A Desert

175 people live on the end of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, west of line which runs from Ockle on the north coast to the bay of Camas nan Geall on the south (see map at the bottom of the page). Estimating the land area at about 110 square kilometres, that gives a population density of 1.59 persons per square kilometre. If West Ardnamurchan were an independent country - what a lovely thought - it would, in the ranking of population densities by country, be 228th out of 234, with a lower density than Libya, Australia or Namibia, all famous 'desert' countries. Most of the places below it are remote islands such as South Georgia, Midway and Jan Mayen, or desperate places like Greenland and Western Sahara.

This place is, in the true sense of the word, a 'desert' - but what a beautiful desert.

We must hold another record. There are others than can equal us, but we have one village which has a population of one - Ockle. We have a lighthouse with a population of one, and several houses which are in the middle of.... a desert.... also with populations of one.

All this changes with the coming of spring, when our numbers begin to swell. I haven't done a count of our population in the heady weeks at the end of July and beginning of August, but it must be four or five times the resident one. But, even with this seething hoard, our wilderness remains empty. It's possible to walk for miles on an August bank holiday and see nobody, there are peaks to be climbed which probably haven't seen a soul in years, and there are beaches to be discovered which will remain empty all day.

And, when our visitors go home and are asked where they've been for their holiday, they can say they've been to a desert.