Monday, May 04, 2015

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside

For much of my childhood the highlight of the summer was our annual Wakes Week holiday at Fleetwood or Morecambe or another of the even then slightly faded but much loved seaside resorts which line the Lancashire coast. If we couldn’t manage a whole week, there would be at least a day-trip or two, always by train. My memories are of buckets and spades, sandcastles, donkey-rides on the beach and first paddling, then swimming, in the always chilly waters of the Irish Sea.

When we moved to Mid-Wales in the early 1970s the resorts changed, but the pattern of occasional day trips to the seaside, now by car, continued while our children were small, though with wonderful countryside immediately around us, the pull of the coast rapidly diminished. Instead it was their grandparents who took our two for a week at the seaside from time to time.

Now in retirement we are lucky enough to spend extended periods of time in close proximity to a very different kind of coast, empty of resorts, and with not a promenade or wrought-iron pier in sight. Instead, within a very few miles of where we stay, there are cliffs and sandy beaches, little coves and tiny harbours, sandbanks where seals can sometimes be spotted sunning themselves, and the kind of tempting, uninhabited islands that children’s stories were written about in my youth.  And what is even more wonderful is that, far more often than not, when you go there you will have these magical spots entirely to yourself.

So come with me on a short tour of our favourite corners in this small area of the eternally fascinating and unspoilt coast of the North-West Highlands.

We begin on the Kyle of Tongue, that wide, shallow estuary
 to which Ben Loyal and Ben Hope form such a magnificent backdrop.



There we find the sandbanks, where, if you're lucky,
you may see seals sunning themselves and occasionally 
rolling over into the water to catch themselves a quick snack.



Continuing north along the Melness peninsula, we come to Talmine Bay.


Here, as well as its pale sand and pebble beach,  is the small stone jetty 
which turns this corner into a safe harbour for small boats
and a final resting place for a long-abandoned one.



Towards the tip of the peninsula lies one of our favourite places, 
 the tiny former fishing hamlet of Port Vasgo in its little bay,
its boats long gone and half its cottages now in ruins.


No gentle sandy beach here, just knife-edged rocks, 
through which those long-ago fishermen laboriously cut a channel
 to allow their boats to be winched up out of the water to safety.


From Port Vasgo you can walk west across sheep-nibbled turf 
to a tiny, nameless beach, tucked between cliff and rocks.


Even Perpetua reverts to childhood dreams here.


Another quarter turn to the left and from the rocks you can see Midfield beach, 
though you can only access it by clambering precariously across the rocks, 
or more sensibly via another path from inland.


It's back to the car to drive round to the inner edge of the bay 
and lovely Achininver beach, where you climb down  wooden steps
and across tussocky sand-dunes to reach the water's edge.

And finally, for a proper view of those Enid Blyton adventure islands, 
we need to drive to the other side of the Kyle 
and look back across to Melness and its hidden gems.




68 comments:

  1. What a wonderful virtual trip, Perpetua! As I said in a previous comment, either here or on FB, I've never been so far north in Scotland but your photos certainly make me want add doing so, to my 'bucket list'.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it, Ricky. I had fun compiling it. :-) Until DH retired in 1998 I'd never been further north in Scotland than Edinburgh, but that summer we went to Mull and started our love-affair with the Highlands, gradually moving north until we arrived here. It's so very much worth the long journey.

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  2. Hari OM
    .....sigh...... breathing deeply as you bring us to the peace of the landscape! YAM xx

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    1. And the wonderfully fresh sea air too, Yam. :-) It's such a beautiful coast that we never tire of exploring it and returning to our favourite spots.

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  3. These landscapes are absolutely stunning. But I imagine these waters are a bit like the Pacific Ocean coast in Washington State -- wading only because the water is so cold?

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    1. We've been coming here every year since 2004 and the landscapes still stun us, Betty. Yes, the waters off the north coast of Scotland and very chilly and I've never tried swimming here. It was in a previous, rather warmer April than this year that the wading pictures were taken and I didn't stay in for long. :-)

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  4. So beautiful Perpetua. I'd love to walk there with you in real time. I don't think I could ever live too far from the sea. You have a bit of paradise there!

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    1. That's what we think too, Pondside, which is why I love to share my pictures. It would be wonderful to be able to it in person too - perhaps one day...? This is the closest to the sea that I've ever lived, but we're still less than an hour to the coast in both Wales and France.

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  5. Wow wow and thrice wow. Your local scenery is fabulous. The beaches attract me far more than the mountains, but they too make a wonderful backdrop for the beautiful little inlets.
    If I were twenty years younger I'd take a trip, but your lovely photos will have to suffice.
    I am not retracting my previous comments about the isolation, but the beauty is breathtaking.

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    1. I'll convert you yet, Ray! :-) I'm glad the beauty of the coast appeals to you, since mountains are not your thing. The coastal features are small and intimate here, which I find very restful. I know you find the isolation off-putting, but it has one great advantage in that it ensures the beauty remains unspoilt.

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  6. Your pictures are fabulous. Love the one of the abandoned boat at rest.

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    1. Thanks, Molly. I'm glad you enjoyed them. I love the bones of the boast too and made DH take a detour on our way home from a trip to Port Vasgo so that I could take a photo of it.

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  7. Thank you for the tour! These photos are just wonderful. I like the ruined boats and cottages. The folks living here long ago were certainly hardy folks.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed coming round with me, Sally. It's very easy to take good photos with such wonderful landscapes. There are relics of the old days of subsistence farming and fishing all around here and folk were indeed hardy to wrest a living in such harsh surroundings. Even now it takes a certain sort of person to live and work somewhere so remote.

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  8. Absolutely gorgeous - I knew we should have made the effort to get there when we were at Inverkirkaid last year! Mind you, that was pretty special as well - although we didn't see many beaches, but the kyles were beautiful. I suspect that getting to the beaches might have involved more walking than I can manage these days. But thank you for such lovely photos (yours or DH's?) See you soon. Love, and prayers for safe travelling next week. Helva.

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    1. There is so much beautiful countryside and coastline in the Highlands that you just can't see it all in one visit, Helva. This area deserves to be a separate destination, both because of the distance and because there's so much to see. Sadly most of the beaches here do take a bit of walking or scrambling to access, but there are a couple which are easy to get down to. Incidentally all the photos are mine except for the three on the tiny beach which DH took on a previous visit before he got his super-duper new camera.

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  9. Your part of the world is my favorite! I first came there as a young backpacker in the 1970s and have been back several times. It's so peaceful and the scenery so inspiring. What a lovely place to live and be able to enjoy it all the year long.

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    1. Welcome to the North-West Highlands fan club, Cynthia. :-) Yes, it's the kind of place that is easy to fall in love with and then you find yourself coming back again and again for the reasons you give. We don't actually live here year-round, but come for long visits in the spring and autumn and love every minute.

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  10. So beautiful. I love the rock formations, and the remnants of the old houses. The sand beaches are lovely too. The donkey rides must have been interesting when you were a child. Does anyone do that anymore? Thanks for sharing this lovely part of your world.

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it, Bonnie. This is a rocky landscape, with only a thin layer of soil covering the geology. Though the cottages are now roofless, their sturdy dry-stone walls are still standing up to the sometimes extreme weather conditions remarkably well.
      I loved donkey rides and they are still available in at least some of the traditional seaside resorts in Britain sixty years later.

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    1. It truly is, Vic. I could never tire of the landscape here.

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  12. Helen Devries5 May 2015 at 02:24

    Those colours!
    And so many places you've shown us where it would be bliss to take a picnic, settle down out of the wind and forget the rest of the world.

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    1. As you've said before, Helen, the colours of Scotland are unmistakable. Yes. you can easily find your own touch of desert island up here and out of the wind it has been surprisingly warm for April.

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  13. Hi Perpetua, nice to "see" you there on the beach! You look very happy. The beaches there are so beautiful. I have never been there but beaches are one of the things on my must-see list when I go someday. Thank you for sharing these lovely sights. Hope you are having a good week so far. :)

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    1. I let my inner child loose when I'm on the beach, Jennifer, especially on tiny beaches like these, with no-one else around to make me self-conscious. :-) If you come to the North-West Highlands you'll never be far from water, either a loch or the coast. There are lots of little beaches hidden in inlets in the cliffs as well as wide, flat stretches of golden or even white sand. This is our last week here, so I'm gradually preparing to leave.

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  14. I loved your virtual tour of your favorite beaches! They're so dramatically beautiful and so different from the beaches I've been used to in Southern California and Hawaii. I love the solitude of your scenes -- and it's nice to have a picture of you, happily on the beach once again! You look delighted! I can readily imagine you as a beach-loving child!

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    1. So glad you enjoyed it, Kathy. Yes, I've always loved the coast and the sea, though I'm not a sunbather. There are plenty of wide, flat stretches of sand in the north and west of Scotland, which is what I'm guessing you're used to in California and Hawaii, but mostly round here the beaches are small and often quite hidden, which appeals enormously to us both.

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  15. Wow, such a beautiful area. We are both fans of wild untamed natural beauty . There Is something so invigorating about sea air and I love the smell of forests and water. Looking at those beautiful mountains really is quite humbling.Gives me a great perspective on things. Great pictures of you on the beach, I bet your feet got cold!

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    1. In that case you would really love the North-West Highlands, Chris, though it's a largely tree-less area except for stretches of commercial forestry plantation. Sadly the UK doesn't have the wild forests which you enjoy in Canada. Ours all disappeared centuries ago. :-(
      I really enjoyed that day in the beach, though you're right about my feet. I didn't stay in the water long in April!

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  16. I had a bathing costume just like yours - I remember when I first went into the sea the elasticated nylon stretched and became translucent to my great chagrin.
    Scotland, as you know holds a special place in my heart, as it does for you too. The photos tell the story.

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    1. Oh, those smocked, seersucker bathing costumes! I don't remember a translucency problem, but I do remember that the ruching tickled and being glad when I grew out of mine and had a 'proper' swimsuit. :-)
      I'm glad you enjoyed my photo story. I really love sharing Scotland's beauty with a wider audience.

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  17. SOO glorious, Perpetua. I have revelled in these photos and so enjoyed seeing the gorgeous beaches you are near. And you look absolutely at home there - lovely photos. Enjoy! Is the water very,very cold or does it get a bit of heat from the Gulf Stream? Axxx

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    1. Revel away, Annie. :) I know you love the coast and I've enjoyed your beach posts too. I do feel very at home here, as I'm quite happy to be on a beach in jeans and sweatshirt, just enjoying the beauty and the peace. The water is pretty chilly, especially in the spring as we're on the Pentland Firth and I'm not sure how much Gulf Stream influence it enjoys. The West Highland coast does, I know, benefit a lot from the Gulf Stream.

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  18. Oh, these moments of returning to childhood dreams; how wondrous they are, are they not?
    I enjoyed this scenic tour with you, Perpetua, and hope you will bring us back here many more times.

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it, Penny, and it won't be the last time I post about the coast and beaches here. As you know I'm a great fan of children's literature and read a huge amount of it as a child and the adventure stories with deserted coves and and cliffs and islands appealed a great deal to the shy, nonathletic child I was. Actually discovering places that could have featured in those stories is such fun!

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  19. I love that photo of an obviously happy me with my two big sisters either side of me - as the tallest of us sisters I soon outgrew you both!

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    1. It took a few years, PolkaDot, as my guess is your weren't more than 5 in that photo. :-) R and I were still at primary school from the look of us. I didn't remember this photo at all, but it's one DH scanned to put in the family archive and I love it.

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  20. What a great post, Perpetua. I love deserted coves and beaches... (in my fantasy world, I live by one and spend my days walking barefoot through the sand looking for treasures the sea may have left behind). Thanks so much for sharing these pics. And I too prefer to spend my days in jeans and sweatshirt (T-shirt here in Texas) with my feet bare and sand between my toes! The crowded beaches of human bodies in their swimsuits and suntan lotion don't attract me in the least.

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it, Rian, and love the thought that my photos chime so closely with your fantasy world.The population here is very small, so these beaches are mostly almost or completely deserted. I'm not a swimsuit and sun-lotion person either, and in summer I'd be in a T-shirt too. These photos were taken in April, when the wind up here can still be very chilly.

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  21. What wonderful beaches and coves. It would have been a massive job cutting through that rock to make the channel for boats all that time ago.

    Thanks for sharing.

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    1. They are indeed, Susan - positively magical. I can't help wondering whether there was some natural fault in the rock which made this a likely place for a tiny fishing port with not too much extra work to create the channel, but I'll never know for sure.

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  22. These photos are stunning! What a coast – so wild and beautiful. I think someone born in that area would have a difficult time living in a city like New York… You are lucky to be close to the sea. I’d love to be only a couple of hours from the sea but even a long drive is worth it, although I like warmer water. Luckily at the end of the month we are going to Key West, Florida, and it is warm there – actually it is closer to Cuba than Miami. But the coast you show is really striking.

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    1. Thanks, Vagabonde.This whole coast just calls out to be photographed and we love exploring its nooks and crannies. I'm sure you're right that it would be hard to get used to the crowds and noise of a big city after this quiet place, but sadly many of the young people have to go south to find work. Safe journey to Florida and have a wonderful time in those warm blue waters.

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  23. I did so enjoy the pictorial journey of the wild part of Scotland. No hordes of people, just wonderful scenery and glorious colours. Just to gaze around surely must allow the mind to wander in many directions ... I would imagine it to be a writer's paradise. I think I am admitting to the sin of envy Perpetua!

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much, Shirley. I think its's human nature to envy a little something which is so different from what we have around us. I admit to feeling the same way when I look at wonderful scenery or amazing architecture I know I will never see for myself. This is certainly a landscape which inspires art and creativity and thought.

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  24. A wonderful coastline. Always amazed at how quiet they are.

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    1. It's amazingly beautiful and unspoiled, probably because there are so few people in this very remote area, even at the height of summer.

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  25. Thank you for this wonderful photo tour. The pictures make my heart ache, in a good sort of way.

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    1. You're very welcome, Kristie. I know what you mean about the way photos can make one feel. I feel the same when I see the beauty and grandeur of your lakes and mountains and forests.

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  26. Yes, I see the resemblance of you in the top photo. Still young and smiling. Beautiful pictures of the coast. Thank you for the tour.

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    1. Lovely to see you, Sue, and glad you enjoyed the tour. I find that photo of myself with my two younger sisters a very happy one. We did enjoy our brief times at the seaside. :-)

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  27. So many beaches! Heaven for me.

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    1. I can imagine, Penny. I saw how you revelled in the beaches on Iona.

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  28. A little late with catching up.
    This is such a lovely post Perpetua.
    How it reminds me of my early years, when we too as a family would go to the Beach and I would go on donkey rides and eat the ice creams and watch punch and Judy..
    The highlands where you live are stunning.
    A super photo of you and your sisters, and you on that lovely smooth sandy beach.
    happy weekend.
    val x

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it, Val. I know you and I come from similar backgrounds in the dame part of the world. and it sounds like we enjoyed the same kind of summer holiday. DH and I are very fortunate to be able to spend part of the year in such a beautiful area with a wonderful coastline. The smooth sandy beach got very battered in the winter storms, but it will recover in time.

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  29. Thank you for posting these, Perpetua....
    I used to walk my Border Collie on these beaches...
    brought back happy memories of a wonderful animal!!
    He used to like that old wreck!!
    And it looks little changed in twent-five years.

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    1. You're very welcome, Tim. I love the thought that my photos have brought back such happy memories for you. I don't think the north coast changes very much. We've been going there now for 12 years and it looks just the same as when we started. I gather though that the little beach i paddled from was badly damaged by last winter's storms and lost most of its sand. :(

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    2. The sand will return to fill the gaps...
      it would, however, take an earthquake of a storm to move all that Caithness slab!!
      And I love the texture of that stone...
      I've a bit from there on the shelf above my computer.

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    3. Shouldn't that be Sutherland slab, Tim? ;-) Joking aside, it's comforting to think that the sand will return eventually as there's something so special about this tiny, hidden corner of coastline. I agree about the wonderful texture of the stone, particularly where it has been smoothed and rounded by millienia of wave action.

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    4. "Shouldn't that be Sutherland slab?"....
      No, Lord Thurso got there first by marketing the stuff...
      the Duke of Sutherland....
      a distant but un-proveable relative**...
      was too busy moving people off "his" land to use for his sheeps!
      He wasn't bothered about local stone... he imported the stone for that pile on the coast at Dun "roamin"!!
      He wanted it to look white and bright!!

      **Unproven: My alleged great-great-great Grandfather Hector Munro... or his son... or both were apparently chasing after the 1st Duke's daughter...
      my great-great-grandfather had two birth certificates...
      one without acknowledgement of either parent... drawn up in Golspie...
      and one with the name of Hugh Munro as a father, occupation postmaster in Bournemouth... and his wife as the mother.... but the birth dated a fortnight later...
      My g-g-grandfather went to a major public school and then university...
      on a postmaster's wages????
      Also, my relatives in Brum hold the seal of that arm of the Munro clan....
      and they have repeatedly been denied access to the archives at Dunrobin....
      fun, or what!?
      I lurves a mystery, me!!
      Tim

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    5. Gosh, Tim - or should I say Your Lordship? Your family tree appears to have produced some unusual fruit. ;) Those archives could make very interesting reading... How would you fancy having Dunrobin as your East Coast pied-a-terre? ;-)

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    6. Nah! I prefer it here...
      all those people coming round to help pay for the upkeep of the pile... urk!
      Anyway, it wouldn't come to me... my maternal grandfather was the fourth or fifth son...
      but, visiting rights and our own rooms... perhaps yes!?

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    7. That sounds about right. :-) Just imagine the council tax and insurance on a place that size!

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  30. Beautiful photos.
    I have spent many holidays on similar beaches in Scotland and remember well how beautiful it was - and how unbelievably cold it could be in the middle of summer!
    The first photo made me chuckle - are they waffle swimsuits? I remember having to wear one of those myself on chilly beaches such as Bridlington and Skegness!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed them and the memories they evoked, Jean. I can well imagine how cold it was on some of your holidays, especially if you tried to do more than paddle in that clear but chilly water.
      The swimming costumes (as we always called them) were made of shirred seersucker and waffle would have been a perfect name for the fabric though I never heard it back then. I had a series of them until I reached my teens and graduated to a more adult Lycra swimsuit. :-)

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  31. I'm certainly WAY behind in my reading, Perpetua, but delighted I didn't miss this post. My earliest memories include spending time at the ocean with my family. My grandparents would rent a beach house during the summer and we would all gather and although it probably wasn't for more than a week at a time, it felt like much more. It was absolutely wonderful! I just love seeing your childhood glee! And those beaches and ocean views are just gorgeous. Whenever I'm feeling a little stressed I try to find my way to the beach for a bit of mental refreshment, and it always works! I love it when you share those early photos! It's fun to look back and remember that once we were little girls having fun with siblings and cousins and friends! ;-) Debra

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    1. Debra, you CAN'T be more behind in your reading than I am. :-) Glad you managed to get here at last and that you enjoyed the post so much and that it brought back so many happy memories. Like yours our childhood holidays were always very short, but we always had a great time, though our weather certainly wasn't as warm and reliable as yours. This is one of my favourite childhood photos precisely because of the glee you mentioned. We were simply having the most wonderful time and it was probably our father that captured the moment. I have other childhood holiday snaps, so watch this space...

      DH and I took the recent Scottish photos and we both find that we love the coastline so much that we're constantly trying to capture it in all its moods. Like you we find the beach and the sea views wonderfully restful and soothing, particularly because so often we are fortunate enough to have them to ourselves. I wish I could share them with you in real life.

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I welcome your comments and will always try to respond to them. Thank you for reading.