Caledonian Canal Day 7: Last day, Loch Ness again, back to the marina, patched up by NHS

 The boat is rocking gently when we wake, even in a very sheltered harbour, so our dreams of seeing Loch Ness calm will not eventuate. As we leave Urquhart Bay we are at right angles to the already sizeable waves, and we roll a lot until we can turn toward the end of the loch. Even with wind and waves behind us steering is challenging when a larger wave picks up the boat and we surf down again. I steer through the entrance channel at the end of the loch without incident, once in the canal and through tiny Loch Dochfour it's easy. We tie up briefly at Dochgarroch lock, scene of Peter's head injury which everyone on the locks seems to know about. The lock keeper there has a big barge coming so she asks us to go through as quick as we can and we do. After that there's a nice restful stretch of canal before we reach two bridges. We are just attempting to tie up to wait for the first one when we realise it is opening, so we head through, tie up again, wait very briefly for the second one to open for us. From there it's only a short section of canal before we reach Caley Cruisers and return the boat to its snug mooring in a corner, with a bit of help from one of the Caley people.

We explain that we're back a bit early so we can get my hand seen to. They suggest we ring 111 to make an appointment, but when we're told we may have to wait for up to an hour for anyone to answer the call, we decide to stick to our plan of going straight to A&E in the hospital. We are then offered a lift in their van with their maintenance man, instead of waiting for a taxi - so kind of them as it's quite a long drive to the hospital.

We find our way to the Minor Injuries section, where there are only a couple of people waiting. By the time Ive gone through the registration process for a visiting Australian, there are a lot more people waiting, but it's only about 30 minutes before someone calls my name. I am then dealt with most efficiently by a nurse practitioner who hears my story, then sends me for an X-ray. My diagnosis was half correct: I have broken my fifth metacarpal, but I've also broken the middle phalanx of my fourth finger. I need a splint for the former, and a buddy-tape for the latter break. These are fitted expertly by a nurse, who also removes all the bandaids I stuck on when things were bleeding, and put a new dressing on the one wound that still needed it. 

Thoroughly patched and braced, we take a taxi back to Inverness City Centre where we have some lunch, walk around for a bit, buy a couple of crime novels and a shirt in charity shops and then walk the 3km back to Caley Cruisers. Now we can have a quiet night eating our remaining food and packing up ready to leave for Thurso tomorrow.

My hand is much more comfortable in its splint, but I find I risk disturbing the metacarpal fracture if I try to touch type, so the rest of this blog will be typed one-handed. I may become less verbose! 

Thank you NHS!