Loch Dochfour

Loch Dochfour
Loch Dochfour
Location	Scottish Highlands
Coordinates	57°25′00″N 4°19′30″W / 57.41667°N 4.32500°W / 57.41667; -4.32500
Type	freshwater loch
Primary inflows	Loch Ness
Primary outflows	River Ness/Caledonian Canal
Surface elevation	15.8 m (52 ft)
Settlements	Lochend; Dochgarroch.

Loch Dochfour is a freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands southwest of Inverness, part of the Great Glen.

The southern end flows in through the Bona narrows from Loch Ness. The northern end flows out through the Caledonian Canal and the River Ness towards the Beauly and Moray Firths to the North Sea.

Before construction of the Caledonian Canal, Loch Ness ended at Lochend, flowing into the River Ness. The building of the Dochgarroch weir by Thomas Telford between 1825 and 1830 raised the water level of the river upstream by almost two metres, flooded the riverside back to Loch Ness, and created Loch Dochfour.^[1]

This means that Loch Dochfour can be seen as that part of the River Ness upstream from the weir, or as an extension of Loch Ness northwards to the weir, or as part of the Caledonian Canal, or as a loch in itself. The Bathymetrical survey of the Scottish fresh-water lochs considered Loch Dochfour to be distinct from Loch Ness proper, but capable of being regarded as forming part of Loch Ness.^[2][3]

The A82 road runs adjacent to and in part over Loch Dochfour.