Wednesday 12 August 2020 – Oban to Fort William – 28 nm – 5 hrs Neptune’s Staircase 2 nm – 5 hrs

Despite the marina being in the heart of town it was a very quiet undisturbed night. After the sun had set McCaigs Tower, built in the 1900s to look similar to Rome’s Colosseum, was lit up red; we could see the top third from Talavera but we didn’t walk in that direction as favoured the green spaces around the ruins of Dunollie Castle, which overlooked Oban and Kerrera.

We left Oban early in the morning, there was very little wind and the sea was flat calm. One of the benefits of rain and not much sun is flies and midges don’t appear to like getting wet, the downside is the breathtaking views through Loch Linnhe were obscured, even Ben Nevis was lurking somewhere behind thick cloud. We did get to see more otters swimming 100m from the boat, which was very special.

At 11:00 we arrived at Corpach Sea Lock and went straight through, followed by the road and railway bridges. We then had to wait for one other boat who accompanied us through Neptune’s Staircase (a further 8 chambers). At one point we all stopped for an ice cream break, the lock keepers who had been very helpful joined us, it was good fun. During this time the sun broke through revealing Ben Nevis in all its glory. Five hours later we were through those locks but had run out of time to continue, so went alongside at Banavie, at the top of the staircase.

The sun by now was shining, carefree day canoeists were waving at us, hired motor boats with crew donned in bright orange life jackets nervously bumped their way alongside (no fenders needed apparently). There’s a need for a wee dram this evening to calm the nerves.