Can you stand any more pictures of beaches? I have decided you can. Ardroil is in the middle of nowhere - and about five lucky crofters own the land around it, so you have to pay to camp. And how do they cash in on this natural wonder? By charging £2 a night. You go up to the house nearest the beach and there's a little guy there you pay your money to who always seems to be in - in fact I think he's been standing behind the door since last year. Mind you, if I were him, I wouldn't go anywhere either.
There's absolutely nothing there except a public loo in a portakabin with a tap on the side about 250m back up the track. Go past it and you find yourself on a small flat area of machair overlooking a beach that fills with water up to six inches deep at high tide, completely dry except for a fresh water stream across it at low tide. I went there last year for a Kite Festival where we had great bonfires on the beach and not much wind, but I did try kite buggying. This time, no kites and very few people there at all. And not enough wind for my 2m kite - it needs quite a lot otherwise I can't launch it on my own, although it's fine when it gets up there - but I was quite content to wander, and look at the sand.
I'd actually planned to go back to Stornoway for a reunion party with the HebCeltFest organisers, but when I got back to Stornoway intending to camp on the ferry quay for two days I was overcome with the desire to get away again, party or no party. I am afraid that the lure of the scenery has beaten the desire for human interaction again. And also the funfair had come to town, and the booming music made the sea front seem incredibly tawdry (and it comes to something when you feel Stornoway is too urban). So at 6pm I drove all the way back west again, got there at 8, and heaved a sigh of relief. I had the ferry back to the mainland not the next day but very early the morning after, so it could only be one night, but the sunset (sorry, but it was of Sistine Chapel quality) and the next day's wandering about the bay, plus a big clean-out of the van, made the whole thing worthwhile. There was a little island in the bay you could climb onto and I left Bonnie's lead there by accident - but it seemed a useful sacrifice to the gods of Sand, Sea, and Sky.
It was good to go back. Last time, Bonnie and I both got bronchitis on this beach, possibly because of staying out until 2am each night by the bonfire, which seemed warm but probably wasn't. This time, I'm conscious that Bonnie is getting old (I seem to be about the same as last year, and possibly a bit fitter) because she's had various new problems since we last came. So the final photo is one I'll probably cherish. She won't last for ever, and it'll be nice to remember all the times we made tracks together in wonderful places.
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