NC500 - Scotland road trip

[manchester blue]

Was only half joking about the potential for crowds, it's all relative I know and it won't be Cornwall. That said I believe it was on the news last week about the route being inundated with caravans and motorhomes that it is ill equipped to manage in such numbers due to the staycation boom.

We booked it all in July and even then struggled in some places to get accommodation. We're pretty much following a recommended route, staying in Inverness tonight before stop offs in Dornoch, Wick, Tongue, Lochinver and a couple of nights in Ullapool.

Diverted to the Black Isle today, Cromarty and Chanonry Point watching the dolphins. Lovely.

True about the shed draggers and motorhomes but oddly I did not see many on the road. We stayed in Cromarty in the Factors House just as you get into the village and did a dolphin boat trip here. Fantastic.

If you're heading to Ullapool it's really nice. Few nice bars, we stayed in the Arch right on the front.

Dornoch is nice. Check out the statue of the Earl of Sutherland that keeps getting vandalised! Read about The Clearances to understand why! We stayed in the Eagle there. Terribly small and uncomfortable bed!

We also stayed in Wick. Biggest mistake really. Hotel, Mackays, was lovely but it was really the only thing the town had going for it. Very run down and not representative of the rest of the route as it's a bigger town, even has a B&M or similar. I'd avoid really.

We stayed in Bettyhill Hotel near Tongue. Check out the views from there. Wow!

 

[journolud]

True about the shed draggers and motorhomes but oddly I did not see many on the road. We stayed in Cromarty in the Factors House just as you get into the village and did a dolphin boat trip here. Fantastic.

If you're heading to Ullapool it's really nice. Few nice bars, we stayed in the Arch right on the front.

Dornoch is nice. Check out the statue of the Earl of Sutherland that keeps getting vandalised! Read about The Clearances to understand why! We stayed in the Eagle there. Terribly small and uncomfortable bed!

We also stayed in Wick. Biggest mistake really. Hotel, Mackays, was lovely but it was really the only thing the town had going for it. Very run down and not representative of the rest of the route as it's a bigger town, even has a B&M or similar. I'd avoid really.

We stayed in Bettyhill Hotel near Tongue. Check out the views from there. Wow!

You’re right about Wick but accommodation was all booked. We did get lucky with our Airbnb here which is cheap and well equipped and had a nice walk out to Castle Sinclair in the evening sunshine but nothing to delay us moving on this morning. We nearly booked to eat at Bettyhill Hotel but as we are staying in Tongue are eating more local.

Feels like the first couple of days are a gentle work up to what is to come

 

[Champions again in 2012]

We're doing the NC 500 in a motorhome (hired for the week) - got most accommodation booked. 2 of the campsites are only available on a first come first serve basis so will head to those reasonably early to get a space. There's one location that I can’t get a motorhome pitch which is at Applecross. Does anybody who's done the NC 500 know if its possible to stay overnight in the area off site? There is an option to book a camping pod for the evening which will give us access to showers etc

 

[GornikDaze]

True about the shed draggers and motorhomes but oddly I did not see many on the road. We stayed in Cromarty in the Factors House just as you get into the village and did a dolphin boat trip here. Fantastic.

If you're heading to Ullapool it's really nice. Few nice bars, we stayed in the Arch right on the front.

Dornoch is nice. Check out the statue of the Earl of Sutherland that keeps getting vandalised! Read about The Clearances to understand why! We stayed in the Eagle there. Terribly small and uncomfortable bed!

We also stayed in Wick. Biggest mistake really. Hotel, Mackays, was lovely but it was really the only thing the town had going for it. Very run down and not representative of the rest of the route as it's a bigger town, even has a B&M or similar. I'd avoid really.

We stayed in Bettyhill Hotel near Tongue. Check out the views from there. Wow!

Had the misfortune to spend two nights in Wick when I did my Lands End trip. On the plus side I got into Wick from John o Groats 10 mins before we kicked off against Watford in the 2019 cup final. Sat in spoons on my tod in front of one of the many TVs and turns out the guy next to me was a blue from Cornwall doing the NW500 on his bike. Had a few beers and started my two month walk in great fashion. Wick is however a total shit hole