Wednesday, 15 August 2012

2 June Lochgilphead

018 Oban, McCaig’s tower

Lochgilphead is a unassuming little place but don’t knock it.

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It has a campsite in the town/village, it has a selection of shops, it has a Coop and it is near the eastern end of the Crinan Canal.  I stayed there for 4 nights because it was the Queen’s Jubilee weekend and I thought that once I’d found somewhere to stop I should stay there as there would be a lot of folk drifting about looking for places to stay.

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An interesting bug

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The Crinan Canal.  Another bit of industrial archaeology.  9 miles long, it cuts across the top of the Kintyre Peninsula from Loch Fyne to the Sound of Jura.  It is 67 miles from Lochgilphead to the Mull of Kintyre so the canal saves a lot of sailing especially in the pre-steam days.  It was designed by John Rennie and completed in 1801 but Thomas Telford had to be brought in in 1816 to sort out collapses and some of the locks.  It is still very much in use by yachts.  And an excellent cycle.

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Do they really play rugby on this pitch?

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This is a complicated lock as  there is also a swing bridge

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I got very excited about this bridge, which is retracted by winding it back on rails…

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040  The sea is below on the left

041 An artist’s haunt

043 Another swing bridge

049 Crinan

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Back at the eastern end, the canal actually starts at Ardrishaig which is south of Lochgilphead

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And there is another swing bridge

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Another view of Lochgilphead

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