Day 35- Wednesday 22nd June- Oban to Loch Leven

I felt it was time to move up to the Caledonian Canal. I could stay in the islands for weeks.There is so much to see, but I need to keep moving. The forecast was for a N/NW 3/4, which was not ideal to go up Loch Linnhe as it was a north easterly track to Fort William.I didn't get away until 8.30 ,so I'd missed a few hours of the favourable tide. I'd hoped to use the showers and toilets but they don't seem to open before 8.00!I also managed to pull my back getting the inflatable back on board. That will make me feel stiff for a few days.

By the time I'd crossed the Sound of Mull and turned the corner to go up Loch Linnhe the tide had turned and the wind was straight down the Loch. The wind also picked up to a force5/6 on the nose. There was no alternative but to reef the main and motor sail. It was a short and choppy sea and progress was slow.I was moving through the water at about 5kn, but over the ground it was seldom more than 3.5kn. Loch Linnhe is a dead end so it is not the through flow of water just the emptying of water from the loch. Whilst the scenery was dramatic it passed by slowly.Some form of quarrying on the west side interrupted the otherwise largely uninhabited shoreline, apart from the occasional farmstead.

There were a few very isolated houses low to the shoreline, which looked great places including a very remotely positioned caravan that looked a good place to get away from just about everything,

My ETA at the canal at the rate I was travelling would not be until 7ish and zig zagging across the Loch was tiring work.Tony had suggested I look into Loch Leven and it started to look an increasingly attractiver prospect. The entrance to the Loch is pretty narrow and is spanned by a road bridge. The Glencoe valley leads down to the loch and the mountains loom large here.

There are a couple of anchorages just inside the loch but I made my way to the Lochaber water sports centre, which lies alongside the hotel "Isles of Glencoe"at Ballachullish (www.islesofglencoe.com ) and what a great decision it proved to be. There is a small pontoon ,which costs £15 a night or a couple of swinging moorings which cost £10. The great thing is that for this you get free use of the hotel swimming pool and sauna and a your mooring fee back if you have dinner. The cenre runs RYA practical and theory courses would be a great place to be based (www.lochaberwatersports.co.uk )

The view from the restaurant is truly stunning. This must be the best value of anywhere I will come across on this trip. It is a place I would wholeheartedly recommend whether you come by water or are looking for a place to stay in Scotland.The day had ended very well indeed.

On the way into the Loch there was a raft of Eider Duck. These are amongst my favourite birds. They are so colourful with their bright green beaks.They dive for shellfish.

The last few days have involved a bit of doubling back on myself, so the latest few moves may look a bit confusing on the map, but it looks like this. I have done about 780 miles so far.It is not half way, but leaving the west coast and aiming up the Caledonian canal seems like going through some sort of door to a different world. Many people have asked whether I would go around the top of Scotland, rather than cutting the corner like this. Its a wild place up there and the Pentland Firth needs to be treated with a lot of respect. I could do it, but It could mean a lot of waiting around for the right conditions and this summer there don't seem to be many  of those!