The best place to see the locks of the Caledonian Canal is Fort Augustus, at the southern tip of Loch Ness. This bustling small town is a great place to begin walking and cycling excursions, or to sit by the canal watching the locks fill and empty as boats sail between Loch Lochy, Loch Oich, and Loch Ness.
Fort Augustus itself was captured by the Jacobite clans during the 1745 rebellion. Later the fort was rebuilt as a Benedictine abbey, but the monks no longer live here.