Summer in the Wild West of Scotland - Day 4 - Singing in the Sand

**Rescuer** · 16 Jul 21, 03:11 PM

Day 4 - 6/7/21

Index is here

Ok the next few days might be a bit photo overkill as these were days were my favourite scenery of the whole holiday. Sorry.

The plan was a longer lie this morning but in an unheard of turn of events Ds came through fully dressed before we were even up eager to get going.

We were going to the beach this morning with the hope that we’d find somewhere good for swimming. The singing sands was our beach of choice as it wasn’t a far drive and included a woodland walk to get there. It was going to be a scorcher.

Traffic was a bit mad this morning with a couple of massive lorries on the road. We’d read that parking at the start of the walk could get busy and right enough there wasn’t a lot of space.

Off we went on our walk, this sign was the first step.

We’d known about this in advance and we didn’t see anything like this at all and we stuck to the path. It was a 3 mile walk to get to the beach but it was a nice walk along Kentra Bay and through the Forrest.

At one point I was convinced we’d missed the turn off down to the beach but we hadn’t although it would be easy to miss.

It was about 12pm that we reached the dunes. It took us less than a minute to all agree that the walk was totally worth it.

We were roasting. With the weather, the white sands and the bright blue water it was easy to forget you were still on Scotland.

We chatted a little with a couple who had arrived not long before us and took their photo and vice versa.

We found a nice wee spot over by the rocks and Ds and I got changed into our swim stuff. Dh was just happy to paddle, he’s not a big water fan and can’t swim. I’d bought us tops from decathalon and shoes for Ds and wee boots for me, they weren’t expensive.

I couldn’t believe how clear the water was and no jellyfish today. The wee boots I had were great, you couldn’t feel the water temperature until you were in over the top of them. Ds and I had great fun wandering about seeing how far we could go in and taking photos. There was maybe 3 other families on the whole beach. Sorry for the photo overload but it was just so lovely.

The weather was amazing and we sat by the rocks and had some lunch. Ds and I went back in the water and attempted a little swimming. It was cold but not as bad as we’d thought it was going to be.

We were there for a few hours before getting changed. The tide had come in a little but there were was still loads of beach left and it wasn’t high tide till after 5.

I took loads more photos before we left, one more before it’s out of view, I must have said that about 50 times. This is only a fraction of the photos 😂

We did our 3 mile walk back to the car. It didn’t feel as long a walk on the way back. We saw what we thought were 2 eagles circling in the distance, they looked huge. The beasties were out in force a bit on the very last bit of the walk back, I was glad we were covered in smidge so no bites.

We sat in the car and had cold drinks snd a snack, meanwhile a whole load of sheep walked past and into the field.

As we left we could see a whole load of black shapes on the road and it was a flock of black sheep, so cute but I was worried for them on the road as a camper van was coming the other way. The passing place did its job and the sheep headed off over into the field at the sight or noise of the two vehicles.

Before we came we’d booked dinners for 3 nights, I’d booked for tonight at the Bothy Bar in Strontian as it didn’t look too far on the map, in reality with the way the roads were it was a 40 minute drive. Another lovely setting with views across the loch.

Ds had scampi, Dh had fish and chips and I had the venison burger. We also had puddings, the sticky toffee pudding and cheesecake.

Everything about it was fine, the food and the service but not worth the long trip just for this. It started pelting with rain just before we left but didn’t last too long.

We watched the rest of the football and admired the sunset view from the cottage. I’d been hoping for a clear night to see the stars as it’s supposed to be great for dark skies views here but by 11.30 it still wasn’t actually that dark so we called it a night.

nothingless · 17 Jul 21, 09:22 AM

Wow it's so beautiful up there! I'm loving reading along, Scotland is def on my bucket list to visit someday when DD is a bit older!

**Goldia** · 17 Jul 21, 02:36 PM

The beach did look stunning, lots of fab photos. It sounds like a glorious day and I can't believe how empty the beach was. I suppose the long walk puts other people off.

P&S · 19 Jul 21, 09:16 PM

What a fabulous beach and so empty

Your pictures are stunning

**Rescuer** · 20 Jul 21, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by nothingless

Wow it's so beautiful up there! I'm loving reading along, Scotland is def on my bucket list to visit someday when DD is a bit older!

The pictures don’t even do it justice. There are so many gorgeous places, I keep looking at pictures of the Outer Hebrides with the amazing beaches and thinking that’s definitely on my bucket list.

Originally Posted by Goldia

The beach did look stunning, lots of fab photos. It sounds like a glorious day and I can't believe how empty the beach was. I suppose the long walk puts other people off.

It was just fabulous. I wish our beach was like that some days with the hot weather it’s like club 18-30 Ibiza where we are so it’s so nice to spend time on a beach so peaceful in the nice weather. 😂

Originally Posted by P&S

What a fabulous beach and so empty

Your pictures are stunning

Thanks. Definitely one of the best places we visited.

**Sparksy72** · 25 Jul 21, 08:56 AM

What a brilliant day, the beach is stunning and you are so brave to enter the water - it was completely freezing at Bamburgh and we didn’t go past our ankles.

Loving all the pics.

**Rescuer** · 26 Jul 21, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by Sparksy72

What a brilliant day, the beach is stunning and you are so brave to enter the water - it was completely freezing at Bamburgh and we didn’t go past our ankles.

Loving all the pics.

It was absolutely our favourite day of the holiday. The conditions were just perfect and the bay was sheltered so the water wasn’t actually too cold.

The water here at home is freezing, I keep trying to muster the courage to do some wild swimming but ankles are as far as I’ve got so far.