Berriedale
Berriedale is a tiny estate village on the north eastern coastline of Caithness, Scotland, on the A9 road in between Helmsdale and Lybster, near to the boundary in between Caithness and also Sutherland. It is sheltered from the North Sea. The town has a parish church in the Church of Scotland. Simply southern of Berriedale, heading to the north, the A9 passes the Berriedale Braes, a steep drop in the landscape (brae is a Scots word for hill, a borrowing of the Scottish Gaelic bràighe). The roadway falls outstanding (13% over 1,3 kilometres) to bridge a river, prior to increasing once more (13% over 1,3 km), with a variety of sharp bends in the roadway-- although several of the hairpin flexes as well as other close-by slopes have been alleviated over the last few years. The impracticality (as well as cost) of connecting the Berriedale Braes avoided the building of the Inverness-Wick Far North Line along the eastern coast of Caithness; rather the railway runs inland through the Flow Country. Berriedale is located at the end of the 8th stage of the coastal John o' Groats Route.
