Berriedale
Berriedale is a little estate village on the northern east coastline of Caithness, Scotland, on the A9 road between Helmsdale and Lybster, near the boundary in between Caithness and Sutherland. It is protected from the North Sea. The village has a parish church in the Church of Scotland. Just south of Berriedale, en route to the north, the A9 passes the Berriedale Braes, a high drop in the landscape (brae is a Scots word for hill, a borrowing of the Scottish Gaelic bràighe). The road drops down steeply (13% over 1,3 km) to connect a river, before rising once more (13% over 1,3 kilometres), with a number of sharp bends in the roadway-- although some of the hairpin bends and also various other neighboring gradients have actually been relieved in recent years. The impracticality (as well as price) of connecting the Berriedale Braes prevented the building of the Inverness-Wick Far North Line along the east coast of Caithness; instead the train runs inland via the Flow Country. Berriedale is located at the end of the eighth stage of the coastal John o' Groats Trail.
