№ 04Beach · Sutherland, Scotland
Sandwood Bay
A mile of roadless pink-tinged sand guarded by a sea stack — the four-mile walk in keeps it nearly empty.
Photographs Simon Bonney (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Peter Moore (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Richard Webb (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
No road reaches Sandwood Bay. From the hamlet of Blairmore, near Kinlochbervie, a four-mile moorland track crosses peat and lochans before dropping through dunes onto a mile-long sweep of sand, watched from the southern end by the sea stack Am Buachaille — 'the herdsman'. The John Muir Trust cares for the whole estate.
Before the Cape Wrath lighthouse was built, this coast wrecked ships, and the bay comes with a resident legend: a bearded sailor said to walk the tideline. Most days you'll share the beach with gannets, the odd fulmar, and possibly no one at all.
The knowledge
- Getting there
- Park at Blairmore, near Kinlochbervie in the far north-west of Sutherland; the track in is clear but exposed. Allow a half-day for the round trip.
- Best time
- Long May and June evenings. Winter storms are spectacular, but you earn every step.
- Local tip
- Carry everything in and out — there are no facilities whatsoever, which is exactly the point.
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