56. Baleshare Beach

It’s early evening now and I have a longish drive to my digs in South Uist, but there’s still time to visit the flat tidal island of Baleshare. This beautiful little island is connected to the rest of North Uist by a causeway. I follow the signposts along a winding track to a handy picnic area and car park behind a fantastic beach stretching for miles, looking out to the wild Atlantic and with only the tiny Monarch Islands between the beach and the coast of Canada. Maybe it’s the evening light, or maybe I’m just high on excitement, but I immediately love this beach. I walk out to the shoreline and turn left, continuing for a good mile or so while listening to the Genesis live album Seconds Out in my earphones. Apart from a family paddling in the sea and a lone dog-walker, there is no-one else around. I’m reluctant to leave, but I drag myself back to the car park and head south.