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Date - Tue 25/05/2010
Title - Sandwood Bay
Route - Standard route from Blairmore car park. Retrace steps to return. Good track most of the way.
Weather - Good, and improving through day. Northern breeze added a chill at times.
People - Me / Michelle
Time - 5.5 Hours (inc at least 1.5 hours breaks)
Distance - 16.2 km
Ascent - 385 m
Max Altitude - 153 m
Our last day of a few spent up in Sutherland, the far NW corner of Scotland. It’s an area I’d never managed to get to before – I’ve been far NE, and quite far up the West coast, but never all the way to this stunning NW corner.
It’s a great area and we managed a few different walks on short trails and taking in some of the stunning coastal walks. The best was saved for last and on our final day we headed off to Sandwood Bay.
Michelle had been here before (she’s spent a lot of time in the NW over the years) so was well aware of the stunning beach that awaited you after the 6km walk in. The approach is all on a good track, a little rough in a few small areas, but otherwise well maintained and easy going. It’s not until you’re close to the bay that it comes into view and it was definitely worth the wait….I have to agree with popular opinion in that this is the most spectacular beach in the UK, and it's remoteness means that you’ll never find many people there, and it's so full of dunes, cliffs and rock that you’re never far from complete seclusion.
We arrived quite late and by the time we’d wandered around and stopped for lunch we were the last ones around. We’d been eyeing up the cliffs and hill at the South end of the bay and on our return made our way up the face from the beach, and up to the top via a wide gulley before the final short walk to the summit of Druim na Buainn (153m). From here we descended to regain the track. During the descent we spotted a couple heading toward the bay with large packs on – it’d be a great place to spend the night.
The walk in. Several Lochs are passed en route to the bay
Arrival
Sandwood Loch
Sandwood Bay
Am Balg
Sandwood Bay
Rocky section in middle of bay
Am Buachaille (sea stack) & Am Balg (island)
We went to the southern end of the bay for lunch
Then made our walk back to the north end
Instead of going back all the way on the track we decided to ascend the slope and up through a wide gulley before walking on to the summit of Druim na Buainn (153m). Line shown on pic below. If you didn't fancy the gulley there's a much easier route up further to the right.
Summit of Druim na Buainn (153m)
Descending back to track
It nearly got squashed under my boot! - luckily I missed it and it was given some help to move off the middle of the path
Spotted a puddle full of tadpoles on the way back
Approaching the end of the track - back to the excellent car park - Michelle put a donation in the John Muir Trust box there.
A
must visit place if your in the area
After spending the night back at home in Inverness, the next day we decided to go to
Skye for a couple of nights.
