160. Camas nan Geall

After returning from a fabulous afternoon on the Isle of Muck, I head south from Arisaig into the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula, which is to be the main course of my three day trip. I follow the long, single track winding road towards Kilchoan, my base for the next two nights. My first impression of Ardnamurchan is that my mind is about to be blown (it was). It’s a beautiful sunny evening, and as I turn west out of the village of Salen to follow the remote southern coast of the peninsula, I am beginning to get excited about stopping at one of Ardnamurchan’s most picturesque beaches, Camas nan Geall. Sitting below the viewpoint by the B8007, the beach looks an absolute picture from on high. In the car park, a bloke with a pointed beard approaches me to say he’d just seen a golden eagle and a sea eagle. He says he’s so excited he has to tell someone and he even offers to show me the photos on his camera to prove it. I say well done and leave him alone. As I take the simple track down from the car park, with the lush green fields setting off the beach in all its glory, I look up to see if Goldie is making an appearance for me, but no luck. An information board at the end of the path down explains the archeological significance of the site here, suggesting the area would have been occupied by the Mesolithic people who settled here some 8,500 years ago, and was subsequently the site of an Iron Age burial ground. Here it’s about location, location, location.