A simple “there and back” walk to the popular Coral Beach near Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye.
On Location: 15th April 2024
Parking: The parking area for this walk is at the end of the single tracked road at Glen Claigan north of Dunvegan. Expect this area to be busy during high season. Please park responsibly and use the litter bins etc provided. What 3 Words location ///amounting.lived.campers Grid reference: NG 22342 55062
Refreshments: There are no toilets or refreshments available locally. The nearest facilities are at Dunvegan, 5km to the south.
Introduction: I had read about this beach and decided to pay it a visit as we were on the island. On this day the weather was a bit mixed but we did have some good spells of sunshine. The walk is quite straightforward but good footwear is needed as some of the paths may be muddy after rain.
Note: We revisited the Coral Beach a couple of days later. The blog post of that visit includes a walking route and a film of the walk. Here is the link to that page.
The car park has spaces for about 15 well parked cars, there are rubbish bins also at this location. After parking up we took the track at the far end of the area. Just as you reach the track you will see an information board about the Coral Beach, well worth a read.
The track can be muddy in places but it is easy to follow.
We had mixed weather today. A heavy rain shower over Loch Dunvegan and a transiting cruise ship.
Most of the coast here is made up of rocks. There are very few sandy beaches on the Isle of Skye.
Continuing towards the Coral Beach we walked on the well made path and passed through this gap in the wall.
A short distance further on the aspect of the Coral Beach comes into view. Even for April there were quite a few other visitors here.
Closer to the Coral Beach. Don’t expect to see a huge expanse of sandy beach, it’s not like that.
Lovely patches of sunshine. The slight hill is Cnoc Mor a Ghrobain which rises to 28m.
The beach isn’t actually made up of sand but fine particles of bleached Red Coralline which get washed up from Maerl beds offshore.
Patterns of breaking waves on the shore.
We headed to the northern-most point, beyond is the small uninhabited island of Iosaigh (Isay Island).
A simple, easy climb to the top of Cnoc Mor a Ghrobain. A fabulous place to take in the views of Loch Dunvegan. From here we headed back to the car park via the outward route.
One last look back at the Coral Beach.
There was plenty of wildlife about including a couple of Rock Pipits which were foraging around on the rocky shore. Not a bird that I had seen before.
We enjoyed our visit to Coral Beach so much so that we returned just a couple of days later. As I mentioned earlier, in high season it will be popular so be prepared for parking issues and lots of others enjoying this lovely location.
Thanks for reading
