Crinan and Caledonian Canals

Coast visits two iconic Scottish waterways: the Crinan and Caledonian Canals.

Neil Oliver finds out how the Crinan Canal cut journey times for boats travelling up the west coast of Scotland, while Nick Crane reveals how the majestic Loch Ness became a key part of Britain's biggest building project in the early 1800s, the Caledonian Canal.

For nearly 20 years, Highlanders desperate for work became navvies digging huge canals to link up the lochs of the Great Glen Fault. Eventually they created a 60-mile-long waterway through the heart of Scotland, connecting the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, but it was too little, too late.