IF you want to cross the country, you have to climb the stairs.
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At Banavie, near Fort William, there is a place known as Neptune’s Staircase. It is a series of eight canal locks, the longest staircase lock in the United Kingdom. Through these locks boats, ships and barges can pass, climbing one step at a time, to get from sea level up into the Caledonian Canal, twenty metres higher. Once into the canal, vessels can cross the country from Loch Linnhe on the west coast to Inverness on the Moray Firth. But to cross the country, they first have to climb the stairs.