A mysterious beach and tantalising treasures.

Murderous mayhem

I was not present in Culduie on the day of the murders and only heard about them on my return. Today, the two of us are present in Culduie, the starting point of our walk. The sentence above is from a book I am currently reading.

His Bloody project details the decidedly gruesome murders that a young Roderick Macrae commits in the late eighteen hundreds. In doing so it outlines how hard crofting life was in the late 18th century. The route we take today leads us to Aird Dubh, which, to my surprise, I see mentioned on one of the maps in the book. What will we encounter today on our way to the beach?

Maggie and Milly and Molly and May

I am almost always reminded of this poem whenever I am at a beach, especially beaches that have tide pools full of treasures waiting to be discovered. When I was a little girl one of our neighbours wrote a poem in my  poetry book describing me with my head down discovering rare finds in hedges and grasses on the side of the road. At the beach, any beach, I am that girl again. I always come home with a treasure. Today the poem rings in my head.

maggie and millie and mollie and may / went down the beach (to play one day) _

and maggie discovered a shell that sang so sweetly / she couldn’t remember her troubles _

and milly befriended a little star / whose rays five languid fingers were; _

and mollie was chased by a horrible thing / which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: _

and may came home with a smooth round stone / as small as a world and as large as alone. _

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me) it’s always ourselves that we find at the sea.

She finds seashells at the sea shore

So this post starts with pictures of the finds gathered when pottering around the lovely white Coral beach. The two kilometer walk there and back was just as much of a find in itself. The walk up, and down, and up again, and down again was as varied as the various finds waiting to be discovered at the beach. A wee, rocky, and apparently ancient, path takes you from the hamlet of Culduie to two beaches. As mentioned Culduie, a rather messy place with houses and fishing paraphenalia piled higgeldy piggedly next to and on top of each other, features in his bloody project, the tale that allegedly took place less than a mile up the road from where we stay. Today we only encounter sunshine, peace and calm.

Aird Dubh

Close to the first beach we say goodbye to a family with small children who take their plastic bags, sunhats and bright towels and toys to a small crossing to the right which leads to Ard Ban. We follow the path that leads through a shaded, fairytale wood, accross some fields and straight to the sea. We arrive at a small inlet with what at first sight looks like derelict cottages in various stages of abandonment. On closer inspection some of these turn out to be well looked after and seemed inhabited. It is the hamlet of Ard Dubh.

Two of the houses are for sale. Should you ever want to live at a lovely secluded spot with your own natural harbour, close to a sandy beach looking out over Skye this must be the place. The sheep move around outside your garden. This lady stands and poses for us until we finish taking her picture she ambles off.

Happy place

We amble on to Coral beach to potter around, finding sea shells at the sea shore. We sit and watch and take in the calm and beauty of this sunny and secluded Scottish spot. I leave my book closed, this is no place for bloody murders; they are made up anyway just fiction. This place is real and truly a treasure to find.