Neptune’s Staircase, Banavie: Telford’s Great Eight-Lock Ladder Under Ben Nevis

Neptune’s Staircase, Banavie: Telford’s Great Eight-Lock Ladder Under Ben Nevis

The flight of canal locks at Neptune's Staircase, Banavie, with Ben Nevis beyond.
Neptune’s Staircase at Banavie — eight locks in a row lifting the Caledonian Canal towards Ben Nevis.

Overview — the honest take

Neptune’s Staircase is a genuine feat of engineering and a lovely, free place to spend an hour: a staircase of eight canal locks, climbing one straight after another, that carries the Caledonian Canal up the hillside near Fort William — with Ben Nevis as a backdrop. Watching a boat work its slow way up the whole flight is oddly gripping, and the towpath makes an easy, flat walk with big Highland views. We liked it so much we slept in the car park.

Where it is

It’s at Banavie, about 3 miles north of Fort William in Lochaber, on the A830 “Road to the Isles” towards Glenfinnan and Mallaig. Glen Nevis and Ben Nevis are just across the water.

Telford’s eight-lock ladder

The staircase of locks at Neptune's Staircase under a dramatic sky.
Eight locks, one after another — the longest staircase lock in Britain.

Neptune’s Staircase is the masterpiece of the Caledonian Canal, built by the great engineer Thomas Telford between 1803 and 1822. It is the longest staircase lock in Britain: eight locks linked directly together, raising (or lowering) boats a total of about 19 metres / 64 feet. Because each lock empties into the next, a boat takes around an hour and a half to work through the whole flight — so there’s always time to watch the gates swing, the water surge and the crew heave. The canal navvies nicknamed it “Neptune’s Staircase,” and the name stuck.

Looking down a lock chamber at Neptune's Staircase.
Down into one of the eight chambers.
The full flight of locks at Neptune's Staircase, Banavie.
The full climb of the flight.

The Ben Nevis view & the walk

The canal locks with Ben Nevis behind and Lillie the dog.
The best backdrop in the business — Ben Nevis behind the flight.

The real bonus here is the setting. On a clear day the whole flight lines up with Ben Nevis and the Mamores behind it — a superb view, and a favourite of photographers. The canal towpath runs off in both directions for easy, level walking and cycling: down to the sea lock at Corpach one way, or along the canal towards Loch Lochy the other (it’s part of the Great Glen Way and Canoe Trail). Keep an eye on the railway too — the Jacobite steam train to Mallaig crosses the canal on a swing bridge right by the locks. See our guide to cycling Scotland’s canals and old railways.

The swing bridge and lock at Neptune's Staircase, Banavie.
Road and railway swing aside to let the boats through.

Our overnight

There’s a car park right at the foot of the locks, with a café and the canal offices, and we spent the night there — a handy, quiet spot to wake up beside the water with Ben Nevis over the way, and perfectly placed for an early start west to Glenfinnan or a day in Glen Nevis.

Nearby

  • Glen Nevis — the glen under Ben Nevis, the gorge and Steall Falls, just across at Fort William.
  • Glenfinnan — the viaduct and monument, west along the Road to the Isles.
  • Fort Augustus — the canal’s other great lock flight, at the far end of Loch Ness.

Sources