Undiscovered Skye: A walk to the secret beach and peninsula of An Àird

It was a rather windy Thursday afternoon. The weather was changing rapidly, sunny one moment, raining the next, followed by showers of hailstones. Brandon and I were off work and had planned to hitchhike to Dunvegan to walk to Coral Beach from there. But when we told our colleague Steve about our plans, he instead invited us to go with him and his two dogs, Blaze and Laoch, on an adventure to a favourite place of his, a local secret. The thought of hitchhiking and possibly getting stuck in the middle of nowhere in crazy weather wasn’t that appealing, and going on a trip with Steve and his dogs sounded wonderful.

Steve and his two dogs have probably seen more of the Isle of Skye than anyone else. They used to run tours all over the island, taking tourists to unknown places or giving them unique experiences at the famous places such as the Fairy Pools and the Quiraing. One of his more unique tours is to Steve’s secret beach and peninsula, An Àird (‘the peninsula’).

As soon as Steve got off work, we set off on our adventure to An Aird. Blaze was obviously excited as he knew we were going for a walk, so he was rather noisy during the 20-minute drive. Laoch, on the other hand, never made a single sound. He did occasionally stick his face near mine, asking for pets which I willingly gave him.

While throwing tennis balls in all directions for Blaze and Laoch to catch, we walked along the beach and enjoyed being the only ones there. Showers of hailstones hit us occasionally, but generally, we were lucky with the weather. Once it cleared up, I could see why Steve keeps this place a secret. It’s gorgeous.

We walked along the sandy beach until we got to a small loch and then climbed onto the tiny peninsula, separated from the mainland of Skye by a narrow isthmus. From the top of the peninsula, the views all around were amazing. The Isle of Raasay to the east, the snow-capped mountains of the Cuillin to the south, and the rugged side of Ben Tianavaig with the Storr in the backdrop to the north. As we stood there staring in awe, a seal caught our attention as he popped his head above water as if to say hi.

We walked out to the northern tip of the peninsula, stopping every once in a while to hear Steve’s stories about certain rock formations, including the natural three-seater rock formation known to Steve as ‘Fred Flintstones Bench’. Steve has done this walk so many times and knows every corner of the peninsula.

Before heading back, Steve wanted to show us something that would get all the tourists flocking to the place if only the tour companies knew about it. The east coast surprised us with sea caves and a giant blow hole as well as the tiniest natural arch I’ve ever seen!

The walk down to the caves was rather dodgy, but it was well worth it for the unique views down to the underground. Walking past a free-standing pinnacle, we reached the tiny arch. Steve advised us not to step on the arch as he believes its days may come to an end very soon – and you do not want to be standing on it when that happens!

Walking back to the car, we took a different route. Instead of descending back down to the beach, we walked along the top of the isthmus where the view of the beaches on either side of it were visible in all their glory.

The tennis balls that we had been throwing to Blaze and Laoch were no longer with us, they had gone missing somewhere on the peninsula, waiting for the crew to return for their next adventure at this wonderful hidden gem.

This post is not sponsored, although Steve did take us on this trip for free. As of 2024, it unfortunately seems that Steve no longer does tours on Skye as his website is no longer active.