With an April 2011 full of bank holiday weekends and the prediction of unseasonal good weather I started to research possible locations for a weekend trip.
My wife, was working so that left myself and the kids. My son, 17, is madly in love with his current girlfriend (girlfriend No.3) and found the prospect of not seeing her unbearable, so that just left my 11 year old daughter who I will refer to as J.
There was a plus to it only being the two of us, we could use the two man tent we have and make it a proper camping adventure!
We both liked the idea of camping by a beach and so I Googled 'The best beach in Scotland'. The results were unanimous, we needed to head for a small stretch of the coast line between Arisaig and Mallaig on the West Coast of Scotland.
(If you think that there are better beaches, please add a comment at the bottom of this page.)
The next step was to find a campsite by a beach. We wanted to get back to nature as much as possible, but squatting over a hole in the ground would be taking it too far.
After a couple of hours of internet research I came up with the following short list;
I like to be organised and so decided to reserve a pitch, but after a few phone calls I realised that I was not the only one heading for the beach this weekend.
Camusdarach, Portnadorn, and Invercaimbe campsites were fully booked, and Silver Sands were not answering the phone. The guy at Camusdarach suggested that I tried the Kinloid Campsite, it is a mile away from the beaches and so is less popular.
I could not let J down and so booked a pitch at Kinloid and told her that we were all sorted and ready to go. It was at this moment that she decided that she wanted to invite one of her many best friends, Sarah.
Well, three people into a two man tent don't go, and so I now had a justification to go and spend money at my favourite out door activity store, Go Outdoors.
Go Outdoors, has a reasonable range, and is difficult to beat on price unless you spend hours scouring the internet.
J and I headed up to our local store in Clydebank, and after an hour of climbing in an out of the demo tents I opted for an Coleman Phact x2 two person tent.
At the same time I took the opportunity to buy a camping stove so that we could be more self sufficient. After another thirty minutes of browsing I chose a Trangia 25-6UL stove and pan set, and for good measure I also bought the gas burner accessory to replace the standard fuel burner.
We were now all kitted out and ready to go!
At 2pm on Friday 22nd April 2011 we set off with the car packed full of camping equipment, food, drink and all the necessities the girls needed for a few days away.
The weather was fantastic, the roads were busy but not to the point were you felt that your progress was being hampered. If you did get stuck behind the occasional slow vehicle the fantastic views were a welcome distraction.
We arrived at Kinloid Campsite at 6pm and I immediately started to erect the tents whilst the girls explored the campsite.
The exploration did not take long, a field, a shower and two toilets!
The tents went up quickly and we decided to head for the beach and explore.
Our first view of the coastline was breath taking, everything I had read had not been exaggerated, the sand was white and the sea blue. We stopped at a public car park near Camusdarach and walked over a dune to a beautiful beach that was made famous when it was used as a location for the movie Local Hero.
I was walking where the legendary Burt Lancaster had trod!
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| The beach where Local Hero was filmed |
We strolled along the beach and scrambled over the rocks and the girls even summoned the courage to test the temperature of the sea which was very, very cold.
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| The girls test the temperature |
As the evening wore on we were treated to a spectacular sunset.
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| A sunset to remember |
We had only been there for a few hours, and we had already fallen in love with the place.
As the light faded we headed back to the campsite and started the camp dinner.
J like most kids are fickle with her choice of food and so I had packed enough food for a week in the hope that I would manage to put together a menu that she would enjoy.
After showing the girls my impressive range of ingredients they requested one of my classic dishes, pasta twists with a dressing of Heinz tomato ketchup.
The new Trangia stove went together quickly and easily. I put on a pan of water and was extremely impressed with the speed at which it boiled the water. Within 15 minutes the girls were tucking into Pasta a la Ketchup.
Five minutes later their bowls were empty and they were still hungry!
So the next course was pan fried chicken breast fillets with sweet corn, again the stove performed well and the non stick frying pan did what exactly it was supposed to.
The girls tucked in and again cleaned their plates. The fresh sea air and exercise were obviously giving them a healthy appetite.
I was about to start dismantling the stove when J asked what else they could eat!
The third course was then beefburgers served in hot dog rolls, they demolished two each, kindly leaving one for me.
By the time we finished eating it was 10pm, the girls went for a shower whilst I tackled the mountain of washing up.
The only disappointing part of the trip was the showers and toilets at the Kinloid campsite. We only expected basic facilities, but the shower/toilet block was too basic, only one of the two toilets working, no toilet paper, and the shower was dilapidated.
The next morning we were greeted with another beautiful day, and I was immediately back onto cooking duties, if I expected the girls to want a light breakfast after the previous night's banquet, I was wrong.
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| Our pitch at the Kinloid Campsite |
Twelve sausages and a large tin of baked beans later they were ready to go. The girls refused to go back into the shower block, so I packed away the tents and headed off to find a better campsite.
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| Kinloid had a great panoramic view, but it's not on the beach |
Our first port of call was the Silver Sands site which I had not been able to get a response from, and I soon found out why. The site works on a first come, first serve basis. You simply find a place to pitch your tent(s) and the next morning pay your dues, fanatastic.
We walked round the site and found a perfect pitch right next to the beach. The girls went off to play whilst I pitched the tents one more time.....practice makes perfect.
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| Our pitch at the Silver Sands Campsite |
We spent a lazy morning walking bare foot on the soft sands, making sand castles and exploring rock pools for wild life.
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| J and Sarah on the beach at Silver Sands Campsite |
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| J, Queen of the Castle |
I decided that I deserved a break from the camp kitchen and so we drove to Mallaig, the nearest town (population <1,000), which is only 15 minutes by car.
Mallaig has a small centre based around the ferry port and fishing harbour. It is focused on the tourist industry, tea shops, pub, restaurants and gift shops. It also has two small supermarkets (Co-op and Spare) where we managed to stock up on food and the girls bought a stack of magazines. They had discovered that when camping you have to entertain yourself when the sun sets, no TV, ipad, laptop etc.
I was tempted by the menus of the restaurants, all claiming fresh seafood from the local fish market. Unfortunately I was with two girls who had no interest in fish whatsoever.
We settled for the Fish Market Coffee Shop, located above what appeared seemed to be a very busy Fish Market restaurant
I opted for a fresh prawn sandwich, which was nice and reasonably priced, the girls opted for cheese and ham toasties.
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| Fish Market Restaurant and Coffee Shop in Mallaig |
After a long day in the great outdoors I was struggling to find the motivation to cook another three course meal so I decided that we would return to Mallaig for dinner.
We showered and were pleased to find the Silver Sands showers, although basic, at least to the standard we expected.
Sand free, and dressed for dinner (clean shorts and T shirts) we headed for Mallaig. It was unbelievably warm weather for April, and Jodi kept saying, she felt she was in Spain. We strolled around looking at the menus in the various eating establishments. In the end we decided on the rather ambitiously named Jaffy's Seafood Restaurant. It is a nice clean fish and chip shop with a bar style seating area to 'dine in'.
I ordered Haddock and Mushy Peas, and the girls ordered Haddock and Chips. For dessert I had Cod and Mushy Peas.
It was good, but not the best fish and chips I have ever tasted, that accolade goes to Thornton Fisheries which is somewhere I highly recommend.
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| Jaffy's |
By the time night fell the girls were ready for bed without any arguments and snuggled into their sleeping bags armed a Terry's Chocolate Orange, a pile of magazines and a lantern.
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| The girls settle down with a chocolate orange and a pile of magazines |
The next and final morning found us running low on breakfast supplies and the girls opted for a nice and easy option for me, but not the most nutritious....
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| Pot Noodles for Breakfast |
It was hard to leave, but after a few more hours on the beach and a quick trip to Mallaig to get souvenirs we packed up and headed home.
Having avoided cooking duties for one last time I agreed to stop on the way back for a break and a late lunch.
We stopped at Fort William and the girls enjoyed their return to civilisation
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| J and Sarah enjoy the taste of civilisation |
With only one more stop on the way back at the Green Welly Shop for dessert we we home in time for dinner.
It was a great weekend at a fantastic location that I thoroughly recommend.
If you have already visited the area and believe you know of a better beach in Scotland, please let me know by adding a comment on the bottom of this page.
