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Picture of a sailing ship entering a lock Picture of a flight of locks, know as Neptune's staircase
Picture of a view towards Fort William and Loch Linnhe From Banavie it is only a very short walk to the Calendonian Canal with Neptune's Staircase. Neptune's Staircase is a flight of eight locks in less than half a mile. The canal climbs by 64ft here. When we arrived a sail training ship was just entering the locks.

From here you also have a very nice view towards Fort William (left) and Glen Nevis (below). Ben Nevis decided to hide in the clouds, otherwise we would have seen it on the left hand side of the glen.
View towards Glen Nevis

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 A closer view of Glen Nevis
Picture of Imke in front of Glenfinnan Monument Picture of Armin in front of Glenfinnan Monument
Our next stop was Glenfinnan at the head of Loch Shiel. Glenfinnan is famous for two things:

Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard here in August 1745 to signal the start of the Jacobite uprising. The monument near the spot where the standard was raised was erected by Alexander Macdonald of Glenaladale in 1815.

You also find the 21-arch Glenfinnan viaduct, built as one of the first large constructions made out of concrete in 1901. We managed to time it perfectly and saw the Jacobite Steam Train passing over it on it's way to Mallaig (The viaduct is part of the West Highland Railway line)		 Picture of a view over a loch (Loch Shiel) with a monument (Glenfinnan Monument) at the head of the loch
Picture of the Glenfinnan Viaduct with the Jacobite Steam Train Picture of steam train in full steam

Previous: Elgol and Loch Garry <- Scotland 2001 -> Next: Glen Nevis and Glencoe

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