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after a very quiet night spent in scourie we drove further north, to sandwood bay
i have to mention that the night was fantastic - only missing one element (northern lights) - i was woken up at night by a strong beam of light. i thought that the guys from nearby tent must have gone to the car for some reason and switch headlights on straight into our tent's direction. but it lasted sometime and i couldnt hear any noise whatsoever so i investigated
i poked out my head from the tent and couldnt believe what i saw. full moon shining in full strength, the light was so strong that i could see proper shadows of tent's poles and wouldnt have any trouble to go for a walk to the beach. amazing.
anyway, it was just a shortish drive to rhiconich and then further to blairmore (1hr) where the path to sandwood bay starts.
there is a car park & toilets, hard to miss.
as the day was extremely windy we wanted to make tea and take it with us, but there was no way to light the stove in that wind - then, as there wasnt anybody else around we decided that toilets are nice and fresh and we can hide there and boil water for tea. yeah!
walking to sandwood bay from this car park takes about 1.5-2 hrs (each way)
luckily we walked with the wind (one way...) and it rained only for few minutes so the walk was pleasurable thou longish, via featureless moorland with some 3 or 4 lochans. there is only one path in the area so no need to have a map, you cant get lost.
as soon as we approached sandwood bay, all changed.
dramatic coastline, lovely dunes, beautiful sun-lightened beach and a nice sea-stack. what a perfect set
oh, and a crowd of people - crowd of 4, including us. pretty manageable
a longish walk from car park to the bay takes us via featureless moorland
approaching sandwood bay
great place, well worth the longish walk. i will definitely go back
more pics on my photoblog around scotland @ blogspot