Spring high tide damage disrupts Highland trains

Train services on the Highlands' Far North Line have been disrupted after high spring tides damaged part of the railway's sea defences.

The line between Brora and Helmsdale has been closed since Monday, causing cancellations to some connections along the route between Inverness and Wick and Thurso.

Network Rail Scotland engineers are carrying out repairs.

High tides combined with an east wind over the weekend also saw Golspie's golf course swamped by waves, leaving parts of it looking like a loch.

Golspie on Sutherland's east coast was among a number of communities affected by the conditions over the weekend.

In Stonehaven, in Aberdeenshire, seafront areas had to be closed off for safety reasons due to the amount of stone thrown up by rough seas.

Golspie Golf Club's course was left covered in tonnes of stones and seaweed.

The club's Willie MacBeath said staff from other Highland clubs - including a greenkeeper from 75 miles (121km) away in Durness - were helping local volunteers to clear the greens of debris.

Pumps have had to be brought in to tackle the flooding.

Mr MacBeath said: "Some parts look like a loch.

"It's heart-breaking for our greenkeepers."

He said recent heavy rainfall meant the ground was already saturated when waves inundated the course on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Mr MacBeath said a "huge tonnage" of stones and seaweed was being removed from the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh holes.

Staff and volunteers from Skibo, Dornoch, Brora and Tain golf clubs were helping out.

Mr MacBeath said it was the third time in recent years the course had been so badly affected.