Caledonian Canal

The Caledonian fault has only been used for transport since the beginning of the 19th century. Thomas Telford set to work on the canal in 1803 and it was finally completed in 1849. As a result, shipping was spared the hazardous northern route through the Pentland Forth between the Scottish mainland and the Orkneys. Since then, the rail and road network has carried most of the east-west freight but a number of small vessels ply up and down the canal. But today it is the leisure industry which makes most use of the canal with holiday makers in hired boats and canoes enjoying the magnificent scenery along the waterway.

Only a third of the canal's length is man-made. The major part of it consists of narrow lochs. After Loch