Berriedale
Berriedale is a tiny estate town on the north eastern shore of Caithness, Scotland, on the A9 roadway between Helmsdale and Lybster, close to the boundary between Caithness and Sutherland. It is protected from the North Sea. The village has a parish church in the Church of Scotland. Simply south of Berriedale, en route 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 road drops down considerably (13% over 1,3 kilometres) to bridge a river, prior to increasing once again (13% over 1,3 km), with a variety of sharp bends in the road-- although several of the hairpin bends and other close-by slopes have been eased over the last few years. The impracticality (and price) of connecting the Berriedale Braes prevented the building of the Inverness-Wick Far North Line along the east shore of Caithness; instead the train runs inland through the Flow Country. Berriedale is located at the end of the eighth phase of the coastal John o' Groats Path.