Moorings on the Crinan Canal

The Crinan Canal runs for nine miles (14 km) across Argyll from Ardrishaig on Loch Gilp, an arm of Loch Fyne, to Crinan on the Sound of Jura. It gives boats a route between the Firth of Clyde and the Inner Hebrides without the long passage round the Mull of Kintyre. Designed by John Rennie and completed in 1801, it passes Lochgilphead, Cairnbaan, Dunardry and Bellanoch, and its summit reach between Cairnbaan and Dunardry lies 64 feet (20 m) above sea level. The canal is a scheduled monument.

Scottish Canals runs the canal, which has 15 locks and seven bridges. Staff operate the sea locks at Ardrishaig and Crinan, Lock 14 and all of the bridges, including the Dunardry rolling bridge across a lock chamber. Skippers need a transit licence bought at least a day before they reach the sea lock and should allow six to eight hours for the passage. Nearly 2,000 boats a year use the canal.

Scottish Canals offers long-term leisure moorings on the Crinan Canal at several sites, among them Ardrishaig Basin, Cairnbaan, Bellanoch Bridge, Bellanoch Marina and Crinan Basin, so boats can be kept with the Clyde at one end and the west coast at the other.