Achmelvich
Encyclopedia
Highland (council area)
Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute. Their councils, and those of Angus and...
region of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The name comes from the Gaelic "Achadh" - a plain or meadow and "mealvaich" - sandy dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
s . (An unsurprising name as the beach is dominated by sandy dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
s and machair
Machair (geography)
The machair refers to a fertile low-lying grassy plain found on some of the north-west coastlines of Ireland and Scotland, in particular the Outer Hebrides...
.)
Location
Achmelvich lies three miles north west of LochinverLochinver
Lochinver is a village on the coast in the Assynt district of Sutherland, Highland, Scotland. A few miles northeast is Loch Assynt which is the source of the River Inver which flows into Loch Inver at the village. There are 200 or so lochans in the area which makes the place very popular with...
, and 40 miles north of Ullapool
Ullapool
Ullapool is a small town of around 1,300 inhabitants in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest settlement for many miles around, and is a major tourist destination of Scotland. The North Atlantic Drift passes by Ullapool, bringing moderate temperatures...
, in the north west of the Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, accessed by single track road
Single track road
A single-track road or one-lane road is a road that permits two-way travel but is not wide enough in most places to allow vehicles to pass one another . This kind of road is common in rural areas across the United Kingdom and elsewhere...
which leads from the B869 coastal tourist route. Despite the difficult road, the area is popular with tourists.
Settlement and facilities
Beach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
. There are two camping
Camping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
& caravan
Travel trailer
A travel trailer or caravan is towed behind a road vehicle to provide a place to sleep which is more comfortable and protected than a tent . It provides the means for people to have their own home on a journey or a vacation, without relying on a motel or hotel, and enables them to stay in places...
parks open for business, both have residential caravan
Travel trailer
A travel trailer or caravan is towed behind a road vehicle to provide a place to sleep which is more comfortable and protected than a tent . It provides the means for people to have their own home on a journey or a vacation, without relying on a motel or hotel, and enables them to stay in places...
s to let, although only one has pitches for tent
Tent
A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over or attached to a frame of poles or attached to a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using guy ropes tied to stakes or tent pegs...
s, camper vans
Campervan
A campervan , sometimes referred to simply as a camper, or a caravanette, is a self-propelled vehicle that provides both transport and sleeping accommodation. The term mainly describes vans that have been fitted out, often with a coachbuilt body for use as accommodation...
and caravans . There is also a small laundrette, shop and a takeaway
Takeaway
Takeaway can refer to:* Take-out food* The Takeaway , an American public radio morning news show* Turnover * Turnover * Subtraction—an alternative name...
. These sites overlook the beach
Beach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
, with views out into the Minch as well as Port Altan Na Bradhan.
The main beach car park is separated from the beach by the machair
Machair (geography)
The machair refers to a fertile low-lying grassy plain found on some of the north-west coastlines of Ireland and Scotland, in particular the Outer Hebrides...
and has recently been upgraded. The Youth Hostel, Tourist Information Hut and Public Toilet
Toilet
A toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
s are all located by the main beach car park. The car park is also the starting point for a walk to the ruined meall mill at Altan Na Bradhan.
Tourist attractions
The white sandy beach and clean water quality attract those interested in the outdoors and watersports with Water-skiing, windsurfingWindsurfing
Windsurfing or sailboarding is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually two to four metres long, powered by the orthogonal effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a...
and coasteering
Coasteering
Coasteering is a physical activity that encompasses movement along the intertidal zone of a rocky coastline on foot or by swimming, without the aid of boats, surf boards or other craft. It is difficult to define the precise boundaries between, for example, rockpooling and ocean swimming...
being popular pursuits on the beach. The production of a beach management guide in 2004 led to dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s being banned from the beach during the peak tourist season and neither of the camping and caravan sites allow dogs.
The unique morphology of the area, means there are many nearby walks and climbs, including the famous Suilven
Suilven
Suilven is one of the most distinctive mountains in Scotland. Lying in a remote area in the west of Sutherland, it rises almost vertically from a wilderness landscape of moorland, bogs and lochans known as Inverpolly National Nature Reserve....
, for those interested in hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
. The Inchnadamph
Inchnadamph
Inchnadamph is a hamlet in Assynt, Sutherland, Scotland. The name is an anglicisation of the Gaelic name Innis nan Damh meaning 'meadow of the stags'...
National Nature Reserve, which is well within driving distance, has many caves
Caving
Caving—also occasionally known as spelunking in the United States and potholing in the United Kingdom—is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems...
and pot holes
Caving
Caving—also occasionally known as spelunking in the United States and potholing in the United Kingdom—is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems...
as well as being the access route to Conival
Conival
Conival is a Scottish mountain situated in Assynt in the Sutherland area of the Highland Council Area, 30 kilometres north-northeast of the town of Ullapool.- Overview :...
and Ben More Assynt
Ben More Assynt
Ben More Assynt is a mountain in Assynt in the far north-west of Scotland, north-north-east of the town of Ullapool...
, the area's two Munros.
There are also plenty of fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
opportunities to be had both in the sea, with cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
, haddock
Haddock
The haddock , also known as the offshore hake, is a marine fish distributed on both sides of the North Atlantic. Haddock is a popular food fish and is widely fished commercially....
, whiting
Merlangius merlangus
Merlangius merlangus, commonly known as whiting is an important food fish in the eastern North Atlantic, northern Mediterranean, western Baltic, and Black Sea...
, pollack
Pollack
Pollack is a surname, and may refer to:* Alan W. Pollack, musicologist* Andrea Pollack , swimmer* Ben Pollack , drummer and bandleader* Brittany Pollack, New York City Ballet dancer* David M. Pollack, , American football linebacker...
, saithe and mackerel being common catches, or in the local lochs (subject to permit of course) which are stocked with trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
, salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
and Arctic char
Arctic char
Arctic char or Arctic charr is both a freshwater and saltwater fish in the Salmonidae family, native to Arctic, sub-Arctic and alpine lakes and coastal waters. No other freshwater fish is found as far north. It is the only species of fish in Lake Hazen, on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic...
.
Assynt
Assynt
Assynt is a civil parish in west Sutherland, Highland, Scotland – north of Ullapool.It is famous for its landscape and its remarkable mountains...
is renowned for having diverse wildlife and Achmelvich is no exceptions with cetaceans, seal
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
s, basking shark
Basking shark
The basking shark is the second largest living fish, after the whale shark. It is a cosmopolitan migratory species, found in all the world's temperate oceans. It is a slow moving and generally harmless filter feeder and has anatomical adaptations to filter feeding, such as a greatly enlarged...
s, otter
Otter
The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....
s, pine marten
Pine Marten
The European Pine Marten , known most commonly as the pine marten in Anglophone Europe, and less commonly also known as Pineten, baum marten, or sweet marten, is an animal native to Northern Europe belonging to the mustelid family, which also includes mink, otter, badger, wolverine and weasel. It...
s, osprey
Osprey
The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...
s and White-tailed Eagle
White-tailed Eagle
The White-tailed Eagle , also known as the Sea Eagle, Erne , or White-tailed Sea-eagle, is a large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which includes other raptors such as hawks, kites, and harriers...
s having been seen in the area.
There is also a small artist's studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
at Achmelvich that sells artwork and prints, as well as a gift shop on the road overlooking Loch Roe which sells geological gifts such as semi-precious stones
Gemstones
Gemstones is the third solo album by Adam Green, released in 2005. The album is characterised by the heavy presence of Wurlitzer piano, whereas its predecessor relied on a string section in its instrumentation.-Track listing:#Gemstones – 2:24...
.
"Hermit's Castle"
Bothy
A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are to be found in remote, mountainous areas of Scotland, northern England, Ireland, and Wales....
.
The detail design of this structure may give a clue to its popular name, as the entrance aperture (it can hardly be called a doorway) consists of a tall but very narrow slit barely a foot wide. In this regard the design may be said to approach the concept of an anchorite
Anchorite
Anchorite denotes someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, and—circumstances permitting—Eucharist-focused life...
's (or hermit's) cell, a ceremonially bricked up enclosure whose sole access was only large enough to allow for the passage of food in and waste out.
Another feature of great interest is that the structure is perched quite high above, and close to the edge of, a small inlet of the sea, and the above mentioned aperture is on the seaward side. This results in the need to enter the Castle from below. Such a location also suggests a defensive aspect to the design. Combined with the quite strong resemblance to a pill-box or similar military structure, this leads one to speculate exactly what the Castle's architect designer had in his mind when building it.
The photographs at provide an excellent illustration of these aspects of the Castle.
Traditions
The majority of the tourists to Achmelvich are regular visitors, some of whom have visited the area for forty years. A group of these regular visitors are responsible for creating several Achmelvich traditions including the annual SandcastleSandCastle
Sandcastle is a documentation generator from Microsoft that automatically produces MSDN style reference documentation out of reflection information of .NET assemblies and XML documentation comments found in the source code of these assemblies...
contest and mini-Olympic Games, as well as the creation of Shoo! Ball, derived from both Murder Ball and Netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
. (The game was originally played with a bottle of Shoo! midge
Midge (insect)
Midges comprise many kinds of very small two-winged flies found world-wide. The term does not encapsulate a well-defined taxonomic group, but includes animals in several families of Nematoceran Diptera. While some midges are vectors for disease, many others play useful roles as prey items for...
repellent used as a ball). The aquatic version of this game is called Dubh Ball as it usually played in the nearby Loch Dubh.