From west to east across Scotland by sail and oar, along the Great Glen, is surely one of the world's great journeys. The stunning scenery, the magnificent engineering of the Caledonian Canal, and a superb opportunity to test oneself, and ones boat, is challenging conditions, while being supported by a professional team.
I did this voyage as part of Sail Caledonia, a 'raid' organised by the Great Glen Boating Club. This was the first time I've taken part, but I doubt it will be the last. I had a great time, gained valuable experience and enjoyed lots of time on the water. I'll be writing later about the experience and some of the lessons I've learnt, but for now, here's a few photos.
Launching, Lochaber Yacht Club, Fort William © Bart Muller
Auk and Scratch waiting to enter the sea lock at Corpach © John Macpherson
Coming into the sea lock at Corpach © John Macpherson
Scratch with tent © John Macpherson. It wasn't all hardship. Fingal of Caledonia, the barge in the background, provided supper and bar every night – as well as breakfast and packed lunches.
Lunch time, Loch Lochy
Lapsus at anchor
Rowing along the canal to Laggan Bridge © Bart Muller
Scratch and Storyteller, an Oughtred Whilly Boat
Enjoying a tow from Hurley, Drascombe Longboat
Bart Muller, Lapsus. Racing on Loch Ness, crewing for Bart in Lapsus. F4/5 and heavy rain. Learnt a few tricks from Bart.
Capsize practice: over we go © John Macpherson
Coming up © John Macpherson
Evidence of sun on Loch Ness in the morning.
Running up Loch Ness © Dimitris Prokakis. The wind had been light earlier, but had now risen F5. I hadn't reefed, I was doing well in the race and wanted to keep it that way.
Hurley arrives at Urquhart Castle © Steve Sim. No photo of Scratch arriving – we were already here having finished second. Ha!
Loch Oich © John Macpherson
Scratch and Storyteller © John Macpherson
Running on Loch Oich © John Macpherson
Running on Loch Ness © Dimitris Prokakis. Before setting off after lunch I'd reefed as far as I could. Reef in the main and the mizzen furled.
Surfing on Loch Ness © Dimitris Prokakis. Glad of those reefs. F5/6, 1m waves at this end of Loch Ness.
Resting after the hard sailing on Loch Ness. The flotilla gathered together before heading up Loch Dochfour and into the canal to Dochgarroch.
The swing bridge carrying the A862 opens for us at Muirton © Steve Sim
Waiting for the locks at Muirton © John Macpherson
Scratch at N Kessock by Chris Perkins
End of the voyage © Chris Perkins. On the slip way at North Kessock on the Beauly Firth.
One of the great side benefits of sailing in company, is that I at last have some good photos of Scratch sailing. Thanks to all the various photographers. Links to some of the original photos – and many more – on the Sail Caledonia Facebook page and the Sail Caledonia Galleries. All images here are © the photographer as noted. Those unattributed are either mine, or from someone else – and I forgot who – but can find out if you want to use the images.
I plan to write up different aspects of this wonderful week in the future, in particular focussing on what I learnt about my boat and my sailing skills.
Forthsailoar 
cracking photoscracking sailingsteep learning curve??lovely boatmakes me definitely determined to sail arwen down to falmouth and back in summerwell done that man and boat! what an experiencesteve
Wow, what a fantastic set of pics. Wish I’d been there. I look forward to the write up soon I hope.
Great pics – i especially like the surfing one.An event for me to aim for one day
wonderful blog Osbert. please tell me how to include the Google Earth map with current position – just a hint would be good. it defeated me last tiome i tried it
also – great quality pics. again tell me what camera etc mine are rubbish so far
Hi Dick <br/> <br/>The map thing: if you are using Posterous: <br/>- in Settings turn on ‘show location of photos’, or something like that, can’t remember exact phrase. Remember to save the change. – make sure your photos have locations set! <br/> <br/>That’s it! It’s possible that not all themes show the map, I don’t know. If you get stuck try support. All the best <br/> <br/>Osbert
???<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19048"> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>I can’t find that option Osbert</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"></DIV></BODY></HTML>
<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>Hmmm</div><div><br></div><div>I’m on an iPhone at the moment and the interface is different. It’s not where I thought it was tho! It might be in the area where you upload images when editing a post. I’ll check when I’m next at a real computer. <br><br><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">Osbert</span></div><div><br></div></div><div><br></div></body></html>
???<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19048"> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Hi, I’m getting there slowly. Advanced theming, add Google HTML to page maybe. Will keep trying.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Dick</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"></DIV></BODY></HTML>
<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>No – definitely nothing as complex as that. It was definitely a built in feature with an on/off button. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.300781); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.234375); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.234375);"><br></span></span></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="width: 600px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;" class="PosterousEmail"><div style="margin-top: 20px;"><div style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px;"> <blockquote> <div></div></blockquote></div>
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Found it! ‘Settings’ > ‘Privacy’
???<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19048"> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Great, thanks.. just have to work out how to geotag my pics!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Your pics are excellent – pro stuff. I shall have to be more selective, massage them more, crop to subject.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Dick</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"></DIV></BODY></HTML>
???<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19048"> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Osbert – you are right – My theme doesn’t show it so I have to add trhe Google HTML. Then geotag the pics (tedious for me) or just add flags to the Google end of the map. I will keep trying!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Dick</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"></DIV></BODY></HTML>
???<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19048"> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Geotagging without a built-in GPS is tricky as you have to change photo properties to include the geotag. Cn be done but tedious with lots a pics. So I have used custom themes to include the HTML for the map and entered the main locations and tracks manually. The pics are not geotagged which is a shame. Must get a GPS camera next time!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Ta for help.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Dick</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"></DIV></BODY></HTML>
Yes, I had to manually geotag most of my photos. It’s reasonably straightforward in iPhoto, but tedious. A few photos are from my iPhone which geotags, but I like to keep it well away from water!