Sandwood Bay Beach
Top Beach in Scotland on the Far Northwest Coast, a 4 mile walk out from the Car Park.
The perfect day for Sandwood Bay.
I was on Holiday at Dornoch on the northeast of Scotland during a warm spell.
Early in the morning their was a lot of sea mist on the east coast, so decided to travel across to the west coast with Sandwood Bay Beach being my priority.
I took the A838 road up through the mountains. This is a single lane road with some great views.
The Car Park for Sandwood Bay is at the very small hamlet of Blairmore that is not on any sign posts. Just follow signs to Kinlochbervie, then travel 3 miles further on to Blairmore.
Most people state Sandwood Bay is 3 miles out from the car park at Blairmore, but it is at least 4 miles out.
The temperature was in the 80s / 27, with hardly a cloud in the sky.
When I reached the beach, there was a surfer practicing on about 6 foot waves.
This was a perfect day for photos, blue skies, blue Atlantic Ocean, and 6 foot white waves.
Just as I was about to walk back to the car park, a young woman I had passed on the walk out had reached the beach and decided to get straight into the sea to cool down.
The image it provided was the icing on the cake, a young woman in the Altantic Ocean in the far northwest of Scotland, with a large white wave approaching, and the sea stack in the distance.
The 8 mile walk was well worth the effort to see what is claimed to be the top beach on the Scottish mainland.
More good photos for the website:
Sandwood Bay hike 5/10/15
A walk in along a bleak moorland track is amply rewarded when the fabulous views of Sandwood Bay come into view, perhaps the most beautiful beach in Britain. Spend time exploring the mile of golden sand and dunes, with rocky cliffs and a giant sea stack to complete the scene. Despite its popularity, Sandwood Bay never seems busy as the beach is big enough to absorb the visitors.
Kinlochbervie
Scenes and views in and around Kinlochbervie, NW Sutherland.
Ride to Sandwood Bay - Part 1
22.08.14 : Sandwood Bay, Sutherland, Scotland - An experience of lifetime. I decided to do my first adventure ride in Scotland which turned out to be a marvelous experience. Love
Scotland NC 500 Safety Fears / Ullapool to Kinlochbervie : Oldshoremore Beach
Day 09 Scottish Road Trip - Ullapool to Kinlochbervie. Starting at Mull of Galloway Lighthouse and ending on the NC 500 Route.
roamin - Taking a walk (gone on the piss, no told the missis an got lost”)
scot - a native or inhabitant of Scotland.
I will show you some of the best holiday destinations in Scotland and the World that you won't find in the brochure.
Oldshoremore Beach, Kinlochbervie.
Sandwood cottage
Because of its isolation, the bay has become distinctly romanticised with several legends accorded to it. One legend tells of a mermaid spotted on one of the two jutting rocks there a hundred years ago. Alexander Gunn, a local farmer, was on the beach, searching for one of his sheep, when his dog made a startling discovery. One man, MacDonald Robertson, often spoke of the time he met Mr Gunn in 1939. This is what he reported: On 5th January 1900 ... Gunn's Collie suddenly let out a howl and cringed in terror at his feet. On a ledge, above the tide, a figure was reclining on the rock face. At first he thought it was a seal, then he saw the hair was reddish-yellow, the eyes greenish-blue and the body yellowish and about 7ft long. To the day Alexander Gunn died in 1944, his story never changed and he maintained that he had seen a mermaid of ravishing beauty.[1]
Another legend tells of the ghost of a sailor that would often knock on the windows of the old cottage (now a disused bothy) on stormy nights - apparently the victim of a shipwreck there. Indeed, before the Cape Wrath lighthouse was built in 1828, the bay is said to have played host to many a shipwreck - all of which still lie buried under the sand. In the 1920s, author Seton Gordon witnessed many submerged wrecks in the sand while walking here. In a book he wrote in 1935, Highways & Byways In The West Highlands, he says: I was astonished at the number of wrecks which lie on the fine sand of this bay. All of them are old tragedies: since the placing of a lighthouse on Cape Wrath just over a hundred years ago, no vessel has been lost here. Some of the vessels lie almost buried in the sand far above the reach of the highest tide. He also commented on the possibility of there being Viking longboats hidden there, since Sandwood Bay had been used by the Vikings as a stopover point a thousand years previous. The name Sandwood Bay derives from the Viking name 'Sandvatn' (sandwater) given the bay all those centuries ago. :~ Wikipedia.
Not sure how old it is, according to legend, a stranded Spanish sailor from the Armada stumbled upon the Sandwood Cottage in 1588.
Kinlochbervie by ActionCam3
A short drive around Kinlochbervie and the nearby area...
Just messing around with a Chilli Technology ActionCam3.
2016 Kinlochbervie to Rispond with Martin and Lucy
A lovely day's sail on Windsong from Kilochbervie, round Cape Wrath, to Rispond on Loch Eriboll, taking in the stunning north west scenery en route.
KINLOCHBERVIE COUNCIL WORKER RETIRES
HAPPY RETIREMENT FROM ALL THE BOYS
The Scottish Highlands
Pictures from around the Scottish Highlands. Including areas of Polin, Sandwood Bay, Oldshoremore, Kinlochbervie, Durness, Portmahomack, Plockton, Isle of Skye.
Sandwood
Amongst the most stunning wild places in the UK if not the world, the John Muir Trust manages Sandwood for the benefit of people and nature. The John Muir Trust is a membership organisation - find out more at johnmuirtrust.org
Places to see in ( Durness - UK )
Places to see in ( Durness - UK )
Durness is a village and civil parish in the north-west Highlands of Scotland. It lies on the north coast of the country in the traditional county of Sutherland around 120 miles north of Inverness. The area is remote and the parish is huge and sparsely populated covering an area from east of Loch Eriboll to Cape Wrath, the most north-westerly point of the Scottish mainland. The population is dispersed and includes a number of townships including Kempie, Eriboll, Laid, Rispond, Sangobeg, Leirinmore, Smoo, Sangomore, Durine, Balnakeil and Keoldale.
The area has been inhabited since stone age times and there are many places of historic interest. Durness was formerly a part of the bishopric of Caithness and the old house at Balnakeil was originally the bishop's summer residence. The church at Balnakeil dates back to the Culdean monks but the existing ruined church is said to have been built by the monks from Dornoch Cathedral in the 13th century. On Faraid Head is Seannachaisteal, presumably a broch, but it is now completely enveloped in sand and no dig has ever been carried out to see what it was and from which time in history. A few years ago, the body of a young Viking boy was discovered exposed by the erosion of the sand dunes at Faraid. At Sangobeg beach, the body of a Pictish boy was discovered.
At Ceannabeinne lies Clach a Breitheanas or the Judgement Stone. This was said to be where judgement was meted out to malefactors and those found guilty were thrown over the cliff to their doom below. The parish of Durness was for centuries a part of Dùthaich MhicAoidh, the land of the Clan Mackay, who held their title to the land extending from Melvich in the east to Kylesku in the west.
The main sources of employment in the village are crofting and tourism. It is the largest village in the northwestern corner of Scotland, has a population of around 400, and is on the A838 road. It is located on the north coast between the towns of Thurso 72 miles (116 km) to the east) and Ullapool 68 miles (109 km) to the south. This area is notable for being the most sparsely populated region in Western Europe.[citation needed] Until some 50 years ago, Durness was a predominantly Gaelic speaking area.
Tourists are catered for by a campsite spectacularly sited on the cliffs above the beach (with easy access down to the beach), an SYHA hostel, housed by some converted army buildings, bed and breakfast accommodation and two hotels and restaurants, Mackay's and the Smoo Cave Hotel. The village is also used as a base by visitors to Cape Wrath.
The main attractions in Durness are Smoo Cave, a conjoined sea cave and freshwater cave with a small river running through it and a waterfall in wet weather, unspoilt beaches backed by cliffs and the local sea birds, seals, porpoises and minke whales. The surrounding coastline is some of Europe's most isolated and spectacular, with the nearby Clo Mor Cliffs being the highest on the British mainland, at some 922 feet (281 m) high.
Balnakeil Old Church, is a scheduled monument with the grave of Donuill Mac Morraichaidh, a serial bandit and murderer, inside one wall of the church so, it is said that his enemies couldn't walk over his grave. The area around Loch Croispol and Loch Borrallie abounds in archeological interest, from brochs to round houses to medieval and pre-clearances settlements. The Balnakeil Craft Village can be found approximately one mile outside Durness and is a collection of former MoD units dating from the 1950s, which now house various independent shops.
Durness is on the A838 road. This links the parish to the A836 at Tongue to the east and loops around the coast through Rhiconich near Kinlochbervie to meet the A836 again north of Lairg to the south. The road is single track along most of its length. Bus services are sparse in the area, although one bus a day links Durness with the Far North railway line at Lairg railway station. This provides rail services north to Wick and south to Inverness.
( Durness - UK ) is well know as a tourist destination because of the variety of places you can enjoy while you are visiting Durness . Through a series of videos we will try to show you recommended places to visit in Durness - UK
Join us for more :
Kinlochbervie to the Faroes, pt1.
A short video to introduce Kinlochbervie to the Faroe Islands in advance of a visit in July 2013 to foster links between our two communities.
Sheigra Beach 12 April 2018
Sheigra Beach at the end of the road from Kinlochbervie. A lovely little beach and we had it to ourselves
Sheigra Wild Camp
Sheigra, edge of nowhere wild camp.
Sheigra Beach in Sutherland, Scotland
via YouTube Capture
Oldshoremore into Kinlochbervie.
This video was uploaded from an Android phone.
Second Day Thurso to Kinlochbervie
Thurso to Kinlochbervie via Dounreay, Strathnaver Museum, Tongue Bridge, some cafe or other and Smoo Caves.