For the Viking mariners who used to round Cape Wrath, the far northwestern tip of the British mainland, Sandwood Bay was a place of deliverance – one of the few spots on this rugged coastline where they could safely land a longboat and take on fresh water after crossing the North Sea. Sandwood remains a sanctuary of sorts, only today it’s somewhere people go not to escape the elements, but to experience them more fully. Staring out to sea from here, the next landmass is, quite literally, Greenland, which ensures the beach catches the full ferocity of the Atlantic. Come on a calm, sunny day and the turquoise water, rose-white sand and resplendent cliffs flanking the bay can look almost tropical. But when the weather’s stormy, a mere stroll along its foreshore – with huge waves pounding in and sand blowing at hurricane force into your face – might feel like an expedition. All of which, of course, adds to the allure of the place. A ninety-minute walk from the nearest road, it takes a significant effort to reach. The trail is rough at times, and a bit monotonous by the standards of the region. And there’s precious little shelter should one of those freak hail storms suddenly sweep off the ocean, firing ice pellets the size of quails eggs into the machair. The prize at the end of the walk, though, is a glimpse of a beach as pristine as you’ll see anywhere. No litter, no signs, no telegraph posts or interpretative panels, no facilities of any kind. Just the sound of the wind in the dunes, the relentless, jade-green surf crashing in and the watchful presence of a lonely rock stack – “Am Buachaille”, “The Herdsman”– standing off the cliffs to the southwest.
[1] The path to Sandwood Bay starts near a small car park at Blairmore, maintained by the John Muir Trust. Cross the road running past the car park and look for a turning on the opposite side, where an unsurfaced track runs past a ruined croft. Pass through the gate ahead and follow the track northwest.
[2] After 10mins this drops downhill slightly to skirt the southern tip of Loch Na Gainimh. Continue on the same track above the lochan’s southeast shore as far as a T-junction, where you should turn left to reach the northeast corner of the loch. From here, the track bends right, passing a fork where you keep right again. At the next fork, reached a minute or two later, bear left. The correct way at each of these turnings is obvious, as it’s more worn.
[3] A gentle descent ensues to Loch a’ Mhuilinn, which the path skirts via its boggy eastern shore. It can get quite muddy here, and you may need to pick a drier route through the lumpy ground to your right.
[4] Once clear of Loch a’ Mhuilinn, the trail becomes a proper footpath that rises gently uphill at first, giving fine views east across the moorland lining Strath Shinary. Passing two more small lochs on your right, you then arrive at a fork, where you should keep left (again, the way ahead is obvious); a right turn here would take you to the remnants of Sandwood Lodge
(A) Built by the estate as a fishing retreat, a lone cottage, Sandwood Lodge is the only vestige here from this tragic episode in Scottish history. Its roofless ruin stands just off the path to the beach from Blairmore – a melancholic monument to the cruelty of the Highland Clearances - visible just down the hill.
[5] Shortly after the fork, pass through the gate in the drystone wall, where you’ll be treated to your first glimpse of Sandwood Bay and the mighty cliffs beyond it. Keep to the main path as it drops towards the lagoon behind the beach; this eventually emerges in the middle of the bay.
[6] To reach our featured viewpoint, turn right when you reach the sand and head towards the far, northeastern end of the beach. Having forded the stream, you can then clamber up the rocks ahead to the top of a bluff surveying the whole bay to the Am Buachaille rock stack in the distance.
Return by the same route.