Achnahaird, Highland
★★★★
Achnahaird Bay is the biggest beach on the isolated Coigach peninsula west of Ullapool. It’s worth the long (and very scenic) trip to reach it: although only a few hundred metres long, the sand extends (at low tide) for a mile up from the mouth of the Allt Loch Raa, with an interesting strip of rock pools and tiny rocky bays on its west side. The jewel in the crown is the spectacular backdrop of the mountains of Assynt and Coigach to the northeast: Cùl Mòr, Stac Pollaidh and Ben More Coigach among the most distinctive.
Location
O.S. Grid Reference: NC 019137
GPS coordinates: 58.068212,-5.359870
No public transport within 1 mi
Car park (gets full) at
From the car park it’s a 5-min walk southeast to the beach on a grassy coast path.
Related Features
Walk: Making music on Ben More Coigach
Coigach, Highland★★★★ The great wall of Garbh Choireachan is well seen from the main road north of Ullapool, creating a formidable barrier blocking direct access to the Coigach peninsula. After a tough initial ascent on pathless ground, traversing the western half of the ridge makes a fantastic, airy but…
Summer Isles viewpoint (Altandhu)
Altandhu, Highland★★★ In a landscape as special as Coigach, every bend in the single-track road seems to reveal a new, wondrous panorama. Of all these, perhaps the very best (roadside) viewpoints are from the strip of tarmac running across the Rubha Mòr promontory between Achnahaird Bay and Altandhu. From…
Camas a’ Charraig
Mellon Udrigle, Highland★★★★ The remote Rubha Mòr headland extends north from Aultbea and Laide, bordered by the beautiful inlets of Loch Ewe and Gruinard Bay. The two curiously-named, main villages - Mellon Charles and Mellon Udrigle - have names derived from the Gaelic meallan (small, flat-topped hill) and are…
