📌 Canal locks in Banavie, Highland
★★
Running from Fort William on the west coast of Scotland to Inverness in the east, the Great Glen provided Thomas Telford with a convenient dent in mountainous topography for the Caledonian Canal – its construction facilitated by several natural water bodies. But it wasn’t all plain sailing, as they say. Neptune’s Staircase is a flight of 8 locks required to give the canal a leg-up into the glen to properly embark on its 60 mile journey. There are 5 further locks where the waterway begins at Corpach, a mile further west, and several others elsewhere on the canal. The land hasn’t been exploited as a tourist attraction to the same extent as the shorter staircase at Fort Augustus, but there’s a cafe and good views of Ben Nevis, despite a building site which spoils the line of sight from some angles.
🌍 Location
📌 On the Caledonian Canal, off the B8004 at Banavie
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NN 114770
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 56.845812,-5.094565
🚆🚌 Banavie
🚗 Car park
📝 Key info
⌚ Always viewable
🎫 Free
