Woke up this morning at 7.15am to sunshine sparkling and glinting on the calm waters of the canal. Fantastic. Hurriedly getting washed and dressed, we made our way up to the saloon deck for a pre-breakfast coffee, saying “good morning” to our fellow passengers as we did so. Breakfast was at eight o’clock, so we had some time to go out on the stern deck and take in the fresh, sweet air of the new morning. Stepping ashore, I got a photo of the Glen Massan. She looked fabulous with her navy hull and warm woodwork, glintly mellowly in the morning sun.
We could hear the sounds of birds all around us, an avian orchestra tuning up their instruments of warbles, whistles, chirps and tweets. A blackbird sang through his melodious verse with gusto, accompanied by the more bass notes of a couple of geese, that took off across the stretch of water. It was simply idyllic; how dull would the world be without birds?
We stood outside drinking in our surroundings until the sound of the breakfast bell brought us all to the table. Once again, we enjoyed the incomparable bowl of porridge with fresh fruit, nuts, golden syrup and a wee nip of Talisker. Our morning Readybrek at home is never going to be quite the same again! 🙂
Our porridge was followed with bacon, sausage, black pudding, egg and toast if we wanted it. It was all washed down with fresh orange juice, tea or coffee.
Around 8.45am the engines of the Glen Massan sprang to life as she prepared to get underway again. We had a few more locks to negotiate before we could mosey on up the canal to our next port of Fort Augustus. We all decided to go to the top deck, in front of the wheelhouse, as the weather (and the spectacular scenery) was far too nice to stay inside.
In addition, we had been informed by Skipper Iain that sister vessel Glen Tarsan was coming the other way; we could expect her in around 20-30 minutes, where each boat would sound their horns at each other. For this reason then, all four members of our wonderful crew made their way to the topmost deck (above the bridge) and, on request, posed for us to take a photo. Here they are, from left to right: Iain the skipper, Helen the chef, Yaz the steward and Dan the engineer.
Soon we could see the funnel smoke of the Glen Tarsan as she approached in the distance, as the swing bridge opened to let her (and afterwards us) through. We could see her passengers waving madly as we waved back to them, amidst cheers. Glen Massan then gave a blast of her horn, and received a (slightly differently pitched) blast back from Glen Tarsan. This was great – I love it when vessels greet each other with the symbolic sound of the ship’s whistle. 🙂
Afterwards, we continued gliding serenely along in the canal, passing through lots of locks as we did so. Each time, a small crowd would gather to watch, and children would wave. The sun shone warmly down; it was 20°C, absolutely amazing for April. What a beautiful journey we were making, so scenic and relaxing. Work and home seemed a lifetime away; we’d never watched the news or read a paper since we’d left home, and we felt all the happier for not having done so. 🙂
At one point along the route we spotted the bulk of Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, which was swathed in low cloud and upon whose top we could still see patches of snow. It stands at an elevation of 4,413 feet (1,345m) and one of our fellow shipmates Jen, who is Scottish, was ecstatic as it was the first time she had actually seen the top of Ben Nevis! 😀
As we continued on our merry way, thoroughly enjoying this unusual little cruise, we left behind the more inhabited places and came across a gorgeous stretch of the canal, perfectly calm and flanked on either side by green trees and bushes which were perfectly reflected in the glass-like surface of the water. It was absolutely breathtaking, and we stood looking in awe at Mother Nature’s bounty. Scotland really is an incredibly beautiful part of the world; wild and rugged, green and serene. We passed some colourful little boats moored up, and I really wished I could paint because this would make a wonderful work of art. The best I could do was capture it all on my Samsung phone camera.
Around 12.45pm we reconvened in the saloon for a pre-luncheon cold beer, all of us looking back at the wonderful photos we’d taken, and sharing them with each other. We had dropped anchor for lunch, and it was like being in a revolving restaurant as the Glen Massan turned lazily on her anchor chain. 🙂
Then the ding of the bell announced it was lunchtime and we all took our places once again around the large communal table. We seemed to have spent an awful lot of time on this cruise eating and drinking! 🙂
It goes without saying that we couldn’t come to Scotland without enjoying a meal of haggis, tatties and neeps, and this was our lunch today. In case there’s anyone reading this blog who is unfamiliar with this famous Scottish dish, it’s haggis, mashed potatoes and mashed turnips, accompanied with a whisky cream sauce. It was absolutely scrumptious too, and when a dish of extra helpings of haggis and whisky sauce was brought out, it didn’t take long at all for it all to disappear, the platter scraped clean. 🙂
After lunch everyone sat around relaxing and reading or looking at the ever-changing scenery beyond the Glen Massan‘s large windows. We should reach Fort Augustus and our mooring by about 4.00pm, and Trevor and I took the time out for a 30 minute post-luncheon power nap.
Back up on deck, we had a few more locks to negotiate as we passed along through small villages, woodlands and boat mooring pontoons and landing stages. There was always something to see, and we often passed other small boats and pleasure cruises, and their passengers would wave madly.
Eventually the dense trees and bushes thinned out and more buildings came into view; attractive little houses, shops, a couple of restaurants and two pubs. We were just about to arrive in Fort Augustus, which Jen had told us was quite a tourist spot very close to the famous Loch Ness.
The Glen Massan was made fast at a landing stage, and Trevor and I could not wait to disembark and explore. In any case, we felt that we needed to stretch our legs and get some sort of exercise. As the waters in the canal had been so beautifully calm, there wasn’t even the passive exercise that you find you get when the sea is rough; there was no trying to keep our balance. So a walk along the canal bank was certainly in order.
As we strolled along, we saw lots of people outside enjoying the April sunshine. Families, dog walkers, cyclists and canoeists passed by with a happy holiday insouciance, and many stopped to admire the Glen Massan and to photograph her.
We decided to continue along past some more locks, down towards Loch Ness, as it was just so pretty. We would look forward to sailing in famous Loch Ness tomorrow.
We thought it would be nice to find a pub with a beer garden and sit outside with a cold, refreshing pint. We saw a place called “The Legion” which was closed, but further along there was a place called “The Lock Inn” which had chairs and tables outside and which was doing a roaring trade. I took a seat at a vacant table while Trevor went in to order the drinks, and we sat and enjoyed them in the sunshine while taking part in that most pleasant of pastimes, people watching. 🙂
As it was now nearly six o’clock, the shops were closed so we just did a bit of browsing in the windows; predictably, every souvenir seemed to feature “Nessie”, and there was a large Nessie topiary outside one of the shops.
Back on board, we got washed and changed in cabin #3 (JURA) before heading back up to the saloon for the customary pre-dinner drinks and canapés. I saw fellow passenger Ian waiting while Yaz mixed him an Aperol Spritz, and I decided to have one too. Then we just sat around chatting and laughing until it was, once more, to take our places at the table. 🙂
Our main meal tonight was a tender, perfectly prepared and cooked venison fillet, served with lentils, cauliflower mash and purple and orange roasted carrots. Certainly something a bit different and, as always, totally delicious. It was washed down with complimentary red or white wine, mint-infused cold water, and followed by the wonderful Scottish cheeseboard and freshly-ground coffee. Helen the chef really is a master of her craft. 🙂
We couldn’t get the sunset tonight because the sun had disappeared below the mountains, but I did manage to go out onto the stern deck and get a lovely sky, with pale pink and orange reflected perfectly in the beautifully calm water.
As Trevor and I had looked on Google Maps to see what times the pubs closed, we were dismayed to see that The Lock Inn (where we’d been earlier) closed at 9.00pm! We were surprised, as Fort Augustus draws in a lot of tourists. We noticed that The Legion calls time at 10.30pm, so we decided we’d go there and enjoy a couple of drinks, which is exactly what we did.
When we left the pub around 10.50pm, the night air was clean and cool, and there weren’t many people around, so we enjoyed the sounds of the water rushing down one of the locks in a man-made waterfall. When we boarded the Glen Massan, we saw that Dan the engineer was setting the table for tomorrow’s breakfast, and we asked him if the bar was still open. Indeed it was, so we each decided to partake of a wee dram as a nightcap. We tried a different whisky tonight; one called Rock Island, which was very pale in colour, almost clear. But it had a lovely smoky aroma and flavour to it, and we enjoyed it a lot.
Then we said our goodnights to Dan and disappeared below decks to turn in for the night, after another lovely day. We looked forward to what tomorrow would bring.
