A day out to remember

Well it's been a couple of days to remember, yesterday I was on a mission. When I first met Kirsty I remember her saying that her favourite film was Local Hero. A film based in Scotland, in which I remember seeing the beautiful beach that an American oil company wanted to buy and turn into a big refinery. The only problem was Ben. He owned the beach, and it wasn't for sale. It was a beautiful beach, white sands, clear sea, stunning views of Rhum, Eigg, Skye. Magic.

In planning this trip, we made sure we would visit Arisaig, 7 miles from Ben's beach. So where better to propose?

Only problem was how to get there. 7 mile walk anyone?

Being remote Scotland, it has the same regular bus service as rural Cornwall, two buses a day, if you happen to be there on the right day.

In spite of Kirsty graduating with a masters from Oxford, the time table perplexed us both. Taxi? From where? OK, lets take the train. Arisaig has the most westerly station in Britain and Ben's beach is only one stop and a walk away.

We got to the station to at 13:58 only to find the train left at 13:54. Or should have left, there was another woman waiting for a train so we stood around, not knowing whether we were 2 hours early for the next train, or the 13:54 was late. It was 14:03, when the train rolled into view. So far so good.

The return train was at 16:15. This gave us two hours to get there and back, I looked at the map and it looked possible. We walked along a hot road though rugged scenery for 50 minutes, and got to the beach just in time to leave to get the train back. The view was stunning. Bright yellow broom flowers against a deep blue cloudless sky, walking on soft white sand towards a beach that I'd only ever seen on a film. I didn't know what to expect, would it be busy, cheesy or full of sunburnt England fans? Thankfully not.

The effort to get there was worth it. The most beautiful view from a beach that I can remember. I've been to the Seychelles but the view from "Ben's Beach" was stunning, it might not have palm trees and Coco de mer on it's shores but Ben's beach is one of the most stunning beaches I've been to.

We weren't going to make the train, but we'd find another way of getting back. Kirsty's parents were coming to visit, maybe they could pick us up.



We sat on rocks on the corner of the beach looking out over the Sound of Sleat. We ate our sandwiches, and I was trying to think of an excuse to take a piece of foil out of my wallet to make into a ring. Let me explain...I was using a foil ring because Kirsty had said "A ring isn't important, it can be made out of foil, if you mean it" So when Kirsty offered me a Kit Kat, I had the foil I needed, I swiftly scoffed the Kit Kat and played with the foil, hoping Kirsty wouldn't see or guess what I was up to. With the ring shaped foil ready for the moment Kirsty started packing up the stuff. It was then I asked her. She said "Are you being serious?" a chance I took with a foil ring I suppose. I reassured her I was, and she said "yes".


The plan is to get to Orkney and buy Kirsty a Orcadian ring. Lucky Duck is looking after the foil ring for the moment.

We walked along to the next few beaches, until returning to Ben's beach to meet up with Kirsty's parents and tell them the good news. All four of us went back to Arisaig and had a drink to celebrate. Kirsty and I headed back to Pixie to get changed for dinner, but the forecast of 4 or 5 occasionally force 6 was actually a force 7 with gusts up to 38 knots. Kirsty grabbed a lift with a kind man with a RIB to get a load of supplies back to Pixie, I took Sprite our tender back. It was very rough in the harbour for a little tender, and too rough to go back into the wind for dinner, so that was postponed until tonight.