The Béal Neuf canal: canals and men, an iconic history

6 points of interest

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  Flora

  The wild mint

  Mints (there are several species) often live on the water's edge. The wild mint found here is very common. If you rub its leaves gentlythey give off a pleasant and recognisable scent. The small purple flowers gathered into a dense spike are very attractive to insects. 

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  Flora

  Willows

  Willows grow in places with cool soil. There are many species of willow. Many of them aren't trees at all, but bushes and even, at high altitudes, tiny sub-shrubs hugging the ground. Here, in the bed of the mountain stream and in its immediate vicinity, two easily identifiable willows grow: the hoary willow, a shrub with long narrow leaves curled at the edge and with white undersides; and the purple willow, also with long narrow leaves, but they are bluish-green and it has purple shoots. 

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  Water

  The role of the canals

  Irrigation of meadows and private gardens; preservation of traditions; the promotion of social contact through collective canal maintenance operations carried out by local people; development of canals to create trails for tourists and locals... The canals have fulfilled a variety of roles, hence the benefit of conserving and maintaining them. 

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  Flora

  The acanthus-leaved thistle

  This is a hot, west-exposed slope with rocky ground. The plant life reflects this situation: the narrow-leaved lavender and acanthus-leaved thistle grow here. The latter looks like a large sun with its very big flower head which quickly turns golden and its leaves radiating out around it. It often used to be hung on house doors... but much better to leave it lighting up the stony meadows!

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  Flora

  The Montpellier thistle

  A large plant grows along the canal side; a sort of thistle although it is not spiky: the Montpellier thistle. Its oval, pointed leaves are edged with large, stiff but non-spiky cilia. Its flowers are pink. In France, it is only found in the Alps and the Pyrenees and a few departments in the south. Associated with wet areas, this species has become rare in many regions because of damage to its habitat. 

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  Water

  Mountain land rehabilitation projects

  Stream correction dams have been built by RTM (Mountain Land Rehabilitation), a branch of the National Forestry Agency. The purpose of these structures is to limit erosion and mountain stream flooding. The RTM has been in existence for a long time, set up in the late nineteenth century. At that time, the slopes where much more sparsely wooded than they are today, and erosion was a very significant problem.