Claddach – Near Portnahaven, within walking distance or a short drive from Portnahaven, this short stretch of coastline is a little treasure, battered by the North Atlantic winds and waves, is well worth a walk on a sunny day. The image above is of Claddach beach (all these pictures will open up full sized if you click on them) and is one of the few sandy ones along this length of coastline.

This beach is sometimes called “Currie Sands”. A beautiful little track leads down to the beach through a small gate. On the beach at this time of the year the sea pinks cover the rocks and the white and orange lichen add contrast to these ancient rocks.

It was a sunny, but windy day (May 10th 2003) and there was weather coming in off the Atlantic as you can see in the pictures, I had about an hour by some rough reckoning before the weather hit and I wanted some pictures of Portnahaven too. The waves were hitting these rocks and breaking high in the air, the song of the skylarks and the call of the oystercatchers and curlews gave a wonderful background.

To the left of the beach the power of the waves is being tapped in the wave power station, the first of its kind and it is generating electricity into the grid on Islay.

These sands are so fine, they have the same temptation as new fallen snow; to be the first to leave your mark in them. And so there are my footprints in the fresh sand.

I had some time so I walked along the coast, where the sea curls its way up through the rocks and clefts.

The sea pinks are also called “thrift” – my great aunt used to say “thrift for memory” and would never let us pick it, the only time I ever saw her take any was at the funeral of my great uncle, she wore a few thrift flowers on her lapel on that day.

Walking along there are a number of rocky beaches and scramble rocks. The two pictures to the right and the panorama below are pictures along the coastline. The first looks towards Portnahaven with the lighthouse clearly visible in the distance.

The second picture looks back into a rocky cove with a pebble beach, many of these pebbly beaches are distributed along these coasts and are surprisingly
comfortable to lie on, once you have wriggled a body-shaped cavity for yourself. In the centre of the picture below, you can see the dirty weather I was anticipating on its way over.