"Ring Of Bright Water" by Gavin Maxwell meant nothing to me until last week when we anchored Samen off the lovely bay bordered by loch Hourn in the sound of Sleat on the West coast of Scotland, its name Sandaig Bay.

There had been no wind to speak of all day, in fact for most of the summer, 5 knots at most and my partner Jan and I had left our previous nights anchorage at the South entrance to the Kyle Rhea under sail late in the morning with a favourable tide heading in the general direction of the Small Isles. We slowly drifted along bordered on our right by the high hills of the Isle of Skye and our left by the thickly wooded pine forests of the mainland. The Sound is only a mile or so wide hence the tides flow at a knot or so and subsequently the marine wildlife is abundant. In the course of the morning we saw several minke whales and a number of porpoises feeding. Midday the tide began to turn against us and we had just passed a small light house set on a small island linked to the mainland via several islets and stripes of fabulous white shell sand. Around the island Sandaig bay came into view- complete with steeply wooded hills and a brilliant white cottage with a matt black tin roof.

It was not hard to make the decision to stop early and with almost no wind we ghosted into the shallow bay dropping the anchor under sail. Utter bliss, to a yachtsman; a day with no noisy engine intrusion. Surrounded by sheer beauty and utter tranquility.

We rowed ashore and looked at the shuttered and padlocked cottage- a sad reflection on today’s lack of respect on the one hand and lack of trust on the other. To one side in the lush green grass together with the hairy highland cows we found a plaque. "Beneath this boulder at the site of Camusfeárna lie the ashes of Gavin Maxwell" That was intriguing to me, it was presumably the same who had lived at another idyllic spot that I so admired on the island of Soay where he had attempted to run a shark oil business venture, alas or perhaps thank goodness it failed and all that now remains are the ramshackle buildings and an old stationary steam engine. A little further on near an idyllic burn that had a lovely golden tint to the water we discovered a second memorial to ;"Edal- The otter in Ring of Bright Water". "Let the joy she brought to you, now give back to nature."

A touching epitaph to an animal and so all that remains to fulfil my inquisitiveness is to find a copy of the book.

Sandaig has a lot to offer, it is best reached directly by boat but it can be reached by foot via forestry tracks from Inverie, itself a remote community on the Knoydart peninsular. Fine deciduous trees with rich wood land plants intermingle with pine and line the sides of the burn that has very steep sides in places. It is in fact also called "The Bay of Alders". Deep pools are interrupted by waterfalls twisting out of sight up into the hill side. Mosses and ferns fill every nook and cranny whilst the wild iris put up a fine show of colour in the shadows. The islands can be reached at spring low tides the beaches are all white broken shells and hidden among the grains we found several cowry shells and lots of coral fragments items I usually associate with the Pacific ocean. I later learnt these are rare cold water corals.

Yes it is easy to sit here and feel the same pull Gavin Maxwell must have felt and say; "I want to live here".

Written on board Yacht Samen July 2000

Well so much water has flowed and so much time has passed, I have just heard the cry of a seagull but alas only on the radio, part of a pop single from Travis. I am at home in Shalstone, the middle of the Midlands in the middle of the country literally and geographically. I have read two of Gavin Maxwell’s books; "Ring Of Bright Water" and "Harpoon At A Venture" They cover a period in Gavin Maxwell’s life as he changes from a hunter to a lover of wildlife. I have visited both Soay harbour and Sandaig bay many times since, in fact only last September I chartered a yacht and we stopped in the idyllic spot for a few hours. Little has changed, the cold water coral is still to be found on the beach, we spent our time beach combing collecting little shells. The mood there swings like a sun driven pendulum, bright, warm and light to dark and brooding with menacing clouds sweeping in from the west. The memory of Gavin Maxwell was awakened in me a fortnight ago whilst I was in hospital having an operation on my hand. A male nurse on the night shift told me that he had seen me reading a yachting magazine and he too was interested in boats. In our conversation I asked if he had a boat. Indeed he had and it was moored in the Thames near Henley. He told me that it was an old motor torpedo boat from the last war. That sparked me to recall that an MTB was used in Scotland on the Island of Soay as a Shark hunting vessel. I recommended to him that he read a book called "Harpoon at a Venture" by Gavin Maxwell. I know that well he said showing me his name tag; John Maxwell. I am his cousin! It is a strange and sometimes small world we all live in. I read in a book yesterday of a young man quoted as saying that anyone who believes in coincidence is not paying attention. Strange indeed!

Andrew White

Shalstone July 2006