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North Coast 500

Another of the long-standing drives that I wanted to do was the North Coast 500. I finally got the chance to do it in June 2024.

The NC500 is a loop starting in Inverness and looping around the east, north and west coasts of scotland. And that was the order we did it – some say that this way (anti-clockwise) saves the best scenery until last, but in my case, it saved the worst weather till last.

We were camping and stayed in a variety of campsites on the route – some with more impressive facilities than others.

Whilst this was an excuse to take the Caterham out, there was a lot to see en-route, so plenty of stops for walks, ruined castles, gardens, coffee etc. Typically, we did 50 to 90 miles per day, with longer drives on the east coast where the roads were significantly faster.

Roads

The roads are a real hotch-potch. There were A roads which were single track with passing places. There were roads which were more like the surface of the moon. There was beautiful smooth tarmac with sweeping turns. There were 2nd gear hills with hairpins.

And there were a lot of campervans….. a lot of campervans. Single track roads are fine if you don’t mind constantly braking and waiting for people to pass. The trouble comes with idiots who go in convoys that are longer than a passing place. In that case, you end up with a log jam which is difficult to clear.

We went in early June and I would say that the traffic was OK. Indeed, there were a few examples when I got ahead of a group of campervans, and I had the road to myself. It was wonderful. I can imagine peak season is pretty awful.

I was worried about getting stuck if I put a wheel off the main road surface but I managed not to ground the car but it would be easy to do so if you were bullied into creating space for a large campervan to pass.

The roads are interesting in a vertical sense too. Being so low, going towards a rise in the road was tricky in terms of being able to see what is coming your way. I made good use of the horn when there was no visibility. But there were downhill sections where you could see a good distance ahead.

Weather

Hmmm, lets not talk about that. Suffice to say, I didn’t need to trouble the tube of sunblock in the map pocket of the car. With so much stop-start driving you do get wet as the rain doesn’t get blown over the windscreen as would normally be the case. We weren’t bothered much by the midges.

Day 1

Went from Dingwall up to near Thurso. Despite my worst fears, John O Groats wasn’t too bad as a quick coffee stop.

Day 2

Covered most of the north coast – ending up near Durness.

Day 3

Started heading south to end up near Ullapool. Were delayed a bit near the Kylesku Bridge as they were filming a video about the Ferrari Purosangue. For some reason, they didn’t want my 170 in the shot.

Day 4

Ended up in Sheldaig (approximately opposite to Inverness)

Day 5

Finished near Glenshiel having decided to go via Applecross and the famous Applecross Pass, which didn’t disappoint. Referred to on one YouTube video as ‘Britain’s most dangerous road’. Slow going because of the traffic, but spectacular all the same.