Secret Beaches

Another beautiful morning, so we set out for Sanna and the Ardnamurchan north shore with the intention of looking for evidence of early man, but were overwhelmed by the lonely beauty of the sandy beaches along that coast. Once we'd left the village, where a small group of workmen were building a new house, we walked for nearly three hours and saw no-one. There was evidence of other life around: at one of the three beaches we visited we came across these tracks where an otter had made his way down to the sea.

This is northernmost of the main beaches at Sanna, where the Sanna Burn reaches the sea. With low water at 11.30am and spring tides a few days away, there was plenty of sand exposed, enough to be able to walk over to Sanna Island.

This beach, looking out towards Sgeir Ghobhlach, is to the northwest of Sanna, a small, enclosed beach which is our favourite if we don't want to walk far from the car park, a safe beach for small children and the perfect size for beach cricket.

But this is our secret beach, one which is only exposed at low tide and the one where we found the otter tracks. It faces north and takes a heavy surf when the waves are up. It's a beach which, in turn, has its secrets, mainly in the form of unexpected quicksands.

Several of the Sanna beaches have sinking sands. There is a story that a local boy was lost in the quicksands many years ago, and the summer before last a visiting family had a nasty fright. The Community Council has taken the matter seriously and plans to erect a warning notice at the car park.

A map of the Sanna area is here.