loop". Soon after the A9 splits away, the line crosses the lieutenancy area boundary from Ross and Cromarty into Sutherland. The track follows the route of the A836 until the next station on the line, , at the end of the Dornoch Firth. The station is in the village of Ardgay and also serves the slightly larger village of Bonar Bridge on the opposite side of the Kyle of Sutherland. From Ardgay, the line runs northwards alongside the Kyle, and after just over it reaches the first two request stops en route – and , which lie on either side of the Invershin Viaduct over the Kyle. At just , the distance between these two stations is among the shortest in all of Britain. There is no direct road connection between the two sides of the Kyle at this location, and a public footpath was only built alongside the viaduct in 2000; prior to this, the railway was the only way to travel between the two stations without taking a detour via Bonar Bridge. The Kyle once also marked the border between the historic counties of Ross and Cromarty and Sutherland; however, the modern boundary between the respective lieutenancy areas lies several miles to the south, putting both stations in modern-day Sutherland. The track then continues northwards along the River Shin for another until it reaches Lairg station, located about south of the village itself. This is the furthest point away from the coast on the Lairg loop; beyond the station the line curves sharply eastwards and heads back towards the Moray Firth along Strath Fleet, now paralleling the A839 road. The line then passes through another request stop, , which actually lies in the small hamlet of Pittentrail and about south of Rogart itself; the station briefly closed in 1960, only to be reopened less than 9 months later. Immediately east of the station there is an open level crossing – one of only two on the line. after Rogart, the railway meets the A9 again, as it passes by Mound Alderwoods and Loch Fleet. This was once the site of The Mound station and a junction with the Dornoch Light Railway to Dornoch; both the station and the branch closed in 1960. The railway then turns northeast and returns to the coast at Golspie, with the station located at the western end of the village. Just east of