Caledonian Springtime

Embark in Oban and settle into your cabin. We remain alongside in Oban overnight.

We travel from Craignure to visit the sacred Isle of Iona, the last resting place of some 50 Scottish Kings and where St. Columba introduced Christianity to Scotland. Later, we sail to the island capital of Tobermory where brightly painted houses line the waterfront which were originally built by the British Fisheries Company to house its workers.

Spend this morning discovering the traditional methods still used at the Isle of Mull Cheese, the island’s only dairy farm where the local cheeses are still made by hand, before cruising the Sound of Mull and Loch Linnhe to Corpach at the entrance of the Caledonian Canal.

At the Glenfinnan Monument Visitor Centre, we discover the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the moving tribute to those who died fighting for the Jacobite cause, framed by dramatic Highland scenery. From sea level, Lord of the Highlands ascends the spectacular eight interconnected locks of Neptune’s Staircase to Banavie in the shadow of Ben Nevis, and we spend a relaxing afternoon on board as we sail through Loch Lochy and Loch Oich to Fort Augustus, which takes its name from a fort built after the defeat of the 1715 Jacobite uprising.

This morning, we descend the Fort Augustus locks to Loch Ness. Pausing briefly, for a view of the ruins of Urquhart Castle, we continue the 21 mile transit of Loch Ness and Loch Dochfour, and along the man-made section of the Caledonian Canal to the cosmopolitan city of Inverness, where we disembark for our final visit to Culloden, the powerfully emotive and atmospheric battlefield where the 1745 Jacobite Rising came to a tragic end.

After breakfast, we say farewell and disembark in Inverness.