I realize that I don’t take similar, immersive relationship with the surrounding as I would, if I was on a holiday. I absorb it and enjoy it, but at the same time I am conscious about the transit mode. It would be great to stay in the lakes, but we are really just wanting to pass through and get to Belfast.
The story goes that the engineer, Thomas Telford was on the Loch Oich at the highest point of the canal and realized that water was going two directions. Instead of such Heureka moment, it is likely that the canal was simply commissioned. Built in the early 19th century in only 7 years period by mostly Irish workers, it is a remarkably functioning system for small craft today, even if it never succeeded in becoming a commercial success.
There are signs: please do not empty your bilge while in the canal. It seems that in these waters, boats and ships dump their waste to the sea without thinking about it twice. Awareness for that is improving in the Baltic Sea, but it is a big issue to tackle.
We stay docked in Gairlochy, and take a late evening off to go listen to local band in Glenn Finnan hotel.