Built in 1867 the Shin Viaduct carries the Far North Line over the Kyle Of Sutherland at Invershin. It’s an impressive 230ft (70m) iron lattice span with the railway running on top of the box girders.
The nearest road bridge is several miles away and shortcut-seeking trespassers were becoming a problem so a footbridge was added and opened in May 2001.
Rudy visited Invershin and the viaduct on such a bright & sunny autumn day that we could have sat and picnicked taking photos by the river for hours if only it hadn’t been so chilly!
The new footbridge is very well designed but it did cause Rudy a bit of bother! The walking surface is very solid, slip resistant and clearly low maintenance for a remote location but we didn’t research if it was good for terrier sized paws! I was determined to cross though so poor Rudy had to suffer being carried the full length of the bridge and the approach steps.
Photo details of the footbridge on the Invershin Viaduct.
After being carried over such a scary bridge for him, Rudy was a very good dog and waited at the top of the steps while I ventured back out to take a photo of the view from the footbridge.
The path on the south side of the viaduct fits between the railway boundary fence and on our visit some curious cows – Rudy was well rewarded with lots of good smells to investigate.
Overall the walk across the footbridge on the Shin Railway Viaduct was a very satisfying adventure but we can’t recommend it for most dogs or anyone nervous about heights.
The viaduct is known by three names, the Shin Railway Viaduct, the Invershin Viaduct and the Oykel Viaduct.
Modern maps and usage have the water that the viaduct actually crosses over as being the Kyle Of Sutherland (“kyle” being Scots for a narrow sea channel).
The River Oykel runs into the Kyle approximately 8 or 9 miles upstream while the River Shin joins only a mile upstream. It seems local and historic names of water courses often disagree with modern technical definitions of where rivers begin and end!