Strath Dionard to Sandwood Bay
Awake at 3.30am, I saw the sun peep over the horizon and turn dark red behind a curtain of sea mist. Feeling rested and expecting another hot day, I got up and packed. I walked along the A838 towards Richonich for an hour or more and never saw a car or heard a human sound.
A faint footpath took me off the road and delivered me to Achriesgill, from where it was a steady walk into Kinlochbervie and my chance to replenish my food. I picnicked on sausage roll, sandwiches, fruit and coffee from the Spar shop, sitting beside Loch Stack in hot sun. A walker passed by, the first I’d seen since the bunkhouse at Evanton five days earlier.
Deer and birds were my only fellow creatures as I walked the
A838…
…passing the peat diggings…
…and towards Kinlochbervie with views of Arkle (left), Ben Stack
and Loch Inchard
I wrote a couple of postcards and headed towards Oldshoremore and the path for Sandwood Bay. The parking area was busy, and as I sat drinking water and munching nuts and raisins I struck up a conversation with a cyclist. When I found that she came from Carrbridge I told her I’d opted out of the Cairngorms a few days earlier. She said I’d made a good call, because it had been horrible – she likes winter conditions, but they had deep soft snow that took all the pleasure out of walking.
The path to Sandwood Bay is easy, passing small lochs with beaches of wind-blown sand. The bay looked larger than I’d expected, with a greater expanse of sand dunes between the loch and the sea. I picked out a likely pitch beneath a rock outcrop near the loch. Once the tent was up I went for water from a stream that fed the loch, then I had a brew and did my washing. I switched on my phone: no signal, as I expected, but what surprised me was that it was only early afternoon. My prompt start had paid off, so I relaxed, strolled, paddled, explored and pottered about at my whim throughout the rest of the day. I was unaware of anyone else at Sandwood Bay that night.
Above: Heading for Sandwood Bay. Below: Reaching Sandwood Bay
Above: Sandwood Loch Below: Sandwood Bay
