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The roadless village of Smirisary is an interesting place to visit in itself, but the real appeal on this walk was the stunning beach a mile further to the south.
The car park at the end of the road from Glen Uig was nearly full when we arrived mid-afternoon - we weren't going to get the place to ourselves evidently. It was noisy too - not due to other people, but due to a loud cuckoo sitting on a fencepost next to the path.
A short ascent through trees led to a magnificent view out to Eigg and Rum:
The path forks just before the viewpoint, with both routes leading to different parts of Smirisary. We took the left fork as per the walkhighlands route, through more shady woodland to the top of the village.
The various cottages are generally scattered around the edge of a grassy area grazed by sheep. We headed diagonally across it, towards a boardwalk with obvious paths heading up a rocky spur to the south. Looking back up towards the houses:
The path to the beach is pretty boggy in places (proper walking boots needed in normal conditions), although no major issues after all the recent dry weather. It felt warmer than the actual 20C in the hot sunshine, but the rocky terrain provided plenty of spots to pause in cool shade on the way. Several groups of walkers passed us in the opposite direction, since it was towards the end of the day now. At one point the path crosses a deep gully with a choice of routes into the cleft.
Soon enough the bay was visible ahead:
This is an exquisitely beautiful spot. There were a couple of other groups of people still there, but the beach actually consists of three separate ones facing north, west and south respectively - so we each had a bay to ourselves
I'll let the photos do the talking:
Not to mention the rock pool life:
After exploring the area thoroughly we had to tear ourselves away from the beaches as we had to drive back to Glasgow
Still had the walk back to the car to enjoy first though:
Lovely end to the weekend away!
Morning: Castle Tioram & The Silver Walk