Travel brings us some magical and unexpected moments that even falls beneath the radar of efficient planning. One such moment was when we uncovered the beauty of the Crinan Canal and the local Beaver conservation area, south of Oban in Argyll and Bute region of Scotland. Hidden gems are awash in Scotland, no more so than this little treasure. Let us show you why.

The Crinan Canal

Of the five canals in Scotland that span 137 miles between them, the Crinan Canal is the shortest. With just a 9 mile stretch from Lochgilphead to Crinan itself, this canal meanders through some of the most beautiful scenery. And as such the canal is known as ‘Britian’s most beautiful short cut.’

Why a short cut, I hear you ask?

It was built in 1801 as part of a strategy to save the shipping industry a treacherous 100 mile journey around the Mull of Kintyre. Now, for those of you who know a bit about the Scottish weather, it can attract some pretty tempestuous storms. Even today, the canal offers that short cut route north to Oban or south towards the Clyde and Glasgow. In fact during our visit here, the remnants of the US hurricane Ernesto made activity on the canal particularly busy. It created a heap load of work for the diligent canal team who scale up and down the 15 locks to support the vessels coming through.

Back in the day, the canal was mostly used by the Puffer boats that were designed specifically so that they could navigate through the Crinan, carrying their cargo to the western isles and ports.

And perhaps more famously, the canal has a royal shade to its two hundred year history. In 1847, Queen Victoria and Albert sailed through the canal onboard the Royal Yacht. This, in its time. went viral as word of the royal passage spread far and wide. This was the canal’s greatest promotion and it attracted thousands of tourists who wanted to emulate the Royal Route.

The canal has had its traumas over the centuries. The canal banks, locks and reservoirs were often at the mercy of the storms that raged through the region. In part some of the early damage was due to design faults, which the famous Thomas Telford assess and rectified. In 1859 another tragedy struck the canal, when one of the feeder reservoirs burst its banks causing damage to seven of the locks. The canal was closed for over a year whilst repairs were carried out. In 1930 new sea locks were built at either end of the canal ensuring that vessels could access the canal at any state of the tide. And so, the canal’s refurbishments and facelifts give this short yet might waterway an important status amongst the canals of Scotland.

There are a number of parking areas around locks 9 to 13 where a few vans can stay overnight without issue. As long as there is space for the canal staff who operate the locks, vans are welcome to call this their home and soak up the atmosphere as cruisers and sailing boats tackle the locks.

The walk along the tow path is wonderful, especially if you follow it west towards the village of Crinan. With the canal and Scotland’s Rainforest on one side and the Moine Mhor Nature Reserve on the other, it is a pretty special walk. The Mhor is a protected area of lowland bog, a landscape, which across Europe, is under serious threat. Fringed by tidal flats, this is a wonderful place to catch wildlife going about their business amongst the boggy moss.

The Barrandaimh Beaver and Wildlife Centre

If the joys of being beside a canal and taking in its vibe isn’t enough, then just five minutes up the road, you can alter your vista drastically. Amongst Scotland’s Rainforest at Knapdale, you have yet another hidden secret of Argyll and Bute. The Beaver Conservation Centre is an explosion of information, passion from the wardens and an opportunity to learn about a little known yet hugely charismatic creature.

400 years ago, the beaver had almost reached extinction level after hunters culling them for their pelts, drastically reduced their numbers. The Eurasian beaver is one just example. And so the team at Barrandaimh have been engaging in a project to reintroduce them and they have at least 2 pairs who are regularly breeding and contributing to a magnificent and thriving ecosystem.

Beavers are best known for the dam building, although this is only part of their honed skills. In fact they don’t instinctively build them anytime, anywhere. It is only if they need water levels to rise for their lodges. I never knew a beaver’s house was called a lodge. Every day is indeed a school day. And to see the architecture of their partly submerged homes, tells us so much about the diligence of these creatures and the habitats that they create for the rest of the environment.

Whilst in the past, beavers have been somewhat controversial creatures, because of their perceived damage to forests, one of the things I loved most about our beaver insights was this quote.

The impact that beavers have on the ecosystem is enormous. They create wetlands by raising water levels and redirecting flow. Those wetlands in turn create a wide biodiversity, attracting a whole range of plants, insects and invertebrates that colonise on these new landscapes. Beavers open up woodland that generates a greater range of lichens and coppice growth and they create more foraging opportunities for all sorts of animal species. They are even known to counteract pollution to some degree by storing carbon and filtering water. Who could have known that their impact was so powerfully positive?

The guys at Barrandiamh – Argyll Beaver Centre have been working hard on supporting the new ecosystem here. They reintroduced beavers back in 2009 and have, ever since, been monitoring their impact on the environment. The beavers introduced to Knapdale actually came from Norway and they have successfully bred and expanded their territory over the last decade. The environment and the beavers are establishing new habitats and are thriving in their new landscape.

Exploring Knapdale Beaver Trails

There are 3 walks that are a must when you visit this incredible Conservation Area.

• The view point that is accessed from the Centre’s car park, just 700m away is well worth the uphill hike. The panorama from the picnic bench at the top is incredible. Views to the mountains on the skyline to the Moine Mhor Nature Reserve and the Crinan canal. It is truly magnificent.

• The second walk is around Barnluasgan Loch, which is about a mile accessed down the hill from the Centre.
  
• And the third and longest stretch is the three mile walk around Loch Coille-Bhar, where the greatest opportunity of beaver sightings is to be found. Whilst the creatures are best spotted around dawn and dusk, you will see plenty of evidence of their industrious nature. About half way around the Loch you can also look out to the peninsular and see their lodge, which is enormous. The walk isn’t conducive to anyone with mobility issues sadly because of the uneven terrain. It is easy to access this walk from the Forest Car Park, which is chargeable; £1 per hour.

Beaver Know-how

We learned so much about beavers and felt enlightened by the chat we had with one of the rangers and so thought we would share some facts about these diligent little creatures that have such a big environmental impact.

• Beavers are large, semi-aquatic rodents and adults weigh around 30kg.
• Their large gnasher teeth are orange on the front due to the iron in their enamel that is from their plant diet.
• Beavers are herbivores eating anything green throughout the spring and summer. As the greenery dies off in the autumn, they turn their diet to the gnawing of tree bark as they get their nutrients from this to sustain them through the winter.
• Their favourite food is Aspen and Willow and they will squirrel away food in their lodges.
• Beavers are still classified as endangered in the UK.
• April 7th is International Beaver day!
• Beavers are one of the few animals that adapt and modify their habitats. Their lodges are made out of branches and mud and are accessed through tunnels from the water.
• Beavers will only build dams if they are needed to create enough water to submerge their lodges. If there is sufficient water levels, then no dams are built.
• Beavers slap their tails on the water to signal danger.
• Beavers can walk on their hind legs, useful specifically when they have to carry large logs and branches into their lodges.
• There are two species of beaver; the North American and the Eurasian, the latter being slightly smaller of the two.
• With large lungs, beavers a stay under water for up to 8 minutes and they have been found to swim around 6mph.
• Beavers are mostly found on lakes and rivers as opposed to salt water oceans, although they can survive where the river water meets the sea.
• Beavers are very territorial creatures and their patch can span anywhere from 0.5km to 20km in range.
• Beaver young, called kits, stay with their parents for up to 2 years before they leave to set up their own colony.
• A survey carried out in 2020 indicate that there are about 200 beavers in the UK. So the population, thanks to careful conservation is recovering. There’s hope for these industrious critters.

Thanks to the passion of the guys at the Argyll Wildlife Centre, we came to understand more about the beavers and their positive impact to the environment. And my summary of it all is:

When ignorance fades, then the healing begins.

So if you are coming to the West Coast of Scotland, then don’t miss the small but mighty Crinan canal for some nautical vibes. Let yourself be surrounded by some pretty awesome landscape and natural world beauty. And on top of all that have some incredible off-grid homes in your campervan. This area has so much to offer and is one of Scotland’s hidden gems. We hope we inspire you to build this lovely area into your road-trip.

/K