Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The terminal basin at Crinan, possibly the most beautiful spot on the British canal system .
The Maggie , the 1953 Ealing comedy about an old Puffer, was partly filmed on the canal.
Clyde Puffers may still be found moored in the basins, Puffers being built to the canal lock
dimensions, taking coal to the west coast and bringing back whisky and other produce. An
early user was the Comet , the first steamcraft to go to sea, wrecked just west of the canal in
1820.
The canal has been called the most beautiful shortcut in Britain. Surely nowhere else on the
British canal system can match the sheer breathtaking splendour of the canal basin at Crinan,
a basin that has not been ruined by commercialism as might have happened in a more access-
ible spot. Just a coffee shop and Crinan Hotel, famous for its seafood, have been added to the
usual canal basin facilities.
Crinan Harbour lies on the open Loch Crinan. The sea lock at Crinan, as at Ardrishaig,
opens at all states of the tide but other locks are only operated from 8.30am to noon and
12.30pm to 4.30pm, Mondays to Saturdays.
Crinan only acquired its name when the canal was opened. Until then it had been Portree,
king's port. There are twin sea locks, only one of which is in use, with moorings in the basin
for a small number of craft. The bridge keeper's house was named Puddler's Cottage as it was
his job to seal leaks in the canal with puddled clay. Lobster pots are stacked up in a garden
and a small red-and-white lighthouse acts as a beacon. Beyond all this is a magnificent pan-
orama of islands across the Sound of Jura, Jura, Scarba and Luing.
Above lock 14, a low concrete platform projects into the canal. From here to Crinan Bridge
the canal is at its narrowest, cut out of the granite of the hillside. One-way traffic is controlled
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