Must admit I have trepidation about going out of the Caledonian Canal. Not having to consider tides, currents, waves and weather even has made me get "the fear" back. Every time I've had it before, as soon as we're back in the water, I seem to relax and enjoy it. Hopefully the same will happen this time too. I do notice that in a few days there's a high-pressure headed our way so hopefully, after three weeks of bad weather, we'll have some settled conditions to enjoy.
Here's us at the top of Neptune's Staircase. A set of 8 locks very near to the Western end of the canal, after this it's just 3 locks and 0.5 miles to the sea - which is visible in the background.
Here's a video of me pulling Isabella between locks - which was seriously hard as I'd overdone the tiller position (which keeps the bow out and hence Isabella off the wall) and the wind was about 15 to 20 knots on the nose - and then us letting out the ropes as the water level falls in the lock.
http://youtu.be/S-zouTQOrk0
PS. I think my beard is now thick enough to cope with the extremes of the Western Isles!
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