HE HAS braved the Siberian tundra, cooked in the African desert and spent time in a galaxy far, far away only to confirm the maxim: there is no place like home. Ewan McGregor, the Scots actor who motorcycled around the world, has chosen a remote Highland beach as his favourite spot on earth.
The actor, who starred in the recent Star Wars trilogy, has chosen Camusdarach beach near Arisaig, the stretch of sand whose pale-blue waters featured in the film Local Hero, which starred his uncle, Denis Lawson.
After completing two round-the-world trips by motorbike in recent years, McGregor is planning a holiday at home in Scotland, which will include a visit to the beach where he played as a child. When asked in the latest edition of Travel magazine to name his favourite spot in the world, he said: “It has to be Camusdarach beach, near Arisaig in the Highlands. We used to camp there when I was a kid.”
The choice may come as a surprise given his extensive travels. McGregor, for the TV series Long Way Down, motorbiked with friend Charley Boorman 15,000 miles from John o’ Groats to Cape Town.
Four years ago, the pair made headlines when they undertook a 20,000-mile bike run, which took them to eastern Europe, Mongolia, Siberia and Alaska before completing their epic adventure in New York.
The success of Local Hero means the beach is also known as Ben’s beach, after the character in the film who lived on it, yet it is also famous for its stunning sunsets and was last year rated one of the top ten beaches in Britain. The spot was also used for an episode of Hamish Macbeth, when in No Man is an Island Hamish sails to an island where he meets Belle Carter on the beach.
McGregor also told the magazine how he was once told to strip off for US customs officers. The star has made a habit of revealing all, and has peeled off in many movies including Young Adam and Trainspotting. But at Chicago Airport, McGregor was told to strip once again – because of his role as heroin addict Mark Renton in Trainspotting.
He said: “US customs realised I was from Trainspotting, and sent me over to the red immigration zone to be stripped off. I’m an actor, for Christ’s sake! I’m not really a heroin addict.”
Angela Simpson, owner of Camusdarach Campsite, said she was not surprised that the actor had chosen the beach. “It is a very special place for many people. At the moment, it is breathtaking. It’s hot, the sky is bright blue, the dunes are covered in golden gorse, the bluebells are out and there lambs everywhere. It’s just tremendous.”
Brian Pendreigh, the film writer and author of On Location: A Film Fan’s Guide to the United Kingdom and Ireland, said Local Hero illustrated the beauty of Scotland. “They took a long time finding just the right beach, and it is lovely.”
READERS COMBING SCOTLAND’S BEACHES FOR THEIR FAVOURITES FOR Ewan McGregor, there are other beautiful beaches, but only the one at Camusdarach deserves recognition as his favourite spot. Readers of The Scotsman have listed their own preferences for a quiet beach in Scotland and among the favourites listed in the weekly Recommends section were:
• Coral Beaches on Skye: “It’s an easy walk and the sand is lovely once you get there. It’s not actually coral, apparently, but some kind of dried algae.”
• Longniddry Bents, East Lothian: “A strand of gorgeous beaches in East Lothian, popular with sunseekers from Edinburgh but not nearly as busy as the sands down the coast at Gullane.”
• Mangersta, Lewis: “On the far west coast of Lewis, this is a gem of a beach, incredibly secluded and probably one of the most unusual that you will ever visit.”
• Sanna Bay, Ardnamurchan: “The sort of beach people may be surprised to find exists in Scotland.”
• Tantallon, East Lothian: “Glorious.”
These beaches are named in the new Scotland Recommends book, a compilation of the best of the weekly supplement, published by Luath Press this week. To buy a copy, call 0870 787 1722 and quote LP100, or go to
www.shop.scotsman.com/recommends