PAUL MURTON, TV PRESENTER AND AUTHOR
Where is it?
Mull. But the question of a favourite place is a bit like asking who your favourite child is. Having spent a lifetime wandering around Scotland, I find it impossible to settle on a single place that I love above all others. There are probably dozens high in my affections for different reasons.
Some evoke happy memories, others appeal because of the sheer majesty of the scenery, and others again have an atmosphere that defies description – places that strike an inner chord that connects one to something transcendent.
However, shifting the criteria a little, I could name a shell sand bay on the north end of Mull that is special to me because of its place in my own story. It's called Langamull.
To get there involves a mile-long tramp from my mother-in-law's house, crossing fields of rashes, jumping a peaty burn, passing through a rickety gate and onto the machair where the reward is, to my mind, the finest view in the Hebrides.
Why do you go there?
My mother-in-law lived on Mull for more than 30 years. The family would spend an entire day beside the sea at this hidden gem of a beach, swimming, exploring rockpools or just enjoying the magnificent view – which takes in a great sweep of horizon, including Ardnamurchan Point, the Cuillins on Skye, Eigg, Rum, Canna, Coll and, when it was really clear, the hills of South Uist.
How often do you go?
When the children were small, we spent our holidays with my mother-in-law on Mull. Come rain or shine, we would head down to Langamull. Usually, we were the only people there. We'd light a fire of driftwood, have an impromptu barbecue and splash in the crystal-clear water as the tide ebbed and flowed throughout the day.
How did you discover it?
My girlfriend Nicky took me there early on in our relationship, a couple of years before we were married, so it's a place that's romantically entangled in both our lives.
READ MORE: Scotland from the Sky presenter James Crawford on the town he most loves to visit
What's your favourite memory?
Sharing a day with our granddaughter recently on the beach was a special moment – introducing the next generation to a place that's meant so much to the whole family
Who do you take?
Generally, whoever is on Mull with us at the time – family and friends – and anyone who will appreciate the unique atmosphere.
What do you take?
Only what we can carry or put in a wheelbarrow: swimming gear, food for a barbecue and some kindling.
What do you leave behind?
No trace except our tracks in the shell sand.
Sum it up in five words.
Clear. Bright. Blue. White heavenly.
READ MORE: Sean Batty on the Hebridean island he loves so much that he named his dog after it
What other travel spot is on your wish list?
I'd love to sail from Scotland to the Faroes and then over to Norway – something I'd once planned to do with my father who lived in Bergen. We never managed to do it before he died.
Grand Tours of Scotland's Rivers continues on Wednesdays, BBC One Scotland, at 7.30pm
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