h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

>Here's my favourite Scottish beach:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fletchphoto/698936582/<

Just looked that up on the map too. I used to have a lot of family in Greenock, just down the road. I'm now officially disgusted with my parents for never showing us around the area properly.

Don't worry, Orcus, a lot of people ask that. Lizard and Land's End is a bit of a sticking point - Land's end is more Westerly, The Lizard is more Southerly... But Land's End cashed in with a better name - it's all in marketing, you know?

I'll have to wait until later to see the pics, that site is blocked by the hospital network I'm currently on, but I will check them out.

For me, it's the isolation up there - there's no pubs, no amusements, no shops, nothing except the most empty beaches, and stunning scenery. One of my friends asked me "what can you do?" - somewhat amazed that people can have a holiday without shops/bars/amusements.
I used to go as a kid, now I take my own, and they love it. It's hardly changed since I was there - I have a photo taken by my mum in 1973 of a small community there, Kilmory. I stood in the same place 30 years later, and took another photo. One old building has been renovated, two sheds have been repainted, and the bushes have grown taller. That's the sum total of 30 years progress. It's wonderful.

100% agreed! I miss it!

I've got some photos online somewhere, but can't get to the site to provide a link - but have a look here:

http://ardnamurchan.atspace.com/

There's a couple of the best albums of the area I've come across online. Note especially Kilmory, where I stayed as a child, and Portuairk, where we go now.The caravan we hire can just be seen in this photo -

http://grahamo.jalbum.net/gallery/Portuairk/slides/P1010681.html

It's just to the right of the three cottages in a row, halfway up the hillside.

No pubs?!

No pubs.

Hence the crate of beer taking up space in the boot of the car. Nearest hotel that is licensed is about five miles away, and a couple of serious hills. And no streetlights.

I prefer to sit outside and let the scenery, and later, the incredibly clear starry skies intoxicate me.

Just *one* crate?!!!

btw...I hope someone's told you about Avon 'Skin So Soft'.

On the Lizard versus Lands End. The Lizard is definitively the most southerly point on the British mainland. The best Lands End can muster is the most south-westerly point of the British mainland, which is a bit pants.

Plus the Lizard is glorious and Lands End is an overcommercialised dump. No competition in my mind.

That wouldn't, by any chance, be to use as midge repellant, would it?? Works a treat!

Yes, just one crate. I'm usually so worn out from the day's activities that more than a couple of bottles and I'm unconscious!

Real peace, real dark, real sounds and smells and tastes on the wind...

<>

Yeah, but some places have indoor plumbing now.

burst my bubble of bliss why doncha SWL?

..And I could swear I heard someone say they have that new fangled 'electricity' in some of those villages too... Whatever you do, don't go scaring the locals with your metal horse machine thingy - park it out of sight and walk in

That electrickery - clever stuff. I've heard it can go int oa microwave and make stuff hot, but go into a fridge, and make things cold. How it knows which to do is beyond me.

Oh, and Orcus - stunning beach! Typically deserted, just how we like them! What makes them so wonderful is the view - most coastlines just finish with a view of the sea, all the way to the horizon, which is rather dull. Up there, you look out over the sea, at all the islands and mountains... spectacular. Shame on your parents!

greenock, umm that is across the river from where my parents stay, Argyll (where my parents stay) is a beautiful part of the world.

mini

We have stunning beaches near my home town in Fife too.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r166/swl_album/levenbeach.jpg

>>Oh, and Orcus - stunning beach!

Oi! It's my beach. I saw it first.

It's longer than it looks on the photo, too. It's about a mile from the nearest car park...and the next one is about twenty miles. There's loads of 'spoots' (razor clams that squirt jets of water when you approach) and queenie shells as big as dinner plates.

a bike! Don't you just love beaches that keep on giving?

A beach with public transport thrown in free

I *am* familiar with quite a lot of Scotlands scenery Moonhogg, just not that one. My memory of going to Greenock (from Glasgow) is seeing the volcanic plug on the other side of the Clyde, just before you get to the Scott-Lithgow gantry cranes.

Actually my parents only ever ventured out as far as Ben Lomond and the loch generally when I was growing up. So I mostly just got to see familial areas of Glasgow.
I've venture up to Loch Ness, the Great Glen, Lochaber and such off my own back though.

What I like about the scenery is its naturalness. Really nice to see river, sea and lake edges the way nature intended and not with concrete banks and such.

It's quite good like that down here in Wales. Can I recommend the Gower peninsula just outside Swansea to you? http://www.petsgotoo.co.uk/listingImages/Three_Cliffs-1211d54b5ef4d2f1e37f1f183f8dcdc3eef18033.jpg