The Caledonian Canal records the history of one of Scotland’s most massive engineering projects, from Thomas Telford’s first survey in 1801 into the twenty-first century. Telford’s plan, to connect Loch Ness, Loch Oich and Loch Lochy with each other and the sea, was a huge undertaking which brought civil engineering to the Highlands on a heroic scale. Deep in the Highlands, far from the canal network of England, engineers forged their way through the Great Glen to construct the biggest canal of its day: twenty-two miles of artificial cutting and no fewer than twenty-eight locks. A.D. Cameron’s book has long been recognised as the authoritative work on the canal as well as a reliable and useful guide to the surrounding area. There are intriguing old plans, not discovered until 1992, and a survey of the dramatic rise in pleasure-craft traffic during the last two decades. But the highlight of the recent past was undoubtedly the Tall Ships passing through the canal in stately procession