The Silver Sands, Morar

Number two in our hall of fame of Scottish beaches is also situated on the rugged, wild and mountainous coast of Lochaber, but no boat is needed to reach this one! Instead, it is situated at the end of the spectacular train journey from Fort William, which takes in the gracefully curving Glenfinnan viaduct and threads its way through a landscape that fuses, in perfect harmony, the quintessentially Caledonian romance of Walter Scott with the mystery and drama of Tolkien. Above the train tower the ice-fingered summits of precipitous peaks, looming from mist, as the railway tracks twist and turn on

their switchback course over peat bogs clothed in the russet cloak of autumn and past great forests of proud, towering spruces. The line glides past the mirror-smooth waters of Loch Eilt, a vast body of water hemmed in by steep, rocky crags, and dotted with tiny islands which are jewelled with emerald pines. Finally, by the turquoise waters of a bay carved from rock, the line reaches the Sea of the Hebrides, the volcanic flat top of the Isle of Eigg brooding over the fertile crofting lands. From here, it is only a short distance to one truly exquisite stretch of sand. The beach at Morar provides a fitting conclusion to one truly spectacular journey.

To walk these gleaming white sands, which bring an almost surreal touch of the Caribbean to West Lochaber's stark, Scandinavian landscape, is to walk in the footsteps of film stars. Not that you would know that, for the sands today, on a spectacularly wild Friday afternoon in January at least, appear perfectly pristine, devoid of footprints, devoid of any signs of human disturbance. Back in the 1980s, this idyllic coastline was the setting for that timeless Scottish classic Local Hero, which saw Peter Capaldi, Fulton Mackay and Burt Lancaster among others revelling in the heavenly beauty of this corner of paradise, on the far western coast of Lochaber. After its moment of international fame, the beach returned to its previous serenity, a monument to the everlasting power of nature on these wild shores. 

Here at Morar, the sublime artistic power of nature has interwoven a rich tapestry of spectacular landscapes, with influence from all corners of the globe. The scene could be described as a form of natural surrealism- at first glance, such a fusion of scenic wonders appears unreal, but it was created entirely naturally, long before habitation came to this corner of Scotland. As the River Morar cascades into a shallow inlet of the sea in a foaming, Scandinavian waterfall, crossed by an elegant bridge and watched over by the dark, snow-dusted crags of Lochaber's remote interior, and hemmed in by the typically Caledonian pines, the beach which stretches out along the shores of the inlet gleams with brilliant white hues, as if it were surrounding a tropical island, interspersed with the jagged, jet black volcanic rocks more typical of Sicily than of Scotland.

The still, clear water never loses its Mediterranean turquoise tints, even when pelted with the sleet, hail, snow and icy rain of a West Lochaber winter. Long before Salvador Dali penned such combinations, nature herself had fused Mediterranean seascapes with the granite uplands of the far north, in a scene unparalleled anywhere else on earth, in a uniquely Scottish wonder.

 

The impression is of a lost desert island, transplanted into icy northern seas, then fused with the rugged beauty of the Highlands, where firs and pines took the place of palms. The beach is certainly deserted, an antidote to the crowds of Spain or Greece, with the Highland winter doing its best to ensure that the beach remains forever unsullied by a clutter of parasols, deckchairs and towels. In our Epicurean quest

for tranquility, we have much to thank the Scottish climate for. There is much treasure to be found too, for the exquisite shells of razor clams and mussels jewel the sands.

You cannot walk along this beach, without envying the occupant of the idyllic Highland cottage, hard by the gleaming sands, who looks out on this magical scene every day.