Travelling March - part 2: Glen Kilmartin, Knapdale, and Crinan

Once we got back to the mainland on day 4 of our holiday we headed straight to our hotel on Loch Awe.  It was a bit of a windy road and at one point we thought maybe we had missed the hotel all together.  I can see the place being a favourite with the Victorians, but I'm not so sure about the location for modern travellers (above is one of the good features - the tables which were animals in water).  Once we had settled in we worked out what we wanted to do most of all over the next couple of days.

Day 5 was quite a relaxed day.  First we spent it driving along the windy road that follows the south edge of Loch Awe and had a coffee at Kilmartin.  There is a lot of historic sites in Kilmartin Glen but we wanted to have a look at the Crinan canal first and do some walking, so we drove down to Crinan.  We walked partially along the canal using the tow path (and this looks like a really good, relatively easy walk along the whole canal for a future date) and then headed back to Crinan through the Crinan woodland walk.  The woodland walk was a beautiful walk through an ancient woodland, hanging lichen and all, but some more detailed signs might have been useful.  We then drove along part of the canal to Cairnbaan to have lunch and look at some of the locks there.  We had seen that there were cups and rings carvings behind the hotel we ate at, so we headed up the path to have a look at them.  These are from the Bronze Age, but we have no idea why they were carved and what they mean if anything.  The usual possible explanation of ceremony or keeping a tally, but, of course, it could just be the Bronze Age version of graffiti. 

As we headed back to the hotel we stopped at Dunchraigaig Cairn, a Bronze Age burial mound which believed to not be a part of the other Cairns found in the Glen.  There were also a number of standing stones near by and some more cups and rings carvings.  We also had a look at the medieval gravestones at the Kilmartin grave site, but the church was already closed so we couldn't have a look at the cross.

Day 6 was the last day of the holiday and was really just a day to fit in all the other things we wanted to see.  As we were so close to Knapdale we decided to walk around Dubh Loch.  We saw a lot of frogs and signs of the beavers, as well as the lodge, but only one possible sighting which was probably more likely to be a Grebe.  Even though there was no sightings of beavers it was still a beautiful walk and there is a section where the remains of an old village used to be.

We weren't really sure what we wanted to do next and had thought about going down to the old church at Keillmore, but decided to eat at Tayvallich which was on the way down.  We stopped off at Tayvallich Inn and I couldn't recommend the place more.  The owner was helpful but not overbearing, the views from the window was beautiful, and the food was amazing.  The vegetarian options were really good and it was nice to have a break from cheese.  In the end we decided not to carry on heading south, but headed west, following the village over the peninsula, to view Jura from Carsaig bay.  While we were there we noticed that there was an artist (Susan Berry) workshop where we could view her work - they were all beautiful wildlife and view scenes which felt very Scottish.

As it was getting to the time that we should probably start heading back to the hotel we decided to see more of the historic monuments that are at Glen Kilmartin.  First stop was the very windy, Iron Age, Dunadd hill fort.  It is thought to be the capital of the ancient kingdom of Dal Riata and there is a footprint in one of the stones found at the top of the fort believed to be part of the coronation ritual (it's only a size 6 so they must have been tiny).  There's also a beautiful Pictish carving and some ogham script, which were a little difficult to see in the gloomy weather.  From below it doesn't look like a particularly high hill, but the view from the top really shows why they picked it.

Then we turned off the A816 to have a look at the Temple Wood Circle and Cist, and then walked round to the Nether Largie South Chambered Cairn.  This is the largest cairn in the Glen which you can actually see into so it was definitely on our to-do list.  

Lastly we had a look at Carnassarie Castle.  We weren't sure what this was going to be like as it is now just a burnt out ruin, but actually there was a lot to see and the outer shell has been very well looked after.  Best of all, it was completely free.

And that was it.  The next day we headed down to Glasgow and I got the very delayed bus back home.  We were pretty lucky with the weather this week and, as someone that loves wildlife and history, it ticked all the boxes for me.  The one place I would definitely love to go back to is Jura to have a really good walk around the island.