See the Cally and Crinan from the air

SAIL Scotland’s aerial video guides showcase Scottish marinas and anchorages, including the Caledonian and Crinan Canals. The videos give a bird’s eye view of the approach to each destination with drone footage showing the beautiful backdrops of Scotland’s landscapes.

Although designed primarily for sailing and cruising, featuring 33 locations around Scotland, canal enthusiasts can enjoy the views of the two Highland canals and find fact files to all four of Scotland’s navigable canals, together with suggestions of nearby visitor attractions and places to eat. Watch the videos at sailscotland.co.uk/plan/aerial-guides/

Elsewhere, the Kelpies feature in Visit Scotland’s Ghosts, Myths and Legends ebook, created as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022. The Kelpie is a malevolent shape-shifting Scottish water-horse that lures unsuspecting victims into rivers and lochs.

Although the mythical beasts lend their name to the Kelpie heads in Helix Park at the eastern end of the Forth & Clyde Canal, the sculptures were modelled on two Clydesdale horses, Baron and Duke, by creator Andy Scott to celebrate the role of heavy horses in Scotland’s industrial past and their part in pulling horse- drawn boats along the canals.

Other canal- based attractions listed on VisitScotland include Neptune’s Staircase, the dramatic flight of eight locks on the Caledonian Canal just north of Fort William (the longest staircase locks in Britain) Loch Ness, part of the Caledonian Canal and the UK’s largest body of water, and the Falkirk Wheel connecting the Union and Forth & Clyde Canals.