Driving further north skirting right round the coast, the most famous beach in the area, Camusdarach, can be found. Now this is truly a hidden gem of a beach as you really have to be knowing what to look out for in order to find it successfully. The beach cannot be seen from the road. You first have to park in a small car park and walk through a couple of gates before following a narrow trail through the sand dunes until the coast unfolds before you.
If the sun is out, like it was when I was there, it makes the sand a gorgeous bright sandy white. I'm pretty happy with it as you can see in the photo below!
The beach is partly sheltered by towering sand dunes and looks out across to islands off the coast which creates a lovely atmosphere. Quite a few films have used parts of this beach as filming locations and I could see why.
I loved the fact there was a reflection like this on the beach. Rolling, rocky hills with sand and a reflection below. My favourite things all together. I'm majorly into reflections whether they be Lochs, lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, puddles, wet paving... You get the picture, I'm sure!
The beach stretches for quite a distance along the coast but it depends on the tide. On the day I was there you can see that further down the beach was inaccessible due to the tide being too far in.
Despite the sun, the wind counteracted quite a bit of it's warmth so it wasn't ideal for sketching outdoors. It didn't stop me doing a quick sketch though and then had a nice windswept walk along the beach to warm me up!
When the clouds started to smother the sun, I left the beach and headed back along the trail through the sand dunes to the car park.
The next beach I stopped at was completely in the shade and really cold cause of that so I didn't stop long enough to sketch. Here's a few photos of the beach anyway.
The area is called The White Sands of Morar and on a sunnier day the sands would be true to their name. Even on this day, though, you can see the sand is completely different to East Coast Scottish beaches. After going that far up the coast, there was one final stop I wished to make before heading back in the direction I'd come to check in to the guest house I'd booked for the night.
That final stop was Malliag, the harbour of which you can see below. Arrived with perfect timing as the clouds had cleared and the sun was once again visible. Look at the depths of blue in the sky, incredible natural beauty, isn't it?!
Malliag is the end of both the road and railway north through that part of Scotland. The way to get further north from there is by means of the sea, hence the many boats in the harbour. From there you can get to the Small Isles, the Southern part of the Isle of Skye, and from there to the Western Isles such as Harris. Harris has some magnificent beaches I would very much like to visit someday. Although Malliag is a small town, it has most services - places to eat, post office, B&Bs and guest houses, a couple of hotels, petrol station, banks, public transport links, gift shops, a supermarket, book shop, and also an art gallery - always a plus in my book, unsurprisingly.
H x
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Helen C Redman
