Critique/Tips for my NC500 Route - 6 nights - Supercar

[Olivergt]

5 In a Row said:

If you're going for lunch at Kylesku make sure you book.

Thanks for the advice. We'll be there one day next week, will check my plans and probably book tomorrow.

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

DB4DM said:

I wouldn't drive a Mclaren in Edinburgh, the city appears anti-car and the road surfaces are appalling with deep potholes

I am sure they feel like an unused Spanish motorways paid for with EU money compared to how bad the roads are once you get closer to Skye. I did the NC500 in my 12 year old Megane and I was wincing most of the route at how poor the road surface is. A "good" road is one where only half the tarmac coating has come away, finding the rare, short stretches of resurfaced road is a lovely, if brief rest bite from the pain. As you get closer to Skye going anti clockwise the roads get worse and worse until half the surface is made up of potholes. It doesn't help that you will be driving at 15 miles an our wincing every time you hit a pot hole with a local right up your arse.

I hated doing it is a 12 year old shed, I would cry in a McLaren. The only way I would do it again is if I had some sort of jacked up Range Rover.

littleredrooster said:

As a broad-brush comment on your route, I would suggest that some of your journey times are very optimistic!

The roads you are describing are often (usually...) narrow, bumpy, single-track affairs that require frequent stops to let convoys of motorhomes/school buses/logging wagons come through. If you can get an average speed of 40mph, you are doing very well indeed!

This 100%, I know programs like Top Gear have given the impression it is full of deserted drivers roads, but it really isn't like that at all. As above, large amounts of them are single track gravel roads full of potholes. Plus where you have to pull over into the passing zones, there are often really nasty potholes you have to creep into to give enough space for the motorhomes to get past.

Just to repeat, no way would I take a car I care about.

Whaligoe Steps - The car park is tiny, there are spaces for around ten cars. I would imagine in decent weather you have no chance of parking here. Not sure if there is anywhere else to park

Wailing widow falls - We found it hard to find but definitely worth it. You end up parking by the side of the road and climbing up the hills until you stumble across it.

Fill up with fuel where you can, most petrol pumps are a single self service pump.

Standard NC500 Road

Edited by ThingsBehindTheSun on Monday 27th May 14:29

[E31Shrew]

2 GKC said:

Lunch at Kylesku Hotel overlooking the loch

Stayed there last week. Just make sure you dont get an 'Attic' room. Hideous and all for the princely sum of £230. No en suite.

[coppice]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

This 100%, I know programs like Top Gear have given the impression it is full of deserted drivers roads, but it really isn't like that at all. As above, large amounts of them are single track gravel roads full of potholes. Plus where you have to pull over into the passing zones, there are often really nasty potholes you have to creep into to give enough space for the motorhomes to get past.

Just to repeat, no way would I take a car I care about.

Whaligoe Steps - The car park is tiny, there are spaces for around ten cars. I would imagine in decent weather you have no chance of parking here. Not sure if there is anywhere else to park

Wailing widow falls - We found it hard to find but definitely worth it. You end up parking by the side of the road and climbing up the hills until you stumble across it.

Fill up with fuel where you can, most petrol pumps are a single self service pump.

Standard NC500 Road

Edited by ThingsBehindTheSun on Monday 27th May 14:29

That is perhaps testament to the bandwagon jumping hordes who now flock to the NC500.Pre the tourist board publicity fest I drove up there for decades , latterly in Caterhams , and I had no concern , ever , about bad road surfaces.

[Boleros]

Why is anyone 'jumping on a bandwagon' when the NC500 is actively promoted by the Scottish Tourist Board? I don't understand these sort of comments, it's almost as if you're trying to blame tourists for doing the very thing that Scotland wants them to do and yet somehow it's all their fault for the st state of the roads.

[Red Devil]

dng992 said:

Drafted up a route map here
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1Pm_VVz...

Day 1. I'm not a fan of the A1(M)/A1 north of Scotch Corner.
My preference is to leave at the next junction and go cross country via much quieter fun roads to the A68 - https://maps.app.goo.gl/pwWyDcgGhLdzqeof7
Just be aware of the locations of all the Gatsos north of the border at Carter Bar.
I never stay in Edinburgh (one of the UK's top car hating cities). I join the the scrum on the A720 Southern Bypass and head for Perth.

Day 2. There is a mismatch between the waypoint descriptions and the route map.
The waypoint has you going in the wrong direction back to Cawdor (point B) which is actually the missing point F from Day 1.

Day 4. Photo stop at the Kylesku Bridge. Then maybe fit in and out and back side trip to Lochinver - https://maps.app.goo.gl/PTME7MVfjYqvEEyw9
The A837 is fast and flowing and the surface wasn't a car wrecker last time I used it a couple of years ago. The Lochinver Larder is famous for its pies.
Either way, stop for another quick pic at the ruined Ardvreck Castle on the right just south of the A894/837 junction.

Day 6. Others may disagree, but I think the Bealach na Bà (Applecross) is better done clockwise.

[sherman]

Red Devil said:

Day 1. I'm not a fan of the A1(M)/A1 north of Scotch Corner.
My preference is to leave at the next junction and go cross country via much quieter fun roads to the A68 - https://maps.app.goo.gl/pwWyDcgGhLdzqeof7
Just be aware of the locations of all the Gatsos north of the border at Carter Bar.
I never stay in Edinburgh (one of the UK's top car hating cities). I join the the scrum on the A720 Southern Bypass and head for Perth.

Alot of the A68 cameras have recently been decommisioned by the Scottish government. They said it was because of improved driving https://news.stv.tv/scotland/full-list-of-100-spee...

[coppice]

Boleros said:

Why is anyone 'jumping on a bandwagon' when the NC500 is actively promoted by the Scottish Tourist Board? I don't understand these sort of comments, it's almost as if you're trying to blame tourists for doing the very thing that Scotland wants them to do and yet somehow it's all their fault for the st state of the roads.

Because some of us didn't need a Tourist Board campaign and media hype to explore the area . The NC 500 has undoubtedly put money in some local pockets but it has altered an area which was almost deserted , and all the more enchanting for it , to another tick in the box for many. The price has been ruined roads it seems and (last time I was there ) convoys of idiots. I didn't need a a label or a marketing campaign before exploring the north west . .

[LimaDelta]

sherman said:

Red Devil said:

Day 1. I'm not a fan of the A1(M)/A1 north of Scotch Corner.
My preference is to leave at the next junction and go cross country via much quieter fun roads to the A68 - https://maps.app.goo.gl/pwWyDcgGhLdzqeof7
Just be aware of the locations of all the Gatsos north of the border at Carter Bar.
I never stay in Edinburgh (one of the UK's top car hating cities). I join the the scrum on the A720 Southern Bypass and head for Perth.

Alot of the A68 cameras have recently been decommisioned by the Scottish government. They said it was because of improved driving https://news.stv.tv/scotland/full-list-of-100-spee...

Head around the back of Kielder, return (briefly) to the A68, then through Duns and some of the Jim Clark Rally roads, before reaching the Edinburgh bypass. It will add on some time, but is absolutely worth it, and (dare I say it) better roads than anything you will find on the congested NC500 route.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/54.5569541,-1.5954...

Edit - tweaked the route

Edited by LimaDelta on Tuesday 28th May 07:40

[mjlloyd500]

Wait until Labour get in

[sherman]

mjlloyd500 said:

Wait until Labour get in

Yeah. Because an SNP/Green coalition was great for the scottish road network.

[Red Devil]

LimaDelta said:

sherman said:

Red Devil said:

Day 1. I'm not a fan of the A1(M)/A1 north of Scotch Corner.
My preference is to leave at the next junction and go cross country via much quieter fun roads to the A68 - https://maps.app.goo.gl/pwWyDcgGhLdzqeof7
Just be aware of the locations of all the Gatsos north of the border at Carter Bar.
I never stay in Edinburgh (one of the UK's top car hating cities). I join the the scrum on the A720 Southern Bypass and head for Perth.

Alot of the A68 cameras have recently been decommisioned by the Scottish government. They said it was because of improved driving https://news.stv.tv/scotland/full-list-of-100-spee...

Head around the back of Kielder, return (briefly) to the A68, then through Duns and some of the Jim Clark Rally roads, before reaching the Edinburgh bypass. It will add on some time, but is absolutely worth it, and (dare I say it) better roads than anything you will find on the congested NC500 route.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/54.5569541,-1.5954...

Edit - tweaked the route

Edited by LimaDelta on Tuesday 28th May 07:40

It adds too much time for me on the outward trip, but I've done it several times on the return as I stay with my sister in North Linclonshire rather than heading straight home.
Her house is only half an hour's drive from Cadwell Park. Also, the Jim Clark Museum in Duns is a must visit for any proper perolhead.