MORAR

In my post about Pennan I talked about the filming of Local Hero, which was focussed on the east coast village. However, fans of the film who want to visit the wonderful beaches featured in the film will be disappointed if they expect to find them in Pennan; they will need to head west to Morar and Arisaig, in particular Camusdarach Beach, which lies between the two. One of the most amusing scenes in the film was when the local populace gathered in the little church overlooking the beach to hold a meeting about the oil company's bid to exploit the area, while the oil men stood on the beach, oblivious to the line of people filing into the church. This scene was filmed at Morar, however as is so often the case in the movies all is not as it seems. The building used to depict the exterior of the church was actually a house dressed up to look ecclesiastical! The interior scenes were filmed in another location entirely. However, the shack occupied by Ben known as Ben's Shack was filmed in Morar, in the area between the sand dunes and a rocky promontory. Just to the east of the village of Morar is Loch Morar, which is home to Scotland's lesser known monster, a relative of Nessie called Morag. Legend has it that whenever Morag is sighted it heralds the death of a member of the local branch of the MacDonald clan. This area has also been used in the movies: scenes from Rob Roy were filmed here.

Map of the area.

Looking North up Camusdarach Beach - geograph.org.uk - 68305. Photo by David Crocker, via Wikimedia Commons.