Great Glen Way: Gairlochy to Clunes

The Caledonian Canal

The Caledonian Canal should have been one of Scotland's great engineering triumphs. Before its opening, any ship wanting to go between Scotland's two great cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh has to undertake a long journey via the south coast of Britain or a shorter but more perilous voyage around the north coast of Scotland. Many ships were being lost on this voyage, and the line of three large lochs that marks the Great Glen seems like an obvious route for a canal.

Unfortunately the lochs are freshwater and are situated at some height above sea level. This means that the work was much more expensive than would otherwise have been the case, and that the engineers tasked to survey the route did not have an easy task. For one thing it was not going to be a normal canal as it would be able to take seagoing ships. James Watt performed the first survey, and this was followed up by Telford and Josias Jessops.

As is often the case with civil engineering, both time and fiscal estimates were wildly optimistic. The canal took nineteen years to build, finally opening in 1822, and at double the cost. Unfortunately it was outdated almost as soon as it had opened; new sailing and (later) steam ships were too big to fit into the locks. Thus the investors in the canal made a massive loss.

However, their loss is our gain, and the canal still offers boats and small ships a short-cut across Scotland.

The Great Glen

The Great Glen is a feature unmistakable on any map of Britain. It follows the Great Glen Fault that incises a harsh diagonal line across the Highlands, from Fort William in the southwest to Inverness in the northeast. Various glaciations periods have eroded the fault and formed three large freshwater lochs - Loch Loch, Loch Oich and the famous Loch Ness.

Much of the Great Glen is surrounded by high ground, meaning that the glen forms one of the best low-level routes in the region; it is used by the busy A82 road between the west and east coasts and also the Caledonian Canal. Part of it was also used by the Invergarry and Fort Augustus railway line, which closed to goods just after the Second World War.

Loch Lochy and the River Lochy

Loch Lochy is the southwestern of the three lochs that dominate the Great Glen. It is nearly ten miles in length but only a mile wide at its widest, where the River Akraig drains into it. It is notable for its 70 metre depth, which belies its origins as a fault.

The River Lochy flows for nine miles from the southwestern end of the loch into the sea at Loch Eil, near Fort William. The makers of the Caledonian Canal eschewed the shallow and winding river, instead choosing to create a new cut to the north.

Achancarry and the Cameron Museum

Achnacarry is situated on a relatively flat expanse of land beside the River Akraig, which flows for just over a mile from the eastern end of Loch Akraig into Loch Lochy. It has traditionally belonged to Clan Cameron, whose lands span the surrounding area.

It was the site of the Stand-off at the Fords of Akraig, a near-battle in 1665 that settled a 360-year disagreement between the Cameron and Mackintosh clans.

During the Second World War the Clan Cameron handed over the land to the British military so that soldiers could perform Commando training. The Commando Monument at nearby Spean Bridge commemorates the men who trained to fight in the area.

A museum, the Clan Cameron Museum, is situated in a suitably rustic whitewashed building about half a mile off the Great Glen Way. It is well worth a visit if your happen to be passing whilst the museum is open.