Travelling south, the stark contrast between the counties of Caithness and Sutherland is always evident. Caithness, brown, mossy, generally flat is immediately at odds with the green, woodland, and hilly Sutherland. As a child in the car, travelling down the A9 road the difference was noticeable as soon as Brora neared, usually signalling we were both an hour away from where we left, but more promisingly, an hour closer to where we were travelling to. As we passed Helmsdale and Portgower we always got closer to whatever destination we were headed, and as we did, we always saw a statue on the hill in the distance.

History lesson: The statue, known locally as The Mannie, sits at 30 metres high on top of the Ben Bhraggie hill, itself reaching a height of just under 400 metres. Erected in 1837, the monument is a large square plinth with a statue above depicting George Granville Leveson-Gower, Marquess of Stafford and first Duke of Sutherland. The Duke himself became notorious for the part he played in the Highland Clearances, turning large amounts of land over to sheep farming industry, and reforms that would result in thousands having to move out and rehome themselves. In 2020 with racist and offensive statues being pulled down and re-evaluated this is perhaps even more relevant, but even with calls and campaigns to remove The Mannie, close to 200 years later the statue remains. Driving along the coast as a child passenger all those years ago and now, as an adult, the figurative shape looms large on the horizon from a considerable distance, always noticeably other than just a “standard” war monument or memorial, definitely a sight.

I had never seen the statue up close or even been at the top of the hill, but for one reason or another my friends and I decided to climb Ben Bhraggie.