Day 80 Helmsdale to Berriedale (a day of ruins)

 

Today started with sun and the three of us walking from the Airbnb in Helmsdale. We walked from the village down to the harbour, passed the old harbour cottages and onto a lane. 

The John o'Groats trail took a right turn onto grassy paths near the shore. We continued along this path, sometimes a little rocky underfoot close to the shoreline. 

We crossed a couple of burns, by stepping over and a small bridge. Soon we came to the ruins of a fish processing building. 

Then we zig zagged up a steep section, followed by a grassy field. The track then turned left into a field with long grass, where me and Alfie and turned back. Garry continued and came to a couple of World War II pillboxes, which he had a look out from.

 

He crossed the Ord Burn. From the road this looked a scary deep gorge. Garry then ascended the Ord of Caitneshs, and entered our final county/burgh by crossing the fence that marks the boundary between Sutherland and Caithness.

Garry then traversed across a heather moor and descended steeply to Ousdale Burn. Before the burn there were ruins of the Borg, a village that was last inhabited in the 1850s. There was also remains of a broch, a drystone roundhouse tower, found only in Scotland. 

Once over the Ousdale Burn, Garry followed the trail steeply up and along the cliff top for a couple of miles.  

  

       

He passed through the ruins of another village, Badbea, and a big monument that was built to commemorate the inhabitants of the village, the last of whom left in 1911. 

 

Soon after leaving Badbea, Garry stopped for a short lunch break with a view. 

After lunch, he followed a fence across another heathery and slightly boggy moorland and turned right at a track and followed that around. It started raining then so on with the waterproof and rucksack cover. 

The final descent into Berriedale involved traversing a field with sheep and Garry passed the navigation beacons for Berriedale harbour on his way down to the tea rooms just off the A9, where me and Alfie were waiting. 

Despite the shortish mileage, the ascents and descents were very labour intensive today so Garry was very happy to stop at Berriedale for the day.

A total of 9.8 miles walked today with elevation of over 1500 feet. 

Tomorrow, the plan is for a shortish section from Berriesdale to Dunbeath. However, Storm Floris is due in tonight so who knows what winds and rain she will bring with the amber wind warning. Cliffs may not be a good place to be!