Endurance cyclist Emily Chappell on her love for Mellon Udrigle, Wester Ross
Where is it?
A tiny clachan called Mellon Udrigle, hidden away along a dead-end road on the Rubha Mor peninsula in Wester Ross. There’s not much there - just a scattering of crofters’ cottages, a beautiful golden beach and millions of tiny seashells.
Why do you go there?
To listen to the waves, look up at the deeply familiar mountain skyline and feel like I’m a long way from the rest of the world.
How often do you go?
Not as often as I’d like.
How did you discover it?
My mother’s family spent their summer holidays there in the 1950s, my siblings and I were taken there in the 1980s and I’ve been back a few times as an adult, mostly just on day trips.
For a few years there didn’t seem to be a property you could rent, but now there is again, so I’m hoping to go for a proper holiday in the next year.
What’s your favourite memory?
I was a very free-range child and would spend hours on my own, exploring every inch of the beaches, headlands, rockpools and trails (don’t tell my mother about my rock-climbing adventures on the cliffs.)
I remember really enjoying a treasure hunt my father set for us, with clues laid all over the territory we had got to know. There was one hidden in a cairn out on the headland and another buried on the beach.
It must have taken us hours to find them all and 10-year-old me would have been very excited about whatever small edible treat awaited us at the end. Now, of course, it’s the treasure hunt itself that is the fondest memory.
Who do you take?
Only very special people.
What do you take?
On childhood holidays I remember taking a huge stack of library books and working my way through them on rainy days.
Next time I visit I’ll hopefully be midway through writing one, so I’ll be accompanied by a laptop, some notebooks, and a very large number of Post-it notes. And my knitting, for when it all gets too much.
What do you leave behind?
Mellon Udrigle is one of the places where I feel most reliably connected to my childhood self, so I’ll be trying very hard to leave behind all of the anxieties of adulthood.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there won’t be much of a phone signal, so that I can ignore my responsibilities for a while.
Sum it up in five words.
Peaceful. Remote. Sandy. Mountainous. Magical.
What other travel spot is on your wish list?
Next summer I’m hoping to make it to the North Ronaldsay Sheep Festival, where visitors help locals to rebuild the stone dyke that protects the island’s famous seaweed-eating sheep.
It combines so many of the things I love: physical exertion, island scenery, good Scottish hospitality and - I hope - knitting.
Emily Chappell hosts the popular Inside Out series at Edinburgh International Book Festival, with events on August 10, 11, 17 and 24. For tickets, visit edbookfest.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here