“Sandaig Bay on the Knoydart Peninusla is incredibly wild. It can only be accessed by a kayak or by walking about 5km and was immortalised inby Gavin Maxwell, who spent time there with his pet otters. I’ve camped there and had it completely to myself.
Afterwards, I’ll sit around a campfire, talking nonsense with friends, and because the bay is so far north, in summer the daylight seems to last forever. But I’ve even paddled there in the middle of winter, when it’s freezing, because then you get the northern lights, and the aurora crackling over the sky at night is beyond fabulous.
It’s a sensory experience which is so enriching, compared to practising yoga within the four walls of an urban studio.My students and I often get into a meditative state, for example, by focusing on the sound of the waves breaking. Being out in the big open space of the beach generally makes people less self conscious as well – the ocean and the wide expanse of the bay brings a sense of freedom and possibility. It allows me to quickly disconnect from the troubles of the outside world.
I write by hand in school exercise books and I have sat on that beach many times and written stories. Even the rocks on that beach have got stories to tell. There are probably more wrecks around Scilly than anywhere else in the world, because it’s right at the entrance to the Channel. Sailors for centuries have sailed too close: get on the wrong side of the wind at Rushy Bay, and nothing will stop you getting blown on to the rocks.
I think it’s important to experience that restorative power of nature, and to understand that if we don’t care for the sea, if we keep destroying our planet and putting plastic and pollution in the ocean, we won’t have that respite any more. We won’t be able to experience that restoration. And it will be heartbreaking.”“My favourite beach is Catterline Bay on the north-east coast of Scotland.