Author Archives: manonabeach

About manonabeach

On a beach…welcome to manonabeach.com, where I’ll regularly add video of my beach visits, so you can enjoy a flavour of the beach, even when you’re not there.

Staithes

Season: summer

Staithes has a small beach and is best known as a picturesque fishing port. It is also popular with artists. There’s a rich history here too, as seen in the discovery of a sea henge in the bay during recent excavations. You can learn about its past from a guided history tour and the area is still well known for minerals, such as jet, alum and potash. This stretch of coastline has recently been branded “The Dinosaur Coast”, due to fossil discoveries. Most residents live on the hill behind the harbour, so the coastal part of Staithes retains a historical feel.

What the beach means to Bethan.

A fine day on a high tide at Staithes.

Clashnessie beach

Season: summer

Clashnessie Falls were in spate after recent heavy rainfall, but conditions were benign for this early morning return visit to the Assynt peninsula. Also known as Red Beach, there is indeed an ochre tinge to the sands, particularly on the main strand, more so than around the corner at low tide. If you drive past the beach and look back, the turquoise sea and the ancient setting here are spectacular. It’s well worth walking along to enjoy the falls, located above the burn which leads over the beach to the sea.

With Alan and Fiona above Clashnessie beach on Assynt.

The scene at Clashnessie.

Season: summer

Clashnessie is one of three stunning beaches from the series on the Assynt peninsula. It is located beside Clashnessie Bay on the sheltered northern side of the peninsula. As a bathing proposition, it is safe for all the family and has clean sand. A nearby attraction is Clasnessie Falls, just over a mile upstream, accessed via a footpath from the bay, alongside the burn. There is a fifteen metres fall for the water at this point. Highly recommended.

Behind the Red Beach at Clashnessie.

Another view of the beach.

Achmelvich beach

Season: summer

An elemental tranquility pervades Achmelvich beach. You notice it on your approach over the machair from the car park. As you reach the beach via the dunes, you are surrounded by evidence of its volcanic origins, including granite outcrops that appear to have cooled only yesterday. The sand is white and as fine as powder, on this occasion plentiful at low tide. The Scottish school holidays had brought children and kayakers to this part of the coast, so excited young voices mingled with the sounds of nature, a real pleasure.

The generational appeal of the beach.

A beach in the Highlands.

Season: summer

Like the two other Assynt beaches in the series, Achmelvich is stunningly beautiful, with facilities including a beach side campsite. The quality of the bathing water here has been judged as first class, allowing this beach to display the prestigious yellow flag. The surface of the beach is made up of white sand and there are acres of space at low tide.

What brings Tony to the beach.

A view from the back of the beach…

…and from closer to the sea.