A kind of 'Where is it'

[bilbobaggins]

There's a little story to this, and I thought to share it....

Long time ago and far away, when the Bagginses were both still slim and lissom, we made our first dinghy-cruising exped out to the islands here. First, to the one on the left - to the 'Singing Beach' - where we hauled the unlikely little hull up out of the tide, and put a grey and gold little dome tent among the ferns. The rabbits were a bit 'put out' for a couple of nights, but we were sheltered and comfortable gazing out at the sharp pagan peaks and the stars beyond. Later, we visited the isle on the right, then two other isles further right. Later still, we went looking for Mijbil and alders, and found pearls within shells.

 

[jhr]

Dunno exactly, but presumably somewhere near "Camusfearna"?

 

[awol]

Too easy! I've been, I've listened, but never have the sands sung for me. Methinks the boat is a little foolhardy - the sands are pretty but there's a wheen of rocks out there.
How were the midges?

 

[jimi]

Victoria Beckham's back garden ... oops you said beach, not bi........

 

[Trop Cher]

Eigg and Rhum, Eigg to the left, taken from one of the beaches between Morar and Arisaig. Spent my early years in Morar and this was the view from my Grandparents home.

 

[alan_d]

Rum and Eigg as already said, but the singing sands are at Kentra (on the north side of the base of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, for those who don't know it).

 

[bilbobaggins]

Rum and Eigg as already said, but the singing sands are at Kentra (on the north side of the base of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, for those who don't know it).

"The singing sands of Laig....."

And the freshwater pearls from the burn at Camusfearna. Before the PC police learned of 'em.

Precious.





Er, as for the boat, a 'Catapult', we put a few thousand miles under her after that - including some Lofoten stuff, quite a lot of Swedish Baltic twice, and around Corsica. I guess we didn't know any better....

 

[sarabande]

when I was in Dubai before the six lane concrete highways took over, there were areas in the hinterland near Hatta where you could hear the sands talk as you walked along. They were known as 'ngarain', and the sound was low, almost subsonic, muttering rumble.

From a clever Halcrow engineer I understood that it only happened where the grains of sand were rounded from rolling around in the wind.

Not quite so exotic or as picturesque as your island adventure, BB. There must have been some memorable boating experiences. Who painted the picture ?

 

[bilbobaggins]

"Sailing by Arisaig" by Frank Colclough.

Here's another.....

"Ben More From Iona"

 

[awol]

Rum and Eigg as already said, but the singing sands are at Kentra (on the north side of the base of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, for those who don't know it).

There are singing sands on Eigg, Islay, Ardnamurchan and probably many more. Wikipedia, that font of all knowledge (and quite a lot of merde) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_sand tells more.

 

[bikedaft]

(singing sands) and pretty much all of the west coast of s uist and benbecula

 

[DaveS]

On my first visit to Eigg we anchored off the pier and walked to the singing sands. A collie met us and walked ahead of us, pausing at each junction to see if we were still following. Once we reached the sands it left. We reckoned it was specially trained by the Tourist Board...

 

[bilbobaggins]

A collie met us and walked ahead of us

I've heard of 'herding cats', but herding tourists conjures up a fine picture....