Crinan Canal
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In 1801 the nine-mile-long Crinan Canal opened, linking Loch Fyne, at Ardrishaig south of Lochgilphead, with the Sound of Jura, thus cutting out the long and treacherous journey around the Mull of Kintyre. John Rennie's original design, although an impressive engineering feat, had numerous faults, and by 1816 Thomas Telford was called in to take charge of the renovations. The canal runs parallel to the sea for quite some way before cutting across the bottom of Mòine Mhór and hitting a flight of locks either side of CAIRNBAAN (there are fifteen in total); a walk along the towpath is both picturesque and pleasantly unstrenuous. A useful pit stop can be made at the Cairnbaan Hotel (tel 01546/603668; £90-110), an eighteenth-century coaching inn overlooking the canal.
There are usually one or two yachts passing through the locks, but the most relaxing place from which to view the canal in action is CRINAN, the pretty little fishing port at the western end of the canal. Crinan's tiny harbour is, for the moment at least, still home to a small fishing fleet. Every room in the Crinan Hotel (tel 01546/830261, www.crinanhotel.com; over £200) looks across Loch Crinan to the Sound of Jura. If the Crinan is beyond your means, try the secluded B&B Tigh-na-Glaic (tel 01546/830261; £50-60), perched above the harbour, also with views out to sea. Bar meals at the Crinan are expensive, but utterly delicious, as is the hotel's even more expensive seafood restaurant, Lock 16, on the top floor, which commands a panoramic view; there's only one sitting, at 8pm, so booking is advisable. Down on the lockside there is a cheaper, cheerful café called the Coffee Shop (Easter-Oct), serving mouthwatering home-made cakes and wonderful clootie dumplings..
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