Caledonian Canal locks reopening delayed until eve of Easter after "unexpected issues" over £5.3m gate replacements at Kytra and Fort Augustus

DELAYS to vital £5.3m lock gate replacement work on the Caledonian Canal mean some sections won’t now reopen until the cusp of the Easter weekend, Scottish Canals has revealed.

The organisation said that its engineers working at Kytra and Fort Augustus had recently encountered some “unexpected issues with the historic fabric” of the lock chambers.

And they warned that, while other sections of the waterway are already operational, the canal won’t fully reopen until April 17 - just two days before Good Friday.

“Unfortunately, despite seven days a week working and additional manpower and resources, it will now not be possible to meet the originally planned April 8 re-opening date for Kytra and Fort Augustus,” said a spokesman.

“With intensive input from our own teams and our contractors, we now expect Kytra and Fort Augustus locks to re-open to boat traffic at 8.30am on Wednesday, April 17.

“Whilst other areas of the canal remain unaffected and will be operational from March 25, seven days a week, 8.30am – 5.30pm, sea to sea transits will not be possible until Wednesday, April 17.

“We would like to apologise for the disruption that this change in programme will undoubtedly cause our boating customers and would like to thank them for their understanding in what has been a challenging engineering project.”

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