Helmsdale: take the old road

Bronze sculpture of a woman holding a child, with another figure behind her, against a violet and orange sky over the sea Helmsdale

If I only had a few minutes in Helmsdale, I’d take the little road up the south side of the village for a view most people miss. From the centre, go out over the old river bridge and then the railway bridge, and turn right onto the single-track road just before you get back to the A9. The road loops back to the main road, but first it takes you high enough to see the whole village. The whitewashed houses sit in neat rows across the river, with the harbour tucked in below. You’d hardly know any of it was there from the flyover.

Of all the villages on this stretch of coast, Helmsdale is the one I most wish people would stop and get to know. I’d start at Timespan, where you can have a coffee by the river and spend a little time in the museum. What I’d look for in the museum is how those streets came to be laid out while the Sutherland estate was driving families out of the strath. You can leave an electric car charging in the Dunrobin Street car park while you’re there. There’s no fuel station, but if you need to spend a penny, I reckon Helmsdale has the best public loos on the North Coast 500.

When Sally Ann and I are coming back up from Inverness, we often stop at La Mirage, which I reckon is probably the best fish-and-chip takeaway on the east coast of the North Coast 500. We take our supper down to the harbour or find a spot by the river, and there’s something about eating by the water that makes the drive home seem rather less urgent. I’d happily stay the night here and give myself the following morning for Kildonan.

The lower strath is beautiful, and it’s worth stopping by the river even if you go no farther. If you’ve time to keep going, the single-track road takes you to Forsinard and the peatlands of the Flow Country. In the blogcast, I’ll show you what the croft strips above Helmsdale tell us about the families who had to leave Kildonan, and how a bronze family on the banks of a Canadian river leads us back to the village.

To learn more, listen to the blogcast or book one of our North Coast Explorer private tours.