Mid and East Sutherland area
From the Struie Viewpoint, on the Moray Firth Tourist Route, high above the Dornoch Firth, you can see the magnificent scenery of Mid and East Sutherland stretching away to the north.
There are interesting towns and villages up the east coast of Sutherland, such as Dornoch and Brora, each with internationally-rated links golf courses and big sandy beaches; Helmsdale, known for its fleeting gold rush, and Lybster. There are also the remains of many Iron Age and Viking settlements. Mid Sutherland is a sparsely populated area of hills, forests, lochs and large expanses of peat bog.
The glens of East Sutherland witnessed some of the earliest of the Highland Clearances when, in 1807, many crofters were evicted from the land to make way for sheep. One particularly poignant reminder lies west of Ardgay, where Croick Church is a place of pilgrimage for many overseas visitors on account of the many names and bitter messages scratched upon its east window by dispossessed crofters who sought refuge here in 1845. At the summit of 1293ft Beinn a'Bhragaidh, north of Golspie, is a monument to the first Duke of Sutherland, the man behind much of the Clearances in this area.
