Neptune’s Staircase: A descent into Dram

Neptune's Staircase: A Descent into Drama and a West Coast Welcome!

It was Day 7, our penultimate night on the canal, and the grand descent of Neptune's Staircase awaited. We had opted for the 1:00 pm passage, bypassing the earlier 8:30 am slot. Tracey, however, was up bright and early, making her way to the bottom of the locks by 10:20 am to witness the majestic Jacobite Express, affectionately known as the Hogwarts Express, steam by. She also managed to say another farewell to John and Mandy, kindly offering to take some mail for them as she planned a post office visit in Corpach.

As lunchtime approached, we found ourselves surrounded by an increasing number of boats, all clearly eager to descend the staircase. "That's fine," we thought, "we've booked our slot and confirmed our preferred side with the lock keeper." It's worth noting that our entire canal experience thus far had been made incredibly easy by the helpful and efficient lock keepers along the route, so we had no reason to expect anything different.

At precisely 1:00 pm, a call crackled over the radio: "Any boats wanting the lock, make your way now!" It was as if a starting gun had fired; suddenly, all the boats around us sprang into action, most with additional crew on board. We were trying to slip our lines from the wall, simultaneously avoiding collisions with other boats that were shooting past, blocking our exit. For a moment, we genuinely thought we'd miss our slot entirely. But then, we were in! In all previous locks, there had only ever been four boats per chamber, making for a pleasant experience and allowing the lock keepers to assist everyone. Here, however, we had six boats crammed into the chamber, and it felt incredibly cramped. The lock keepers had to move the two boats in front of us further up to make us fit, and even then, it looked like Halcyon Sea was sitting over the cill. We were concerned about our rudder, though the lock keeper assured us we'd be fine. We were not impressed and felt distinctly nervous.

Tracey was asked to leave the boat to walk the lines through, a task she had performed many times throughout this canal transit without issue. Only this time, there was no hook on which to place our bow line. The single available hook had been taken by the Polish boat in front for their stern, creating an impossible angle for our bow. One of the lock keepers instructed Tracey to wrap her line around a railing, which she did. This, however, meant she was trying to hold the boat while standing precariously on a slope in front of the railing, with very little space. We managed two further locks like this until another lock keeper approached and told Tracey she shouldn't be using the railings. She explained she had been told to do so, to which the reply was a rather unhelpful, "Ah well, I've seen railings been pulled off, but it's your boat, your responsibility." Tracey did not take kindly to this attitude and asked where else she should put her bow line, to which they could not provide an answer. So, she continued down the locks, now genuinely worried that every squeak of the railings meant they were about to pull from their fixings, potentially taking her with them into the lock.

A Desperate Leap and a Chaotic Finale

Upon reaching the bottom lock, the lock keepers began to drain the water. Tracey found herself too high on the sloped wall to get back on Halcyon Sea, and there was no one there to help her with the line anyway. Another lock keeper arrived and told Tracey she had to get back on the boat. Tracey asked how she was meant to achieve this, to which the woman replied, "I don't know, but you need to get back on." Tracey asked what others did in this situation, and again, the woman replied, "I don't know, but you need to get back on." The water continued to drop, making the jump larger; Tracey now faced an eight-foot leap into the boat. The woman then suggested the Polish boat let their stern swing out to the middle of the lock, with the intent of Nick wedging our bow between the other boat's stern and the wall – a manoeuvre he was not keen to attempt. Even if he did, Tracey was not prepared to jump that far down into the boat. The woman handed Tracey her line back and simply walked off, leaving Tracey with no idea how she was going to get back on the boat.

A few tense minutes passed, and the lady returned. Tracey suggested that once the other boats left the lock, Nick could move forward, and she could climb down the ladder into the boat. The woman stated this would not be possible, as we would have to move quickly through the road and rail bridges, which were being held open. The only solution, she declared, was for Tracey to walk around to the other side of the lock, cross the road and rail bridges, and wait for Nick to pick her up on the other side. Bearing in mind Nick was now on his own, and all our fenders were on the starboard side, while the pontoon to collect Tracey from was on the port side, this was an absolute clusterf***. Tracey was fuming, and Nick was equally so. At that moment, we felt that our entire canal experience had been marred by the disorganization at this final stage.

Corpach Chaos and a West Coast Welcome

Anyhow, Nick did retrieve Tracey from the other side, and we made our way down the canal to the last lock before the sea lock. Would you believe it, a boat that had gone into Neptune's Staircase on the port side had decided to go in on the starboard side this time – probably because he wanted to race to get alongside the wall in Corpach. We shouted to them that they should keep to the port side. They were a Sadler 29 with three tiny fenders on each side; we had significantly more protection for Halcyon Sea with a couple of ball fenders and four large fenders, plus our fender boards. They were not moving. This lock keeper then told us to come in on the port side, for which we were not set up. We were both furious. The lock keeper sympathized and told us to take our time and he would not move anything until we were ready. Tracey could no longer hold back the tears. This had been horrendous, and she would do anything now to be out of the canal.

We had planned to stay within the basin for our last night, but now we were set up on the wrong side and did not fancy rafting. Tracey probably would have pushed the guy in the Sadler into the water given half a chance, so it was best to leave. We quickly booked a berth in the Corpach Marina, which sits just outside the sea lock. We had to wait a while for some movements to take place in the basin and sea lock before we could enter. One of the boats going in was the German boat Heimkehr, whom we had shared the lock with in Fort Augustus. The wind had picked up, and all of his fenders had popped outside of the wall, so the lock staff were desperately trying to push this heavy steel boat off the wall so they could reposition the fenders. In the meantime, they sent the lad (who had been the one to tell Tracey in Neptune's Staircase that she shouldn't put her line around the railing) to come around and take our line. We were being pushed off the wall, and the lad dropped the line the first time Tracey threw it, so she had to quickly reel it in and try again. This time he caught it and managed to wrap it around the hook. We had no one to take the stern line and were too far off the wall for Tracey to throw it. Nick told the lad to put another couple of turns on the hook so he could reverse off the bow line to bring the stern in. The lad, thinking he knew better, insisted that he could hold the line. As Nick put the engine in reverse, he almost pulled the lad into the water, so he decided that he should put an extra couple of turns on. Eventually, we were alongside. We were quite relieved that another boat behind us, with four crew and a bow thruster, also really struggled.

We were all in, thank goodness; it had been a trying afternoon so far. There was more to come. Once out of the sea lock, we were going in behind Heimkehr in the marina, and once again, they were struggling to get their heavy boat alongside in the strong, windy conditions. We circled outside for about 25 minutes and then made our own attempt. Nick had to come in against the pontoon really hard, and the harbourmaster was a little concerned we would pop our fenders. Tired, emotional, worn out, and simply had enough for the day, we had a quick tea and went to bed. We had an early start tomorrow to get to Oban, and we needed to get the tides right. We hadn't had to think about tides for a week, so it felt strange getting back into it. But, we had made it, another milestone. We were now on the West Coast of Scotland!Meer informatie