Discussion
Blown2CV said:
i've got a S8 and was just chatting to a mate today about a highlands trip. It needs to get out on the open road!!
they do indeed, stunning when they are "hunting in packs"View My Video
Edited by briang9 on Friday 16th September 00:34
I started my trip yesterday with the aim of following the NC500 in an anti-clockwise direction. I left Guildford with dog and tent loaded into the car. My overnight stop was near Keswick with splendid views of Blencathra.
After a roadside bacon bap and a cup of tea I carried on up the M6 and so on until I reached Perth. After lunch I went up the A93 through Braemar and shortly after caught up with a convoy of classics including a TR6, E-type coupé, MGB, Morgan, Mercedes R129, and Jaguar Mk2 3.4. They turned on to the B976 and I was able to pass them when they pulled into the first big lay by. I pressed on and reached the A939 which I followed almost to the outskirts of Nairn before taking B-roads into Inverness. This was a great drive in fabulous weather and I loved Avery minute of it. While the hound was stretching his legs near Corgarf a group went by with several Porsches and a Lamborghini making a fantastic sound as the driver dropped a couple of gears and accelerated away up the hill.
This evening I am camped alongside Beauly Firth with the lights of Charlestown visible across the water. Tomorrow I will go up the coast Wick, Sunday from Wick to Durness. On Monday I travel to Ullapool, Tuesday night's stop is at Applecross. Although I am doing the NC500 anti-clockwise I shall heed the advice in this thread and do the Apllecross loop clockwise. It only adds about 15 miles. on Wednesday I shall head for Fort Augustas rather than going back to Inverness. This will allow me to head towards Oban on Thursday to take in the Scotburgring before heading south again for another night near Keswick (I can almost taste the Jennings as I type). Friday is motorway slog back to Guildford.
After a roadside bacon bap and a cup of tea I carried on up the M6 and so on until I reached Perth. After lunch I went up the A93 through Braemar and shortly after caught up with a convoy of classics including a TR6, E-type coupé, MGB, Morgan, Mercedes R129, and Jaguar Mk2 3.4. They turned on to the B976 and I was able to pass them when they pulled into the first big lay by. I pressed on and reached the A939 which I followed almost to the outskirts of Nairn before taking B-roads into Inverness. This was a great drive in fabulous weather and I loved Avery minute of it. While the hound was stretching his legs near Corgarf a group went by with several Porsches and a Lamborghini making a fantastic sound as the driver dropped a couple of gears and accelerated away up the hill.
This evening I am camped alongside Beauly Firth with the lights of Charlestown visible across the water. Tomorrow I will go up the coast Wick, Sunday from Wick to Durness. On Monday I travel to Ullapool, Tuesday night's stop is at Applecross. Although I am doing the NC500 anti-clockwise I shall heed the advice in this thread and do the Apllecross loop clockwise. It only adds about 15 miles. on Wednesday I shall head for Fort Augustas rather than going back to Inverness. This will allow me to head towards Oban on Thursday to take in the Scotburgring before heading south again for another night near Keswick (I can almost taste the Jennings as I type). Friday is motorway slog back to Guildford.
66mpg said:
After a roadside bacon bap and a cup of tea I carried on up the M6 and so on until I reached Perth. After lunch I went up the A93 through Braemar and shortly after caught up with a convoy of classics including a TR6, E-type coupé, MGB, Morgan, Mercedes R129, and Jaguar Mk2 3.4.
I reckon that was Caledonian Classics' Highland Fling. I'll be in that E-Type in around 10 days from now!!! 
66mpg said:
I started my trip yesterday with the aim of following the NC500 in an anti-clockwise direction. I left Guildford with dog and tent loaded into the car. My overnight stop was near Keswick with splendid views of Blencathra.
After a roadside bacon bap and a cup of tea I carried on up the M6 and so on until I reached Perth. After lunch I went up the A93 through Braemar and shortly after caught up with a convoy of classics including a TR6, E-type coupé, MGB, Morgan, Mercedes R129, and Jaguar Mk2 3.4. They turned on to the B976 and I was able to pass them when they pulled into the first big lay by. I pressed on and reached the A939 which I followed almost to the outskirts of Nairn before taking B-roads into Inverness. This was a great drive in fabulous weather and I loved Avery minute of it. While the hound was stretching his legs near Corgarf a group went by with several Porsches and a Lamborghini making a fantastic sound as the driver dropped a couple of gears and accelerated away up the hill.
This evening I am camped alongside Beauly Firth with the lights of Charlestown visible across the water. Tomorrow I will go up the coast Wick, Sunday from Wick to Durness. On Monday I travel to Ullapool, Tuesday night's stop is at Applecross. Although I am doing the NC500 anti-clockwise I shall heed the advice in this thread and do the Apllecross loop clockwise. It only adds about 15 miles. on Wednesday I shall head for Fort Augustas rather than going back to Inverness. This will allow me to head towards Oban on Thursday to take in the Scotburgring before heading south again for another night near Keswick (I can almost taste the Jennings as I type). Friday is motorway slog back to Guildford.
Sounds like a fantastic experience....what are you driving?After a roadside bacon bap and a cup of tea I carried on up the M6 and so on until I reached Perth. After lunch I went up the A93 through Braemar and shortly after caught up with a convoy of classics including a TR6, E-type coupé, MGB, Morgan, Mercedes R129, and Jaguar Mk2 3.4. They turned on to the B976 and I was able to pass them when they pulled into the first big lay by. I pressed on and reached the A939 which I followed almost to the outskirts of Nairn before taking B-roads into Inverness. This was a great drive in fabulous weather and I loved Avery minute of it. While the hound was stretching his legs near Corgarf a group went by with several Porsches and a Lamborghini making a fantastic sound as the driver dropped a couple of gears and accelerated away up the hill.
This evening I am camped alongside Beauly Firth with the lights of Charlestown visible across the water. Tomorrow I will go up the coast Wick, Sunday from Wick to Durness. On Monday I travel to Ullapool, Tuesday night's stop is at Applecross. Although I am doing the NC500 anti-clockwise I shall heed the advice in this thread and do the Apllecross loop clockwise. It only adds about 15 miles. on Wednesday I shall head for Fort Augustas rather than going back to Inverness. This will allow me to head towards Oban on Thursday to take in the Scotburgring before heading south again for another night near Keswick (I can almost taste the Jennings as I type). Friday is motorway slog back to Guildford.
66mpg said:
Tuesday night's stop is at Applecross. Although I am doing the NC500 anti-clockwise I shall heed the advice in this thread and do the Apllecross loop clockwise.
You also get to see this bit of scenery by doing that:
...and from the road:
Also, slightly O/T but for anyone interested, The Bealach cafe has finally settled on its menu (trial and error over the first two seasons)
Just returned from a 1200 mile trip; wonderful. Night one at Glengarry CAstle- really very good and then a sublime drive via 5 sisters of Kintail, Applecross, Torridon, Ullapool and Kylesku to stay at Eddrachilles Bay Hotel- excellent and under new management since my last stay . Then up to see various people and places at Durness and Erriboll , then to Melvich , doing some dolphin watching from Strathy Point and staying at Melvich . Melvich Hotel looked unprepossessing from outside but was first class with great food and super staff .Home via Halladale and Helmsdale.
Generally ....very quiet, but more motor homes than usual. Lots of Dutch Morgans and the like near Eilean Donan . Bealach na Ba - a few bikers only and Torridon looked wonderful as ever and near deserted. Apart from a spectacular thunderstorm at 5am on thursday very lucky with weather too. Biggest difference since my early days of coming up is the standard of hotel.Much as I loved their quirkiness and characters, newer visitors would not believe how utterly dreadful many were by modern standards . For years I had a week at Cape Wrath Hotel and whilst it had the best view from dining room and a lovely manager(the late Jack Watson) the food was sub school dinner dreadful and en suite was unheard of . Unlike leaky roofs. The guests were also often wildly eccentric too- the English upper classes at play....
Generally ....very quiet, but more motor homes than usual. Lots of Dutch Morgans and the like near Eilean Donan . Bealach na Ba - a few bikers only and Torridon looked wonderful as ever and near deserted. Apart from a spectacular thunderstorm at 5am on thursday very lucky with weather too. Biggest difference since my early days of coming up is the standard of hotel.Much as I loved their quirkiness and characters, newer visitors would not believe how utterly dreadful many were by modern standards . For years I had a week at Cape Wrath Hotel and whilst it had the best view from dining room and a lovely manager(the late Jack Watson) the food was sub school dinner dreadful and en suite was unheard of . Unlike leaky roofs. The guests were also often wildly eccentric too- the English upper classes at play....
Having filled up at Morrisons in Inverness with Diesel, tea and bacon bap, I set off up the A9 to Wick. Early on I found myself in a convoy with little or no chance to overtake due to oncoming traffic and the usual follow my leader mentality of the convoy with no chance to leapfrog ones way up the line. That is until the A9 took a left turn at a roundabout where the B9175 veers off to Arabella. The A9 climbs uphill on a right hand bend with an overtaking lane. All those being held up start to pass the slower vehicles. Just where the lane runs out at the top of the hill is a camera van. It must be like shooting fish in a barrel for those guys.
Gradually the traffic thinned and the road and scenery improved in almost equal measure. I stopped in Golspie for tea and cake and to let the hound stretch his legs before continuing, arriving in Wick at lunchtime. We spent the afternoon wandering round the town so the hound is dog tired(sorry). The distillery centre (Old Pulteney) was closed but I might pick some up in Tesco on the way out of town! For medicinal purposes, of course.
Onwards tomorrow to Durness. It appears that rain is forecast there tomorrow afternoon. Ho hum. The last three days have been glorious with the only rain so far being at Threlkeld at 4:30 am for about an hour on Friday morning.
Gradually the traffic thinned and the road and scenery improved in almost equal measure. I stopped in Golspie for tea and cake and to let the hound stretch his legs before continuing, arriving in Wick at lunchtime. We spent the afternoon wandering round the town so the hound is dog tired(sorry). The distillery centre (Old Pulteney) was closed but I might pick some up in Tesco on the way out of town! For medicinal purposes, of course.
Onwards tomorrow to Durness. It appears that rain is forecast there tomorrow afternoon. Ho hum. The last three days have been glorious with the only rain so far being at Threlkeld at 4:30 am for about an hour on Friday morning.
66mpg said:
Mark 1 Diesel Toyota Yaris - hence the handle - the Peugeot 205 of the noughties.
Don't worry, I will pull over and let you pass if you catch up to me.
just for the quality of your posts and the way it makes me want to be there I might have forgiven you... till I saw the dreaded "D" wordDon't worry, I will pull over and let you pass if you catch up to me.
Edited by 66mpg on Saturday 17th September 09:59
Anyway, bloody 66mpg indeed, I was over the moon with 12mpg on the last one..
Durness seems to have its own micro climate. No matter what it may have been like elsewhere it has been sunny there 7 times out of my 8 visits. The most recent one was on Monday. The weather had been pants all day with wind and rain but as I was passing the turning to the Cape Wrath passenger ferry the rain ceased and the sun started to break through. After the obligatory stop at Cocoa Mountain at Balnakiel I set off for Tongue. Shortly after passing Ceannabeinne Beach the sun decided that was enough for the day and disappeared again. At least the rain didn't come back but the dull light wasn't great for photography.
I've just got back from an 8 day tour of just under 2900 miles starting and finishing in the far south east of England. It's going to take a while sorting through several hundred photos. When done I'll post up a few of the better ones on here.
I've just got back from an 8 day tour of just under 2900 miles starting and finishing in the far south east of England. It's going to take a while sorting through several hundred photos. When done I'll post up a few of the better ones on here.
briang9 said:
66mpg said:
Mark 1 Diesel Toyota Yaris - hence the handle - the Peugeot 205 of the noughties.
Don't worry, I will pull over and let you pass if you catch up to me.
just for the quality of your posts and the way it makes me want to be there I might have forgiven you... till I saw the dreaded "D" wordDon't worry, I will pull over and let you pass if you catch up to me.
Edited by 66mpg on Saturday 17th September 09:59
Anyway, bloody 66mpg indeed, I was over the moon with 12mpg on the last one..
Day 4 of the NC500 part of the tour. I am typing this as I sit in The Bealach café before I head up Bealach na Ba and down into Applecross.
On Sunday I played tourist a bit visiting Duncansby Head, John o' Groats and Dunnet Head, all in glorious sunshine before heading for Durness. Ran out of sunshine at Tongue and had fun getting the pegs in for my pop up tent before the wind carried it off at Durness.
Monday saw the return of the sun and I set off towards Ullapool. The scenic road to Lochinver was a great mix of breathtaking scenery and quite technical single track including one memorable blind summit where for a moment I had no idea which way the road went or if anyone was coming the other way. Rolling into Lochinver I saw a pair of Stags leaving, one red, one yellow. Lovely cars, always a pleasure to see them still going.
After a pie for lunch at the Lochinver Larder I decided to go "off piste" as far as the NC500 is concerned by taking the unclassified road south out of Lochinver rather than the A837 past Loch Assynt. This was amazingly remote and technical but the scenery was the best yet with views of Suilven and Canisp among others.
I can truly say that I have enjoyed the roads and the scenery; both have surpassed my expectations and I will be plotting a way to get back up here again before long although next time I will leave the East coast alone and try to add Skye to the itinerary.
On Sunday I played tourist a bit visiting Duncansby Head, John o' Groats and Dunnet Head, all in glorious sunshine before heading for Durness. Ran out of sunshine at Tongue and had fun getting the pegs in for my pop up tent before the wind carried it off at Durness.
Monday saw the return of the sun and I set off towards Ullapool. The scenic road to Lochinver was a great mix of breathtaking scenery and quite technical single track including one memorable blind summit where for a moment I had no idea which way the road went or if anyone was coming the other way. Rolling into Lochinver I saw a pair of Stags leaving, one red, one yellow. Lovely cars, always a pleasure to see them still going.
After a pie for lunch at the Lochinver Larder I decided to go "off piste" as far as the NC500 is concerned by taking the unclassified road south out of Lochinver rather than the A837 past Loch Assynt. This was amazingly remote and technical but the scenery was the best yet with views of Suilven and Canisp among others.
I can truly say that I have enjoyed the roads and the scenery; both have surpassed my expectations and I will be plotting a way to get back up here again before long although next time I will leave the East coast alone and try to add Skye to the itinerary.
66mpg said:
Day 4 of the NC500 part of the tour. I am typing this as I sit in The Bealach café before I head up Bealach na Ba and down into Applecross.
On Sunday I played tourist a bit visiting Duncansby Head, John o' Groats and Dunnet Head, all in glorious sunshine before heading for Durness. Ran out of sunshine at Tongue and had fun getting the pegs in for my pop up tent before the wind carried it off at Durness.
Monday saw the return of the sun and I set off towards Ullapool. The scenic road to Lochinver was a great mix of breathtaking scenery and quite technical single track including one memorable blind summit where for a moment I had no idea which way the road went or if anyone was coming the other way. Rolling into Lochinver I saw a pair of Stags leaving, one red, one yellow. Lovely cars, always a pleasure to see them still going.
After a pie for lunch at the Lochinver Larder I decided to go "off piste" as far as the NC500 is concerned by taking the unclassified road south out of Lochinver rather than the A837 past Loch Assynt. This was amazingly remote and technical but the scenery was the best yet with views of Suilven and Canisp among others.
I can truly say that I have enjoyed the roads and the scenery; both have surpassed my expectations and I will be plotting a way to get back up here again before long although next time I will leave the East coast alone and try to add Skye to the itinerary.
Excellent- remember that the 'NC 500' is a Visit Scotland idea , and a recent one at that. There are many roads which are ' off piste ' and in some respects all the better for it. The road you took down through Inverpolly is one- astounding scenery and whilst I dunno about technical (never sure what it actually means tbh )it is very bendy and very narrow ! The mountain many people love is on that road - Stac Polly- the place which Wainright (hillwalker etc ) described as looking like a 'porcupine in a state of extreme irascibility'. Incidentally when Wainright first walked that road from Ullapool to Lochinver (in the early 50's I think) he didn't encounter one car... On Sunday I played tourist a bit visiting Duncansby Head, John o' Groats and Dunnet Head, all in glorious sunshine before heading for Durness. Ran out of sunshine at Tongue and had fun getting the pegs in for my pop up tent before the wind carried it off at Durness.
Monday saw the return of the sun and I set off towards Ullapool. The scenic road to Lochinver was a great mix of breathtaking scenery and quite technical single track including one memorable blind summit where for a moment I had no idea which way the road went or if anyone was coming the other way. Rolling into Lochinver I saw a pair of Stags leaving, one red, one yellow. Lovely cars, always a pleasure to see them still going.
After a pie for lunch at the Lochinver Larder I decided to go "off piste" as far as the NC500 is concerned by taking the unclassified road south out of Lochinver rather than the A837 past Loch Assynt. This was amazingly remote and technical but the scenery was the best yet with views of Suilven and Canisp among others.
I can truly say that I have enjoyed the roads and the scenery; both have surpassed my expectations and I will be plotting a way to get back up here again before long although next time I will leave the East coast alone and try to add Skye to the itinerary.
Just got back from the far north,it was my first time and really enjoy the roads and people,the food was first class,hotels where a mix from B&Bs small hotels to one night in a castle,as for the weather could not ask for better we ate outside most days even getting burnt on Ullapools harbour wall eating apple turnovers.I will sort out some pictures and more details ASAP.
66mpg said:
Rolling into Lochinver I saw a pair of Stags leaving, one red, one yellow. Lovely cars, always a pleasure to see them still going.
At first I thought you meant deer. (they were still down near the roadside earlier in the summer)
66mpg said:
by taking the unclassified road south out of Lochinver rather than the A837 past Loch Assynt. This was amazingly remote and technical but the scenery was the best yet with views of Suilven and Canisp among others.
Not sure you see much if anything of Canisp from the road...Gassing Station | Roads | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff