After a slightly later start this morning we visited the Strathnaver Museum in Bettyhill. It is situated in the 18th Century Parish Church of St Columba. Inside the member of staff who greeted us apologised for the lack of heating. I empathised as I do some voluntary work in a secondhand bookshop which is in an old Methodist Church and we have the same problems of heating a large space and fitting around the remaining church furniture. James had asked me why the name of the place ‘Bettyhill’ was so different from the Gaelic name on the road signs. It was named after the Duchess of Sutherland and was developed to house the people evicted from their homes in Strathnaver in the early 19th century. The museum has some neolithic finds but also document the clearances which came late to Sutherland (with contributions from local schoolchildren, videos and other oral history) and also the history and genealogy of the Clan McKay.

After a coffee at the nearby cafe which was next to an abandoned croft we then had a walk on Farr Beach. It was empty apart from a dog walker. I found three more pieces of sea glass but before we had finished walking it started to rain so we headed back to the cottage for a lazy afternoon reading in front of the fire.