Roadtrip 2011; Sandwood bay

Sandwood Bay has often been called the most remote and beautiful beach in Britain, Situated on the far NW Corner of Scotland, a single track road from Kinlochbervie leads to Sheigra at its end, just before the roads end is a roadside car park,
A signed rough 4 mile track leads to the ruin of Sandwood house and then down to the secluded bay...
I was heading out to camp for the night and had the Fat BOB Trailer hitched to the pugsley with a few extras packed as well as the lightweight camping gear...


Miles of rough moorland stretch inland...


The track is quite rough in places, here it is easier to take to the shoreline of a small Lochan..


Its a long 4 miles bouncing over the stone `cundy` drains where the Fat BOB trailer took a real thumping but was unfazed...




Half way out and you get the sense of the remoteness,


It was about here i saw i had forgot to put the flag on the trailer!, disaster! oh well...


Soon enough Loch Sandwood behind the Beach comes into view...


And then the ruin of Sandwood House...


You can here the roar of the sea, then as you round a bend in the track you are greeted with an amazing view. a mile and a half of beach,
The beach itself is amazing, the sand has a pink glow from erosion of the sandstone cliffs. It's a huge space that feels enclosed, rather like being inside an amphitheatre...




Descending sandy paths into the dunes i headed to a suitable looking campsite i spied...




Tent pitched, then a ride down onto the beach...




The roar i heard was a lot louder now, some big surf...






Along at the westerly end of the bay below cliffs is a tall sea stack...






Spray from the breakers hung in the air like mist...


Sandwood is managed by The John Muir Trust,
again these dunes and laggons are fragile areas so i wasnt riding the dunes behind the coastline, A few day visitors had left by the evening and i had the place to myself, i took a walk in the evening through the lagoons...




















Down on the beach for low tide and i hoped to see exposed stones to the right of this large lump of rocks which would show the wreck of a WW2 Supermarine Spitfire which crash landed here on 30th of September 1941, right below that wee outcrop of rock on the tideline...


But the tide wasnt low enough today, pity as i had brought my metal detector out in the trailer, The last pitures i have seen of the wreck online were from August 2008, taken by Adrian Wain... 

Here you can see the Merlin V12 engine and propellor...




In 1940 the people of the Accrington District raised a sum of over £6000 to pay for a Presentation Spitfire for the RAF and the war effort.


These are actual pictures of that plane, R7154,
The photograph of the aircrafts cockpit was taken in 1941...




This Spitfire had a short and uneventful life, it first flew on 26th february 1941 and passed to 124 Sqdn on 7th May 1941
Pilot was a Sgt Kilburn, here he is post war flying jets...


The Spitfire was on patrol with another when its engine failed South west of Cape Wrath, unable to restart it Kilburn was forced to land on the beach at Sandwood Bay,
Kilburn was unharmed in the landing,
A shepherd came to his aid who saw the incident, he went to his home until given a lift back to RAF Castleton near Thurso,
The aircraft was struck off charge on 30 March 1942 after removing of the ordance and cockpit instruments shortly after the incident as Land vehicles were unable to get out to Sandwood to recover the plane before several tides had severly damaged the aircraft...

There is always a next time to maybe see it, this evening i was enjoying my own bit of prime beach estate which i had all to myself...








A bare foot walk along a deserted beach, not as warm as the Caribbean but as scenic...


Wonder where this is from?...


The rocks here must be constantly worn away slowly by the sea, wind and rain, lovely and smoothed with interesting patterns...












And as always small plants seem to survive in these harsh enviroments...




I climbed up the rocks to overlook the bay from the cliff tops and the view was stunning, spent a while up here soaking it up and taking pictures as the light changed...




I have been to Sandwood about 8 or 9 times now and it's always a really special place to visit, the views and isolation if there alone always leaves me in awe,
maybe Sandwood Bay is as folk say the nation's coastal masterpiece...








Down to the loch side and crossing the river i walked through the lagoon and then through the dunes to the other end of the beach...












I climbed the steep bank at the west end of the bay and followed a cliff top trail to the Sea Stack Am Buachaille...





At 240-foot tall from the sea it is a great view up here looking down and out to the rock,
Am Buachaille is Gaelic for The Herdsman, a name given, presumably, on account of the waves that break white around its foot like a frolicking flock of sheep.
It was first climbed in 1967 by Tom Patey, Ian Clough and John Cleare. they got across to the foot of the stack by laying down ladders borrowed from a pub in Ullapool...


Sadly 3 years later after the climb, Patey and Clough were dead.
They died in separate climbing accidents within a week of each other, Patey falling from another Sutherland sea-stack known as The Maiden.

Returning along the cliff top it was a great view over the breaking waves rolling into the Bay...




I returned just in time to the tent as a storm rolled in and once again i was robbed of a highland sunset out at sea and fell asleep to rain on the tent and the roar of waves breaking on the shore...



Every cloud has a silver lining and packing up in the morning the rain was off and overhead was a shriek of a bird you dont see around East Lothian, far too big to be a buzzard and too fast for a Red Kite, it was a Golden Eagle,
I took a pic and it turned out tiny, but i did get it on video,
one of the highlights of my trip seeing a Golden Eagle...

Heading back out...


Techy bits with the Fat BOB trailer in tow...




If Sandwood is considered our finest beach and most scenic, then next on the list has to be the ultimate beachride, stay tuned...

Some film from Sandwood...music by the Atlantic swell...