It was just after we'd got back on the water that we came across our first set of locks for the day. These were the Laggan Locks and this was to be the first of many portages that day. These locks led into another section of canal although this time very short. The canal in this section was much more attractive than it had been at the start. There is also a swing bridge at the end of this section of canal and this is a remarkable feat of engineering. This time it was the A82 crossing the canal and the swing bridge can be seen below.

Just after the swing bridge we came on to Loch Oich which was a welcome relief from the canal as by now we all much preferred paddling on the Lochs. Shortly after entering the Loch we stopped for some lunch at a picnic site on the left hand side. This was a very nice place and having left early in the morning was a welcome break. Almost immediately after we'd stopped for lunch we came across a monument also on the left hand side which was also very pleasant. The monument can be seen and beneath this, which some steps lead down to, is a well.

The next point of interest on Loch Oich is again on the left hand side and this time it is a derelict castle, 'Invergarry Castle'. We all looked forward to this with some anticipation and intended to get out and investigate however we didn't need to as all that is left is a single wall from one side of it. What can be seen is in the picture below.

In the next section we had to avoid the weir that there is on the left hand side, to continue on the canal we took the right hand channel to prevent entering on to the river Oich. This was the end of Loch Oich and we immediately to another bridge, this is again the A82 crossing over and the bridge is very aesthetically pleasing as can be seen in the picture below.

The next section was again on the canal and again the scenery tailed off a bit and was much less dramatic. This next section included another lock this time 'Kyltra lock' and our progress was once again slowed for the portaging, by this time we were all tired and spirits were low, what was more depressing was that we knew that we had a huge flight of locks left to do when we got to Fort Augustus. We paddled on to Fort Augustus with very little enthusiasm as we were all shattered and weren't convinced we could face another even longer portage. We reached Fort Augustus and with good teamwork by the whole group we got the kayaks down to the bottom of the locks and Loch Ness. To get the kayaks into the water involved an ingenious technique suggested to us by our supervisor without which we wouldn't have managed to get the kayaks on to the water at all. At the bottom of the lochs we got our first glimpse of the Loch Ness monster pictured below!

Also whilst we were at Fort Augustus we went into the Caledonian Canal heritage centre which is free and well worth a visit if you have time. The building itself is also very attractive.

By this time it was getting dark and we'd paddled for 11 hours already that day. As a consequence we were all feeling hungry so we set off in to Loch Ness with the idea of stopping and cooking tea at the first opportunity. The first thing that hit us though was how breathtaking Loch Ness is. It is for some unknown reason eerie even though it was still light although it only just was this. It was also exciting, as by this time we knew that we'd have to finish the journey after dark. We stopped on a rocky beach a little way in got out our tranja and food began to cook and immediately wished we hadn't as the midges were even worse than the day before. This wasn't good however we were all very hungry so we rushed our meal and had to put up with the midges. We kept this time to a minimum. Having finished we packed up and got on the water where we were joined by our supervisor as it was getting dark and none of us had paddled after dark before. We set off and made fairly good time in getting to our campsite. By the time we got there it was 22:00 13 hours after we'd set out that morning. We put up the tent and settle for sleep as we were all shattered.