168. Camas an Lighe

For my final day exploring Ardnamurchan I have two mega-walks planned and once again the weather gods have been kind with another scorching blue-sky day ahead. This region of western Scotland is experiencing the best weather in the whole of the UK, with most of England and southern Scotland making do with rain and temperatures less than half the 22/23 degrees I am enjoying. Such is life. I take the long single track road heading out of the peninsula and up towards the village of Arivegaig where I park at the end of a forest plantation.  The walk to Camas an Lighe, or Singing Sands, will take me right through the heart of the plantation, and as a lover of forest walks, this is a perfect 4km hike. Towards the end of the forest track, a sign pinned to a fir points right saying ‘Beach’ (helpful) and a few yards further on the trees give way to sand and rocks. The beach is renowned for the ‘singing’ quality of its sands, due to the presence of a unique silica in this region. I venture up to admire the incredible rock formations at the end of the beach and made my way around the headland to two further coves. When the tide is out, you can walk to these small bays but with the tide coming in it’s a case of scrambling up the rocks and following the feint path, which will eventually take me to remote Cal na Croise. On my return, it’s back to the forest track and I follow the way I came.