Saturday 15th August 2020 – Fort Augustus to Muirtown – 36nm – 7hrs

Artie decided to escape last night, he got through the smallest of gaps in the cockpit tent but gave himself away by crashing about on the table first. So we sleepily got up and went in search of him. He hadn’t gone far and had taken the route of a previous walk so maybe he would have found his way back to the boat alone, who knows, but we needed him back by 08:00 for when the lock opened. The rattle of his dinner bowl did the trick and he came bounding back looking very pleased with himself.

The descent through the locks went well and we were through by 10:15 then out into the more open waters of Loch Ness. What a disappointment that was, the same view for miles of pine trees on the same looking hills, no contrast at all, no birds flying about, just low cloud base and very cold until it brightened up after lunch.

On a huge plus side we had brilliant sailing conditions to keep us busy. We didn’t use the engine at all in the loch and tacked from one end of Loch Ness to the other. We had a look at our track and reckon we put in 30 tacks. It was a really great afternoon, the sun shone and there was very little boat traffic about, only a small ferry which we saw several times going back and forth and a rib doing the same with day trippers but the rib was considerably quicker.

Urquhart Castle appeared to be the turning point for the ferry and we could see quite a few people enjoying the grounds surrounding the ruins. After Urquhart there were also a few people fishing from the banks or from canoes.

We were the last boat to go through the lock and swing bridge before reaching Muirtown and we tied up by the wall at the top of tomorrow’s locks, between two other sail boats. One of the other boats is heading for Ipswich and the other back to Holland. Lots of sailing stories to be had so another sociable evening.