NC500 roadtrip

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ash1212002

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Thinking of doing the NC500 last week of sept with the mrs and our 3 year old son.

What is the weather likely to be like at the end of Sept?

Thinking of starting at Inverness, is 3 to 4/5 days enough?

Mrs is not comfortable driving so I'll be doing all the driving

What I'm not sure about is at which locations should we should stop for the night, to then proceed to the next location without having to drive alot for a significant period

The last thing we want is for our hotel or bnb to be far away which means having to be on the road for long periods

Any advice/tips would be appreciated
 
Last edited:
Not sure if this thread will help...

 
Did it a few years ago following route on NC500 website. Due to personal circumstances at the time we couldn't pre-book hotels recommended by them and had to select out own via booking.com with free cancellation up to the last moment.
Generally aimed for 100 miles a day but this varied between 80 & 120 miles.
Very leisurely trip.
East coast a little "average" after the spectacular west & north coasts.

Not sure if midges are about in late sept? We did it in may & the weather was great - roof down every day :thumb:
 
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Thinking of doing the NC500 last week of sept with the mrs and our 3 year old son.

What is the weather likely to be like at the end of Sept?

Thinking of starting at Inverness, is 3 to 4/5 days enough?

Mrs is not comfortable driving so I'll be doing all the driving

What I'm not sure about is at which locations should we should stop for the night, to then proceed to the next location without having to drive alot for a significant period

The last thing we want is for our hotel or bnb to be far away which means having to be on the road for long periods

Any advice/tips would be appreciated

Its Scotland so four seasons in a day.

Inverness is the starting point , go anti-clockwise - Inverness - Wick - Durness - Ullapool - Applecross - Inverness. Depending on what you want to see then 5 - 7 days would be better.

Hotels - Inverness a few / Wick a couple / Durness hardly any / Ullapool a few / Applecross one.

Things to see , loads.

Dolphins from the shore at Chanonry point.

Dunrobin castle

Sign at John O Groats

RSPB sanctuary at Dunnet Head

Smoo caves (closed but you can still get far enough in to have a look)

Golden Eagle Zip line at Durness , if it is open.

Beaches are stunning along the north and west coast , great for the wee one. Dont think you will be wearing your man-kini though as the water is baltic.

Plan as far ahead as you possibly can as loads of places require to be pre-booked due to Covid , just be aware that thing are starting to get locked down again up here which may have an impact on what you have set out to do.

Dont think for one minute that it is a "drivers" utopia , it certainly isn`t. main 60mph roads have average speed cameras , smaller roads are congested with tourists , single track roads are in poor condition and have passing places every 100m so it is stop / start for a lot of the minor roads.

Having said that , the scenery is stunning along the top and down the West , the East coast is a bit less picturesque but still worth a visit hence doing it anti clockwise and saving the best till last.

20200810_144143 by Kenny Niven, on Flickr

20200814_135150 by Kenny Niven, on Flickr

beach by Kenny Niven, on Flickr

K
 
Hi @KennyN

We're finding it a bit daunting as there are so many attractions to visit!

Trying to narrow it down in 5 days is proving challenging as we don't want to miss out on anything and then regret it later

It'll be our first time doing the NC500 route. It'll be myself the other half and our 4 year old son.

I'll be doing the driving as the wife isn't too confident ;)

We'll be arriving at Inverness on a Monday we should arrive late afternoon. The current plan is to do some sight seeing in Inverness Mon/ early Tuesday and then commence our NC500 journey anti clockwise, where we will then stay at the following locations where we have booked accommodation


Mon Inverness
Tues Wick
Wed Tongue
Thurs Ullapool
Fri Gairloch

From Gairloch we'll do the bealach na ba and then may consider going to the Isle of Skye or go back to Inverness if we missed any places that we didn't visit.

Ideally we want to sight see, visit attractions as much as possible and take in the beautiful scenery of Scotland, beaches, castles, waterfalls and visit key locations. Its finding that balance, we don't want to rush and burn ourselves out!

We've given ourselves 5 days, but could potentially extend to another day.

I'm happy to deviate from the planned route and drive a bit more than necessary if needs be if there are other places we should also definitely visit.

Do you have an itinerary we could refer to?
 
Accommodation is a bit thin on the ground the further north you go so your itinerary and travelling timetable will be dictated by where you are staying and the weather so i would get your accommodation sorted first and take it from there.

Best Western in Inverness is nice and handy for the town , we stayed there on our last night plus it has onsite parking if you can get a space.

Wick - as we were staying at camping sites we never looked into hotels but i am sure there are a few in the area , the dining out is really restricted at present with lots of places either full or closed , we ended up in a Wetherspoons as it was all we could get after walking round the deserted town looking for somewhere.

We had a meal in the Tongue hotel so that may be an option for your accommodation.

Ullapool has a few hotels with restaurants , but some close early (19:00) so may be worth a Google before you book anything.

We stayed in Applecross prior to doing the Bealach na ba.

We contemplated visiting Skye but it would need more than a day to do it justice , we are saving that for a long weekend next year.

I am working tonight so will post up the itinerary we worked to , as it is on my PC at work.

Just be aware that it maybe "only" 100 miles in a day but with an average of 20mph on some roads due to traffic / sheep etc then it can be a long day in the car , especially if you have kids in tow who may be more interested in Peppa Pig than the scenery.

As we are edging into stricter lockdown conditions then it will be more important to pre-book any eateries or attractions to fit in with your accommodation schedule.

K
 
Wick to Tongue is a very quick drive and not very scenic, hopefully you have an itinerary for that day. The rest of your stops are good, however to make the most of Skye at least 3 days so another trip up the west side of the NC500 to Skye will be in order.
 
Accommodation is a bit thin on the ground the further north you go so your itinerary and travelling timetable will be dictated by where you are staying and the weather so i would get your accommodation sorted first and take it from there.

Best Western in Inverness is nice and handy for the town , we stayed there on our last night plus it has onsite parking if you can get a space.

Wick - as we were staying at camping sites we never looked into hotels but i am sure there are a few in the area , the dining out is really restricted at present with lots of places either full or closed , we ended up in a Wetherspoons as it was all we could get after walking round the deserted town looking for somewhere.

We had a meal in the Tongue hotel so that may be an option for your accommodation.

Ullapool has a few hotels with restaurants , but some close early (19:00) so may be worth a Google before you book anything.

We stayed in Applecross prior to doing the Bealach na ba.

We contemplated visiting Skye but it would need more than a day to do it justice , we are saving that for a long weekend next year.

I am working tonight so will post up the itinerary we worked to , as it is on my PC at work.

Just be aware that it maybe "only" 100 miles in a day but with an average of 20mph on some roads due to traffic / sheep etc then it can be a long day in the car , especially if you have kids in tow who may be more interested in Peppa Pig than the scenery.

As we are edging into stricter lockdown conditions then it will be more important to pre-book any eateries or attractions to fit in with your accommodation schedule.

K
Keep trying to get a night in the Applecross Inn but usually booked up for up to 18 months in advance. Was it worth the wait?
 
Accommodation has been booked at the following locations

Mon Inverness
Tues Wick
Wed Tongue
Thurs Ullapool
Fri Gairloch
 
Keep trying to get a night in the Applecross Inn but usually booked up for up to 18 months in advance. Was it worth the wait?

We had only booked for food + drinks in the Inn , we were staying at the Vicious Midge (Applecross) campsite slightly further inland.

K
 
We had only booked for food + drinks in the Inn , we were staying at the Vicious Midge (Applecross) campsite slightly further inland.

K
Ok thanks, yes the food is good there, have checked the campsite out but never stayed.
 
Accommodation has been booked at the following locations

Mon Inverness
Tues Wick
Wed Tongue
Thurs Ullapool
Fri Gairloch

Day 1 - Inverness -> Wick - 100 miles , on the way there we stopped off at Chanonry Point to look at the dolphins from the shore. Check how busy the road is down to the lighthouse as if it is gridlocked it will be quicker to park up and walk , we sat in the gridlock for almost two hours as half the people on the single track road had no brain pushing through the waiting traffic causing major problems. We then headed off to Dunrobin castle for a look around , no pre-booking required but check as it may have changed.

Day 2 - Wick -> Tongue (via J o`Groats) - 80 miles , stopped off at the RSPB at Dunnet Head then to the lovely beach at Bettyhill , onwards to Tongue Campsite and to the Tongue Hotel for dinner.

Day 3 - Tongue -> Ullapool - 123 miles , never really planned any stops but it was more just taking it easy and absorbing the scenery. Dont forget to head along the B869 through Nedd / Clachtoll as it worth doing even though the road is dreadful , worse than the Bealach road , dined out in the Argyle Hotel , Ullapool.

Day 4 - Ullapool -> Applecross - 120 miles , only thing we planned that day was an afternoon tea at the Torridon Hotel which is the most northerly 5 star hotel in the UK , worth a visit to get a break from driving, dinner was at the Applecross Inn.

Day 5 - Applecross -> Inverness -120 miles , we went via Plockton for lunch then onto Eileen Donan Castle for some pics (pre-booking required to go into the castle) , Stayed in the Best Western as it was our last night on the road.

Day 6 - Inverness -> Home , via Loch Ness , Glencoe , Loch Lomond.

The only place we never got a mobile signal (for the nav) was at Applecross.

Clocked up 1000miles over our seven days on the road , and it was fantastic. Probably wouldn`t do the NC500 again as with most things it is always better the first time but we would certainly do the camper van thing again as it was better than i expected.

K
 
Day 1 - Inverness -> Wick - 100 miles , on the way there we stopped off at Chanonry Point to look at the dolphins from the shore. Check how busy the road is down to the lighthouse as if it is gridlocked it will be quicker to park up and walk , we sat in the gridlock for almost two hours as half the people on the single track road had no brain pushing through the waiting traffic causing major problems. We then headed off to Dunrobin castle for a look around , no pre-booking required but check as it may have changed.

Day 2 - Wick -> Tongue (via J o`Groats) - 80 miles , stopped off at the RSPB at Dunnet Head then to the lovely beach at Bettyhill , onwards to Tongue Campsite and to the Tongue Hotel for dinner.

Day 3 - Tongue -> Ullapool - 123 miles , never really planned any stops but it was more just taking it easy and absorbing the scenery. Dont forget to head along the B869 through Nedd / Clachtoll as it worth doing even though the road is dreadful , worse than the Bealach road , dined out in the Argyle Hotel , Ullapool.

Day 4 - Ullapool -> Applecross - 120 miles , only thing we planned that day was an afternoon tea at the Torridon Hotel which is the most northerly 5 star hotel in the UK , worth a visit to get a break from driving, dinner was at the Applecross Inn.

Day 5 - Applecross -> Inverness -120 miles , we went via Plockton for lunch then onto Eileen Donan Castle for some pics (pre-booking required to go into the castle) , Stayed in the Best Western as it was our last night on the road.

Day 6 - Inverness -> Home , via Loch Ness , Glencoe , Loch Lomond.

The only place we never got a mobile signal (for the nav) was at Applecross.

Clocked up 1000miles over our seven days on the road , and it was fantastic. Probably wouldn`t do the NC500 again as with most things it is always better the first time but we would certainly do the camper van thing again as it was better than i expected.

K
You notice different things each time you drive it. Just about to do it for the 5th time
 

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