CHAPTER XXVI 

 LOCHY DISTRICT 



RIVERS LOCHY, SPEAN, ROY, ARKAIG. 

 LOCHS LOCHY AND ARKAIG. 



ANGLING SEASON : 1 1 th February to 31 st October. 

 NETTING SEASON: llth February to 26th August. 



District Fishery Board sits in Fort-William. 



This district contains two separate river systems, the Lochy 

 and the Spean, which unite a few miles from the sea, the united 

 river being termed the Lochy flowing into the head of Loch 

 Linnhe in the Lochaber district, the southern termination of 

 the great fault which cuts through Scotland in a north-east and 

 south-west direction, and is now utilised as the Caledonian 

 Canal. 



The district is a rather remarkable one. We have the 

 southern drainage from the line of Loch Lochy, which extends 

 back to the low divide from Loch Oich, but which also receives 

 the water from Loch Arkaig to the west at right angles. On 

 the eastern side the rocky Spean tumbles downward 800 feet 

 from the Moor of Rannoch, and enters the main valley at an 

 equally abrupt angle ; and to still further carry out cross-lines 

 of water-flow, we have the Roy entering the Spean at right 

 angles from the north. 



There is no other district in Scotland where rivers unite at 

 such abrupt angles from such diverse directions, and in no 

 district, except perhaps in that of the Findhorn, have we such 

 an example of prolonged and deep rock erosion as is to be seen 

 in the course of the Spean. The main axis of the land is 

 certainly north-east and south-west, but in this district from 

 the lower Lochy the transverse valleys are also most marked, 



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