Yachting Monthly - April 2016

CRUISING

APRIL 2016 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com 35

The mast was down and onto makeshift

crutches in no time and we were off again.

Waterways staff escorted us along the

entire 31 miles of canal to help operate the

locks and get us through as efficiently as

possible. While we waited on the pontoon

next to the new sea-lock that was being

built to bypass the Kerse Road and M9

bridges, we admired the 30m tall (100ft)

horse-head sculptures of mythical kelpies.

39 locks to Glasgow

The lock men arrived promptly at 0830

and started working us through the 20

locks by which we climbed to a peak

of 83m (275ft) above sea level, almost

certainly the highest Tzu had ever been.

Two pairs of men worked the paddles,

lock gates and bridges along the route,

leapfrogging each other in vans along the

towpath to get our next lock ready for

when we arrived. Their help saved us

much time and sweat, but the quick

pace they set soon wore us out with

continual heaving and recovering of

lines and holding the boat steady in

the swirling water of the locks. The

only casualty was the radio antenna

bracket, which protruded from the

front of the mast. It clipped a bridge

and was bent back at a ugly angle.

From the summit, Glasgow

beckoned below and a new team of

lock men helped us descend. Part

way down we passed through the

middle of the Clydebank Shopping

unless ortherwise statedPhotos: Mike Cooke and steve tibbetts

Centre. It would have been rude not

to visit the world’s first sail-through

fish-and-chip shop for a well-earned

lunch. When the canal was reopened as

a Millennium project, the old Dalmuir

swing bridge had been replaced by a fixed

bridge with only 30cm clearance under

it, blocking the canal. The problem was

solved with the UK’s first drop lock. When

emptied, the clearance increases to just

over 3m (10ft), enabling a boat to pass

underneath. We reached the end of the

canal at Bowling Basin in torrential rain

on Sunday afternoon. Re-stepping the

mast was booked for the next morning, so

we headed off to find warm showers.

The morning brought brighter weather

and with the mast restored to the vertical,

we locked out into the salt water Firth of

Clyde. The many large commercial vessels

made a daunting sight for two sailors from

the quiet of Cardigan Bay. We kept out of

the main channel to avoid them and their

wash. It was a glorious day and the scenery

on the way to Largs rivalled that of

Snowdonia. Ferries criss-crossed the

Firth on their way to nearby islands

and peninsulas and a few yachts

bobbed in the distance. By the time

we reached Largs we’d missed the

shops, so our next leg would have

to be to Stranraer, rather than the

smaller harbour of Portpatrick.

The passage south began

peacefully enough and we hove

to off Ailsa Craig, admiring the

spectacle of the thousands of birds

wheeling around, but the sea soon

lumped up as we slogged into

a strengthening headwind. The

‘We quickly ruled out going via

Cape Wrath or the English Channel’

We admired the huge

horse-head sculptures of

kelpies at Carron Sea Lock

RIGHT: You have to

lower your mast to get

through the Forth &

Clyde Canal. The lowest

bridge has 3m clearance

Sail-through fish and chips at Clydebank Shopping Centre

Photo: alaMY