Badbea Clearance Village.

Day 8: Dunrobin Castle, Golspie, Brora, Helmsdale, Badbea, Wick.

A very quick stop at Dunrobin Castle- we didn’t go in as they don’t allow dogs.

A walk along the empty beach at Golspie.

A quick stop in Brora as we didn’t manage to see much yesterday.

A much longer stop in Helmsdale- a very interesting little fishing town that was thrived on herring fishing and had a gold rush many years ago. We went to the museum ( they allow dogs!) called Timespan- quite small, but with plenty of information.

https://timespan.org.uk/museum/

After this we headed to see the statue of The Emigrants- depicting people who were evicted from their houses during the Highland Clearances.

This made us want to find out a bit more about the people and where they were allowed to settle. We then headed to Badbea Clearance Village ( main picture). Although it doesn’t look like a particularly interesting shot, it shows what is left of one of the houses that people were allowed to live in. It’s such an inhospitable place- people had to tie their animals and children to stop them blowing off the cliff during stormy conditions. Absolutely heartbreaking.

https://www.britainexpress.com/scotland/Highlands/Caithness/badbea.htm