Second luncheon taken, we left the sandy beach and headed once more into the Sound of Arisaig.
We were now looking almost directly across to Rois-Bheinn, with the rocky point of Rubha Chaolais in the middle distance. This point forms the tip of the Ardnish (high headland) peninsula, with Loch Ailort to the south of it and Loch nan Uamh to the north.
To the east of the beach we'd just left the coastline changes quite markedly. Gone are the sandy beaches, to be replaced by rocky outcrops...
Of contorted Gneisses which also show the effects of glaciation.
The bays change from sand to pebble or shingle. The grey pebbles of this beach are rounded by constant wave action, and when wet appear to be highly polished. The outwardly uniform greys are shot with fine lines of red, cream and green. It's one of our favourite pebble beaches.
When we landed on this beach for third luncheon (it really was that kind of a leisurely day!) Phil made the stomach -lurching discovery that he'd left the drybag containing his wallet and car keys on the previous beach. Fortunately the tide was still ebbing so there was little chance of it having floated away, so he set off at high speed to recover it. We all offered to head back that way, but Phil was already on his way! Shortly afterward, a call on the VHF confirmed that to his relief the bag was right where he thought it was. We got our things together and headed out to meet him.
The sun was beginning to dip as we started to head back across the Sound of Arisaig, the low angle highlighting the features of the hills and the light taking on a warm tint. It was to turn into a quite exceptional evening.
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