can pass each other. The station serves the Forsinard Flows National Nature Reserve, among other nearby parts of the Flow Country; an RSPB visitor centre is adjacent to the station platforms. At Forsinard, the line crosses the A897, turns east-northeast, and does not meet another public road for over . Soon, the line leaves the county of Sutherland and enters Caithness. As the track passes through Caithness countryside, it eventually reaches Altnabreac station. This single-platform halt is often listed as one of Britain's most geographically isolated railway stations, being about from the nearest village and from the nearest paved road. There are, however, a handful of houses in the immediate vicinity of the station, accessed by a private dirt road, which is marked as a public cycle trail on Ordnance Survey maps. The line then turns gently to the northeast, passing by several small lochs en route, before passing under the B870 road (the first public road in proximity of the line since Forsinard). This is the site of Scotscalder station, which is among the least-used stations on the line, typically averaging less than 1 passenger per day. After another , the track passes south of Halkirk – the first unscattered village in over , although there is no longer a railway station serving it (the old station having closed in 1960 along with 19 others on the line). The line reaches its penultimate station, , at the point where the line crosses the A9 again. Adjoining the station on the south side is a freight terminal built in 2012 by Direct Rail Services; this was used by trains taking nuclear material from Dounreay to Sellafield. At Georgemas Junction, which is not a request stop, the lines to Thurso and Wick diverge; this is the northernmost railway junction in the United Kingdom. The Wick-facing Thurso branch curves north immediately west of the station and runs alongside the River Thurso, paralleling the A9 until it reaches Thurso station – the northernmost railway station in Britain, by the northern coast of Scotland. Thurso is the nearest station to the ferry terminal at Scrabster, which has ferry services to and from the town of Stromness in the Orkney Islands. Meanwhile, the main line to Wick continues in an east-southeasterly direction, sandwiched between the A882 and B874 roads, and terminates at Wick station on the east coast. At , the distance between Georgemas Junction