lock session. It gave us the opportunity to get a well deserved breakfast in a little café. We also bought 10 L of diesel from a nearby garage.
After hand pulling Sumara through the five Fort Augustus locks we continued to Cullochy and moored for the night. Here is a funny thing, there are virtually no pubs along the canal. I knew this from last time but it must catch out a few holidaymakers.
Monday 11th August
We pushed on to Laggan Locks where we stopped in the hope of a coffee and cake, but the café was closed, perhaps because the weather was really foul. We continued through the cold rain listening to the BBC News announcing an amber heat wave alert for England. Maybe our cool Scottish rain was preferable.
The boat has been behaving impeccably in every respect but as we chugged along the canal there was a sudden loss of speed and a sound as if the load had come off the engine. It soon rectified itself. I suspected a plastic bag around the propellor but we hadn’t seen any litter on the whole trip. Thoughts of a loose prop were eventually put to rest when we used Alex’s underwater camera to inspect the propellors keyway. That just left the shaft connector, which seems rock solid, and finally the gear box. I sincerely hope it’s not the gearbox!
We have at last past the highest point and from now on we would be descending through the locks which is a bit easier.
It is slightly confusing having lochs and locks, made a bit more confusing when the Loch we were sailing through was called Loch Lochy. Luckily the lock at the end of Loch Lochy was called Gairlochy and not Loch Lochy Lock. We finally stopped for the evening at the top of Neptune Stairs which is the longest serries of locks in Scotland with eight locks and two swing bridges. We found a pub and it was called The Lochy.
Tuesday 12th August
This was to be our final day in the canal and its success rested on whether the first lock session would be downhill or uphill. We were in luck and by 07:30 GMT we were in the top chamber ready for the descent. After 1 ½ hours we were in the bottom chamber waiting for a steam train to pass before the bridge could swing. By 10:30 GMT we had gone through the last few locks and were moored safely in Corpach Marina. Mission accomplished – well for Alex at least.
I changed the ATF in the gearbox while waiting for Grit to arrive. Perhaps it will help.
Wednesday 12th August
I wasn’t too sure what time in the evening Grit would arrive and as the slack water to pass through the Corran Narrows was rather early in the morning, I decided to book an extra night at Corpach. As it happened, Grit arrived early in the evening and we were able to enjoy a meal with Alex and his partner Kerry in Glen Nevis. Our sailing departure was delayed an extra day by an erroneous amber weather warning of thunder storms with massive dumps of rain and hail to boot. I didn’t fancy that, and nor would our dog, Tilman.
Instead we spent the time exploring the local area and going for a walk to Fort William – not my favourite Scottish town. We searched out my favourite cafe but it was closed due to a staff shortage.
On Friday we eventually set off towards Oban at 06:50 GMT into a light drizzle. We motored past Fort William as we brewed up our morning coffee but sadly before we arrived at the Corran Narrows the gearbox started playing up again. I banged it quickly into neutral then slow reverse and back into forward when it seemed to grip OK and we continued towards the narrows punching 2-3 knots of tide – we had arrived a tad too early. It wasn’t until Port Appin that there was enough wind to sail and it was a relief to turn off the engine and stop worrying about the gearbox. We arrived at Oban Transit Marina at 13:10. We needed to buy some provisions.
Saturday 16th August
The weather was set to be very calm and stable so we thought we could use the tranquil weather to explore a few anchorages. The first was to be Puilladobhrain, an old favourite, just 7 miles south of Oban. With no wind, it was to be motoring again. It was after only half an hour that the gearbox started slipping again. I did a pirouette thinking of turning back but the appeal of night at anchor was too great. We plodded on, but an hour later the slipping started again and this time it seemed worse. We decided to turn around and attempt to reach Dunstaffnage. Luckily the transmission held its grip and we moored safely in the harbour after lunch.
It looks like the gearbox issue is going to preclude anymore sailing until it is sorted. I will do a separate blog about the gearbox as the technicalities will probably bore most but may fascinate somebody with a similar issue.
Rather than moping about bemoaning our little technical problem we decided to jump in the campervan and head to Ben Nevis for a little exercise.
It is only 1,345 metres but its much higher in feet.
The following day,with slightly aching calves, we set off to explore Sutherland’s Grove- a place recommended to us by Graham the Boatbuiler at Dunstaffnage. It was only a short drive from the marina and was quite a discovery!
So after our exploration of the local area we needed to spend a day sorting out how we would resolve the gearbox issue. Once the admin was sorted out we then headed to Largs to stay with some friends before returning to London. It seems way too early to lay up the boat but that’s boats for you.
More about that gearbox coming soon!
Leave a Reply