Helmsdale was formed in the 1800’s as a new town to house the displaced crofters that had been evicted to make way for sheep farming. Many of these decided to emigrate rather than taking jobs an fishermen. Helmsdale is still a fishing port to this day although nothing on the scale that it was.

We are killing time a bit now, having rushed round the top, we are pre-booked into the Caledonian on the 16th July, still a week away and we only have about 40 miles to go. We’ll stay in Helmsdale another couple of days, before moving on to Inverness.

We have been for a few walks along the coast and up the river and searched for gold on the beaches. Helmsdale has in the past had a goldrush when a gold nugget was found in the river in 1868. No luck there!

The nearest lifeboat to Helmsdale is Wick over an hours rescue time away but the support here is strong with a great display outside the Harbour offices.

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