Latest news with #HiddenBeaches
Times
01-07-2025
- Times
Five of the best family-friendly Scottish beaches
Sun's out, fun's in (we hope). Ditch the screens and grab your buckets and spades as the author of Hidden Beaches, Daniel Start, reveals five of his favourite family-friendly Scottish beaches. Six miles south of Montrose, off the A92, this great sweep of sheltered sandy beach is backed by a ruined castle and harbour, the perfect spot for a dip or an afternoon of gentle sandcastle-building. There's a car park and seasonal café and, for further adventuring, a lime kiln, arch and adjacent coves at ruined Boddin Harbour, two miles north. Do a bit of exploring and you'll also find wonderful caves and rock pools. Also known as Kingsbarns Beach, Cambo Sands is a quiet family beach that stretches for about two miles. Set below Cambo Gardens, a Georgian walled garden with naturalistic coastal planting and areas of woodland (there's also a homely vegetarian café on site), the beach is backed by extensive sand dunes and can be great for rockpooling. From the beachside car park walk a mile north to enjoy the most secluded sands at Airbow Point. • The Bothy at Cambo review — a blissful forest escape The coral beaches of Skye are at its north end, just beyond Dunvegan where the castle displays the Macleod 'faerie flag'. This is no tropical coral, of course, but Scottish coral composed of fragments of billions of bleached skeletons of the red algae that grows at the bottom of the ocean nearby. It's a mile or so's walk to the beach from the car park, but it's worth it to stroll on this spectacular swirl of white sand. Behind the hill at the north end of the beach you'll find beautiful basalt columns forming steps down into the sea. If you want to swim, time your visit for high tide. There are far less well-known beaches on Mull to explore once you've got your bearings, but Calgary Bay makes an excellent jumping-off point on the island for visiting beach-loving families. A long sweep of white sand about five miles west of Dervaig, it's backed by wildflower-rich machair and a woodland sculpture trail (with a tea room) while an ice cream kiosk hewn partly from an old boat opens just above the beach every afternoon in summer 'when sunny'. • I hated camping, but a posh clifftop tent in Fife changed my mind This stunning beach is one of the most popular in the area, but you can easily escape the handful of summer tourists by walking to a 'secret' second cove: bear right from the car park and walk 500m to find this wedge of peely-wally sand. Set between igneous outcrops that form a turquoise swimming pool and suntrap, it's an otherwordly spot with wonderful swimming. The main beach is also great with small children in tow. Pick up some picnic supplies in nearby Lochinver and make a day of it. Taken from Hidden Beaches by Daniel Start (£16.99, Buy from Discount for Times+ members. Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25. Special discount available for Times+ members
Times
21-05-2025
- Times
Five of the best wild beaches in Scotland
People south of the border refuse to believe it when you tell them that Scotland has better beaches than the Caribbean — but we do. Wild, windswept and often drawing more kelp-munching coos and nosey seals than tourists, Scotland's beaches have a soul-stirring beauty that will stay with you long after you've shaken the sand from your shoes. From Aberdeenshire to the Outer Hebrides, the Hidden Beaches author, Daniel Start, picks out five of the wildest and most enchanting. Uist and Harris are places of pilgrimage for the beach connoisseur. Ribbons of snow-white sand drift down the islands' Atlantic coasts and collect in sweeping bays, while meadows covered in wildflowers provide the perfect backdrop. One of the more remote is Traigh Mheilein, where shallow azure waters and wild camping beckon. From Tarbet take the B887 north to park at Huisinis. Then walk 1½ miles north to swim overlooking Scarp island. The wild coastline along the extreme north tip of the country, from Ullapool to Cape Wrath and along the Sutherland coast to John o' Groats, harbours some of the most beautiful swimming beaches in Britain. Including Port Alltan na Bradhan, a very sheltered sandy bay with a waterfall and rocks for jumping. To reach it, walk 1½ miles north along the coast from Achmelvich, or drive along the B869 and park at the first proper lay-by on the right, then follow the stream down past ruins. Mull has perfect white sand and swimming coves galore, yet few people ever find them. Even more remote is the neighbouring island of Erraid, used as the shore station and stone quarry for the building of the Dubh Artach lighthouse (and as one of the settings in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped). Accessible at low tide via a sandy causeway, the island is home to Traigh Gheal, a beautiful cove. From Knockvologan farm, on Mull, follow the track for 500m to cross the Erraid Sound, heading to the right. If you're looking for a really wild beach and don't mind a good hour's walk, head for Camas an Lighe and its 'singing sands' in the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. From Arivegaig car park you hike past the flats of Kentra Bay and emerge through woodland to find a remote heather and birch-lined beach with grand views to the Small Isles. Singing sands occur when sand grains are completely round and between 0.1 and 0.5mm in diameter. To generate the low frequency sound of about 450Hz they must also contain silica and have the right level of humidity. To make the sands sing, shuffle across them with bare feet. The Sands of Forvie is a national nature reserve with extensive dunes and four miles of foreshore with marram grass, pennywort, crowberry and creeping willow. A village and its church once stood amid these dunes but the entire community was overwhelmed by a sandstorm in 1413, allegedly the result of a curse uttered by three sisters who were put out to sea in a leaky boat. Take the A975 south of Collieston to the car park opposite the river, before the causeway. Follow the mile-long path to the beach, then bear left along the coast to beautiful Hackley Bay. Taken from Hidden Beaches by Daniel Start ( £16.99). Buy from Discount for Times+ members
