Berriedale
Berriedale is a little estate town on the northern east coast of Caithness, Scotland, on the A9 roadway in between Helmsdale and Lybster, near 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. Just south of Berriedale, heading to the north, the A9 passes the Berriedale Braes, a high drop in the landscape (brae is a Scots word for hillside, a loaning of the Scottish Gaelic bràighe). The roadway drops down considerably (13% over 1,3 kilometres) to link a river, before rising again (13% over 1,3 km), with a number of sharp bends in the road-- although some of the hairpin flexes and other nearby gradients have been alleviated in the last few years. The impracticality (and expense) of linking the Berriedale Braes prevented the structure of the Inverness-Wick Far North Line along the east shore of Caithness; instead the railway runs inland with the Flow Country. Berriedale lies at the end of the 8th stage of the seaside John o' Groats Trail.