The day after our visit to Handa we travelled north and walked into Sandwood Bay, a large and beautiful beach remote from road access and some 11 miles south of Cape Wrath. As we left the road to walk in there was low cloud all round, rain threatening and some doubt as to whether it was going to be worthwhile. But as we crested the hill looking down onto the beach the cloud cleared, and stayed clear until we left the following morning.

The beach on Sandwood Bay is enormous, over a mile long and there is water on both sides of the beach. On one side the Atlantic, of course, and on the other side Sandwood Loch a large freshwater loch that comes to within a few hundred yards of the sea.

It could not be said that we saw the Bay at its best; the sun struggled to shine. But at least we saw it and were able to camp overnight in what felt like total isolation.