The Crinan Cana-al for me...?

[Nick]

.
(from a post in TOP)

well thats the end of that then,

they really did mean a "temporary" repair, it lasted all of one day.
the most up to date quote from a bw member of staff is that the lock is completely f****d

[So_Sage_of_Lorne]

We came back through in early August last year and caught the hordes returning from West Highland Week which was a big mistake.

We only did so because of the strong headwinds forecast.
If you go through then Kilmelford is good and more reasonable to sit on a mooring than be paying to be tied up alongside a pontoon.

If that laggard Nick had half an ounce of decency about him you'd be on freebies at Balvicar but there's not much hope of that now that he has wussed out of his summer cruise

I was entertained recently by a rather pleasant fellow aboard his large and obviously fastidiously maintained motor yacht. Whilst we were discussing the closure of the Crinan, he made mention of an assault his vessel had suffered last year. Apparently he was struck by a grey motorsailer which, to all intents and purposes was "not under command". This unfortunate event has put him off the canal and he is contemplating rounding the Mull instead.

[claymore]

Between para's woodbines and yon merchant's exhausts, the Muz and I are barely recovered.

[So_Sage_of_Lorne]

I wus sampling his whisky not sniffing his stacks

[claymore]

Easy tiger!

[sahona]

Well, in spite of reservations, my little soup-dragon bit the bullet and we went out and back without the use of artificial waterways. Mulligan's Tyre was kind to us and the canal was burst anyway.
Three weeks of pish, some horizontal, very few 'magic' moments except. of course, Carsaig, which for some reason always comes up trumps for us.
HRH-A wasn't in Ardfern, but Nick and Cath were in Balvicar, so that's almost as good.
The handling of the canal incident was (and still is,) confusing, with nothing on the B.W. website, spurious info from Clyde C.G., opening, then closing, and opening again..... and it costs so much.
Got a real humping in Campbelltown on Friday night, boats and pontoon jumping every-which-way and lots of rope in use by breakfast time. Otherwise just wet, but of course we still do 'T' shirts and shorts - and windscreenwipers.