Scotland NC500 trip

[MikeRafone]

What shouldn't I miss and where are there good campsites I shouldn't miss? please

Are you on Facebook? There's a great group.... https://www.facebook.com/share/g/zW8B2mMNm1TGmxJJ/

Newtrix

I will take a look thanks

miss the whole thing, it's ruined a beautiful remote part of Scotland IMO and is now just a convoy of tourists, most of whom have no idea how to drive on single track roads!!

DD this this a couple of years ago in a small car.

She said that motorhomes were a nightmare and shouldn't do this trip.

I think @MiddleAgedDread is right. I believe Lockdown was the start of ruining it.

We did it this year, in a campervan - definitely was not the case! Clear roads, only 1 place where we had to queue to allow motorhomes to get past each other (Near John O'Groats) - very nice experience all round, totally stunning countryside and the campsites are mainly great.
I would impose tolls for the roads and use that money to repair some of the road surfaces, which have 100% taken a battering.
If you can fit in, I would suggest a campervan rather than a motor home as some roads are narrow, and if you are not used to driving a big vehicle, that can be nerve wracking stuff.
We went in late July - midges were HORRIFIC when we tried a wee "wild camp" on the banks of Loch Brora, although it was the most beautiful spot. Absolute swarms of the feckers. We packed up and went back towards the coast for the night!
I am Scottish FWIW, and live down South, so I am predisposed to think the place is gorgeous - my parents were all doom and gloom about the traffic too, I can assure you it was 95% clear open roads, and just a dream.

This is what I did.

Nc500
follow the A835

1. Loch Lomond 1 night.
2. Loch Ness shores campsite, Foyers, 2 nights. Food van was open at night and in the evening and was very good. Craigdarroch Inn for dinner (food was ok), wee dram bar the next day. Jimmy Page was a regular back in the day and the lady bar manager was great, full of stories, and has a good whiskey selection. Alistair crowleys old house somewhere round there. Recommended we go on the RIP boat trip back at fort William which was very good. We then went anti-clockwise around the route.
3. A82 to Invermoriston, where we the followed A87 to Dornie and Eilean Donan (highlander castle).
4. Bealach Na Bar mountain pass to Applecross. Cabin 1 night. There is a less terrifying route but it’s not as pretty. You won’t get a motorhome up the Bealach Na Bar so will be taking the less terrifying coastal route. Applecross inn was superb, book ahead as very popular. Applecross smokehouse shop nearby for smoked foods is worth a visit.
5. Gruinard Bay campsite one night. Nothing here, very very wild, lovely beach. We foraged and cooked Mussels from rock pools, great if you are feeling brave.
6. A835 to Ullapool (Tesco!) nice lighthouse just further along at Rhue. Coastal road, very pretty.
7. Ardvreck castle - good photo spot and pretty surroundings.
8. Kylesku Bridge at Unapool 😱😱 car park at each end, park up and have a proper look as it’s really impressive . Kylesku hotel, very posh with restaurant around here.
9. Sango sands 2 nights. Good bar, ok food. Amazing beach, if you gets nice weather the sunset here is lovely, and viewing platform views are panoramic. Smoo cave nearby was a trip highlight. Pay to go down into the depths, it’s cheap and fun. Nice walk around the top of it too.

10. Dunnet head (Britain most northerly point) - nature reserve with puffins. Great views all the way to Orkney on a clear day. Lighthouse.
11. John o groats.
12. Duncansby head for Thorpe door and Duncansby Stacks. It’s a walk across fields to view, and you can get down to the beach too. Must see.
13. Wick. Don’t stay here unless you have to. Decent curry house.
14. Whaligoe steps - lead to old harbour. There’s a cottage at the top with an information board outside, really interesting man living there, his family have been there for generations and he knows everything about the place. He’s got an impossible bike which I think he made himself.
15. Dunrobin castle. We drove up but was expensive and we were tired so didn’t do the walkround. I would do if I went back in a smaller group, but it was essentially me and 7 blokes so wasn’t really their thing!
16. Inverness. I wish I’d allowed more time here as we only had one night. Spent it at the Castle Tavern and planning to go back for another evening there..
17. After that we went back across to Fort William, then Oban and got the ferry to Mull for 2 nights in Tobermory. Again could have spent longer here. Pretty village, with a brewery and a distillery.
18. Ben Nevis for a night and then home.

We went at the end June and it wasn’t packed with people. Outside of the towns we barely saw another car. We did get eaten alive by midges, nothing stopped them. We ended up buying midge net hats. Desperate times.

edit because I’m not sure who Carrie is and why she’s in my post 😂

Edit again to say reading this back we had a fantastic time and I can’t wait to go back to some of these places, especially Foyers

I live on a part of it, best advice would be to not be too caught up in doing the full nc500 depending on how much time you have sometimes it’s good to split it up into different trips, you see people on various fb groups being like meh it was rubbish, well yeah you barely stopped anywhere! There’s a lot to do, and a lot of it tends to be missed, there’s lots of Google maps people have done with all the sights and various things to see would be worth finding one and really working out what are the must sees for you.
a lot is seasonal dependent so it’s worth thinking about what time of the year to go. Even if whisky isn’t something you like it’s well worth taking at least one distillery tour

make sure to bring a tick remover and smidge is good for midges but they’re not in all the places and wind blows them away.

I feel rude saying this but as people in the future might read this thread when planning so I feel compelled to say it after seeing too much shit (literally shit) dumped and people “wild camping” in passing spots and honest camping boxes being left empty etc. only empty toilet waste in appropriate places, not just public toilets it blocks them and obviously not into just rivers or fields, pull over regularly to let cars by, huge tailbacks end up occurring otherwise.

I totally concur with this - we did it in 10 days, and I would 100% now go back and do sections in more detail, particularly the North West Coast (I am from Edinburgh, so it felt very different to my eyes! Just gorgeous landscapes and beaches)

I live on part of it too and agree with this - I would choose 2/3 places to stay and travel from there to see the bits you want to see. There are some parts on the NC500 that I just don’t get why people would go there (no offence to anyone from Wick 😂).

Agree with avoiding a campervan and drive instead, and make sure you shop local as much as you can while you’re here! My main problem with campervans (secondary to clogging up the roads in the day and laybys at night) is that people just tend to stock up on food in Tesco/the Co Op so they aren’t really adding anything to the economy.

Echoing others - we drove the NC500 for our honeymoon, over a fortnight. Skip Wick. Kylesku hotel, the Torridon, Fife Arms and Foyers Lodge all absolutely incredible. It was the trip of a lifetime.

You can do this whizzing around like a bus tour or you can do it with some meaning eg we were in Ullapool and spent the whole day out on the Coigach Peninsula. The scenery is simply stunning. Sorry but Rhu mentioned is nothing in comparison. This peninsula is off the NC 500. I think it is better to do it in more detail. It reminds me of a work colleague who " did" Maine in a day on a tour bus. How sad.

It's a great thing, and a great place.

But over tourism and ignorance is spoiling it. No one 'wild camps' in a motorhome or campervan, you're roadside camping. I wild camp in the hills having walked 4 hours to get there. I use my camper mainly on sites these days as it's been spoiled by the masses in the summer, and any roadside camp upsets these days. (Unless it's winter, then I've the place to myself...)

IMO there are many other fabulous places on Scotland and NC500 pedals a fallacy of being 'the best' holiday in Scotland. It's a great drive. People forget how big Scotland is - and how much diversity of communities and scenery there is.

But to slow down, potter, explore nature, visit communities, empty beaches, climb mountains, wander the woods, find local artists, local food, great whisky and gin, this is better than banging out 500miles. You miss so much. Slow. Stay a few days. Bring boots and maybe a bike.

I visited Mull of Kintyre this year - walked to the lighthouse, wandered beaches alone, had a great night in the pub at Machrahanish, pedalled my bike around Gigha, swam in empty lochs and wandered around ancient monuments, visited a tidal island, saw otters, seals and white tailed eagles, looked over the sea at Northern Ireland and Isle of Man, and tried the Campbeltown whiskies. Brilliant, absolutely stunning, and really unique trip and place. Yet it's a place so few go to, purely because Instagram and some tourist marketing strategy isn't strong enough...

I also did the outer Hebrides - oh my word there's some places there which are just amazing, but even better, not on Instagram..I could stay a month there.

I also visited Galloway - around Wigtown and the far west. Just a brilliant wee place, so much to see and do, Best whisky of the year there too at Scotland's most southerly distillery. I had a mountain to myself one day. Yet I bet most people have not even heard of it.

And my holiday highlight of this year was a winter trip to Royal Deeside - all Balmoral winter walks in the ice, hot chocolate by the fireside, empty glens and thundering waterfalls (and a skinny dip in snow melt river...)

So by all means do the NC500 responsibly - stay on campsites, buy local food and crafts.

But also come back and put some imagination to work and try to spread the tourism load, and in doing so find some really, truly wonderful places and outside the regular assumed season.

Thanks for the informative replies and advice on where to go and where to avoid.

I was thinking it would be ok to use this route to then stop off in two or three places and Im taking a very small VW up car, (not in a cmapervan or motorhome) a tent and camping stove etc & was planning on taking my bike to cycle some of the roads.

Some you are saying its over touristed and others saying its empty roads? I've looked on google earth which is usually a good indicator of how busy roads are, there seems to be very little traffic

I would be eating out so the recommendations for food places are welcomed and ive seen else where there are places to buy produce on the roadside and was thinking I could utilise this when out cycling. We have a local honesty shop at hoe locally and we can pay by credit card so no money is left, Im guessing I should take cash for remote places - is this a problem with wifi in the highlands?

So if I was to pick 3 places to stay on the way round or even 4 places - where would those I the know suggest? Im happy putting up and taking down a tent as many times, but happy to stay in one place for 3/4 days

But also come back and put some imagination to work and try to spread the tourism load, and in doing so find some really, truly wonderful places and outside the regular assumed season.

How cold would it be in April to camp in a tent? Ive looked earlier in the years but most campsites are shut until April - which limits my time frame. I've also looked at hostels, which in some cases is cheaper than camping but patchy on dates. Possibly it would be better to find 3/4 hostels in 3/4 places recommended and base myself in those places for a couple of nights each?

Wild camping doesn't include sleeping overnight in a vehicle.

It would be cold in April for camping, I’ve seen snow on the hills in May up there! It can also be really really windy near the coast.

AllThePotatoesAreSingingJingleBells

thanks for all this - going to get out my plans again and have another look at the places you recommend and see what accommodation is about these places, both campsites for my tent and hostels

There are loads of NC500 groups on FB.
Ignore those who 'wild camp' in s vehicle or don't dispose of waste properly etc though, because nobody likes a freeloader.
Regarding busyness of roads - it's subjective because it's based on what you're used to, but since the conception of the NC500 remote roads are probably more used than they were and there's definitely an influx of the 'instagram gang' in big (hired) motorhomes they cannot drive and with all the sense of entitlement that ignorance and arrogance brings. Sounds like you're not one of those though. 😬

Sango Sands at Durness has a pub on the site so you can have a night off from cooking!

Criky op never said they’d be going in a campervan, few derailed threads with strong opinions!

Eh?
It's not derailing to point out the campervan issues to anyone considering doing the route. 🫣

All the posts scorning wild camping in a motorhome, how does that affect the OP

they never mentioned wild camping and are under canvass

its just not relevant

I don’t see how it’s derailed at all, a post complaining about derailing seems far more derailing ironically. OP is in the planning stage, so it’s worth touching on some points that they may not have thought about yet, re wild camping issues or maybe relevant to the next person who googles nc500 and this thread comes up.

Somebody mentioned that they had a 'wild camp' but were travelling in a motorhome - It's relevant to point out that wild camping doesn't include parking up in a vehicle.

I know people here are saying not to stay in Wick but they recently got a new fantastic campsite that I stayed at recently (I’m a local). It’s a community one so all the money gets reinvested into the community.