Skipper Has the Key to the Lochs

“Ready with the bow line. . . . Ready, please, with the stern. Spring ready? Make fast the bow. Now the stern. And give us, if you please, just a wee bit of slack there on the spring. Lovely!”

As if to signal a job well done, through the wheelhouse window a string of hickory-scented smoke rings from the skipper’s pipe floated into the pale Scottish sky.

Once the three lines, each as massive as a man’s forearm, were snubbed around the lock-side bollards, Nick Walker, co-owner and captain of VIC-32, could relax while the lock was filled.

Or almost relax. As long as the old girl is under steam Nick’s idea of relaxation is relative.

It’s a tricky business, maneuvering his 80-foot boat through the narrow passage of the Caledonian Canal, the 60-mile waterway that traverses the Scottish Highlands, joining the Atlantic in the west to the North Sea in the east.

Five-Day Cruise

Every summer Nick, his wife, Rachel, and a crew of three transport a dozen delighted passengers at a time from Corpach on the Atlantic side through to Inverness on the North Sea side and back again, a five-day cruise.

The journey begins on the west coast near Fort William at the village of Corpach, not far from the cloud-shrouded majesty of Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, 4,406 feet. VIC-32’s route takes her through Loch Lochy at the western end of the Great Glen, then on through Loch Oich were tidy farms give away to densely forested hillsides.

By locks the boat descends into fabled Loch Ness. There all hands keep watch across black peat waters for Nessie, known to the locals not as a monster but rather as a “shy and gentle creature.”

The turnaround point of the journey is Inverness, rather grandly known as “The Gateway to the Highlands.” There passengers can take an afternoon to explore its narrow streets, to shop for woolens and tweeds.

Short Taxi Ride

From Inverness it’s only a short taxi ride to the Battlefield of Culloden where Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Highlanders were defeated in 1745 by the English, led by the infamous Duke of Cumberland, the last battle to be fought on British soil.

The tour of the restored battlefield is fascinating and easily managed in an hour or two. Unless “filthy weather” is expected, Nick will gladly arrange his sailing schedule to accommodate both sightseeing and shopping requests.

The lochs through which VIC-32 passes are linked by the Caledonian Canal, constructed by Scotland’s famous engineer, Sir Thomas Telford. It was opened to the first ship in 1822. Except for brief periods of repair, the canal has been open to shipping ever since.

To journey along this waterway is a colorful way to experience Scotland . . . not the Scotland of kilted dancers and plaintive pipers. This is the Scotland of hard-working shepherds and farmers, of black-faced sheep and shaggy, cinnamon-colored Highland cattle, crowned with formidable horns. It’s the Scotland of villagers who rarely venture more than 10 miles from their cottage doors, who seldom receive visitors from beyond the Highlands.

It’s also the Scotland of wild, untamed beauty where icy waterfalls plummet into empty glens, where falcons and eagles spiral high above rocky ridges, explored only by red deer, badgers and hares.

A Purple Coverlet

In the late summer the heather lays a purple coverlet straight up the vertical slopes, almost but not quite disguising the enormous boulders which, from time to time, roll down through brush and saplings to crash in the peat-dark waters of the loch below.

As VIC-32 nears a set of locks, Nick gives three long blasts on the steam-fed whistle. In response, the lock master emerges from his cottage to operate the lock’s hydraulic controls. It is understood that he can be relied upon to respond only between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and not at all on Sunday.

Last summer an RAF craft, lean and gray, bristling with anti-aircraft guns, had no choice but to sit supine from Saturday sundown to Monday at 8 a.m., and this despite the fact that the irate captain was sailing under Admiralty orders stamped “All Haste.”

Afterward, describing the unfortunate incident to Nick as VIC-32 was being ushered through the locks, the lock master summed it up with the economy that in Scotland passes for eloquence.

“Rules are rules,” he said.

“Quite right,” Nick said.

It’s true that a trip aboard VIC-32 is not everyone’s dish. The six double cabins are immaculate but small. Bathing has to be managed in two shared heads. There is no card room, no shuffleboard, no promenade deck.

The Salon is fitted out with benches and a long narrow table where crew and passengers dine on Rachel’s cooking, which is both ample and delectable. A few chairs, an overflowing bookcase, a pot-bellied stove and an Irish setter complete the below-deck appointments.

A Narrow Walk

Topside, the foredeck is a jumble of hawsers, winches and cables. It’s a narrow walk around to the aft deck and the steps that lead to Nick’s wheelhouse.

As for on-board entertainment, any passenger is welcome to join Peter or Tim in the engine room for a round of coal shoveling. Or he can simply enjoy the scenery, lovely enough to turn any curmudgeon into a poet. Or climb to the wheelhouse to listen to Nick tell the tale of VIC-32’s rejuvenation.

In 1976 he and Rachel found VIC-32 abandoned on a mud bank in Oban on the west coast of Scotland. Built in 1943, she was a proud Clyde Puffer boat, carrying freight throughout the Inner and Outer Hebrides. (VIC is an acronym for Victualing Inshore Craft.)

But when the Walkers found her she was a leaky hulk, a prime candidate for the scrap monger’s blowtorch. Only the Walkers’ offer of 1,500 spared her the ignominies of the torch and crusher. It took 12 months of back-breaking work to bring her to her present state, all recaulked, refitted, repainted and refurbished.

Nick interrupts his tale at frequent intervals, passing over his binoculars to his wheelhouse guests to point out a spiraling hawk or an osprey enthroned atop a nest in a dead tree. Beside his wheel is a well-thumbed paperback, “Birds of Great Britain.” No petrel perching on his mast, no tern swooping past the bow goes unidentified by the skipper.

Though he’s taken VIC-32 dozens of times through these waters, he continues to eye the passing landscape with undisguised pleasure. “See there,” the binoculars again in use, “that patch of blue? Just halfway up the glen there? Bluebells!” If he had planted them himself he could hardly be more delighted.

A Learning Experience

By the time Nick turns his bow back southwest for his return journey to Corpach, his passengers have learned that a ben is a mountain, an inch is an island, a knock is a small hill and a strath is a valley.

They’ve also acquired a healthy skepticism about the oft-told tales of traditionally dour Scottish dispositions. For at every loch the villagers gather to exchange pleasantries with crew and passengers.

As VIC-32 glides out across the wide expanses of the lochs, trailing her distinctive plume of black smoke from her stacks, lone fishermen in their dinghies wave their caps in salute. Along the banks in the narrow stretches of the canal, kids shout their greetings and race the boat until their legs give out.

From their doorways grizzled elders wave their pipes and housewives call, “Good morning!” or “Good sailing!” as VIC-32 slides by.

The trip through the Caledonian Canal is one of five for which, between early April and the end of September, Nick Walker books passengers. The other trips, all of them of five-day duration, are routed through Loch Fyne, the Firth of Clyde, Loch Striven, Loch Ridden and other waterways along the west coast of Scotland.

Bring Your Own Towels

The cost per person of 246 includes three meals a day plus mid-morning coffee and afternoon teas. All bed linen is provided but passengers are asked to bring their own towels. Because VIC-32 is a coal-burning vessel, it is inadvisable to wear light-colored clothing. Jeans, dark sweaters, boots or sneakers and a rain slicker are suggested. Summer Scottish weather can be anything from rain and sleet to bright clear sunshine and temperature in the 80s.

Bookings may be made by writing to Nick Walker, VIC-32, the Change House, Crinan Ferry, Lochgilphead, Argyll PA31 8QH, Scotland. To telephone from the United States, call 011-44-54-65-232.

A 50 deposit is required at the time of reservation, the balance to be paid 30 days before departure.

Detailed information about how to reach the departure pier is sent once reservations are accepted.