NC500 (north coast road)

[Integroo]

Very much looking forward to my trip on 19 to 29 May! Accommodation was difficult so doing a mix of camping, hotels, apartments and a static caravan!

[Trustmeimadoctor]

We found accomodation fine but we did book it all a year out

[briang9]

Couple of pics from our recent trip

[GinSour]

How are the roads at the moment?

Hoping to get up later on this year!

[GetCarter]

GinSour said:

How are the roads at the moment?

Hoping to get up later on this year!

Full of motorbikes and some really terrible drivers. They really ought to at least see if people can reverse before they rent them motorcaravans and let them loose on single track roads.

ETA: Most of the potholes round here (Torridon) have been filled in, and reasonably well for a change - not just a bloke with a spade).

Edited by GetCarter on Thursday 14th June 09:17

[Blown2CV]

GetCarter said:

GinSour said:

How are the roads at the moment?

Hoping to get up later on this year!

Full of motorbikes and some really terrible drivers. They really ought to at least see if people can reverse before they rent them motorcaravans and let them loose on single track roads.

ETA: Most of the potholes round here (Torridon) have been filled in, and reasonably well for a change - not just a bloke with a spade).

Edited by GetCarter on Thursday 14th June 09:17

absolutely. I'd hate to be driving a camper though when getting swarmed by bikers. How people aren't killed daily i have no idea.

People should get a leaflet at the border telling them not to hold faster vehicles up though...

[GinSour]

I was up at the end of September last year and the potholes were not great.

It was surprisingly quiet for the time of year (was the holiday weekend in September i am sure). Was still full of Camper vans tbh...

Might do it at some point in August this year. I presume as its still in season the roads will be busier than September.

Craving a Cocoa Mountain hot chocolate

[Trustmeimadoctor]

Roads are good down to just before Ullapool at the moment. They get worse condition further down. Skye is st road quality wise.

IMHO coco mountain hot chocolate isn't that good it's better than most but the spiced one at the wilhagoe steps is far nicer.

Ive never seen so many Dutch and Germans over here also becareful around any new car especially if its fiesta focus astra etc all tourists. Basically there are no new reg cars up there so they are 99% hire cars bikers are terrible too most near incidents have been with them

Edited by Trustmeimadoctor on Thursday 14th June 10:13

[GetCarter]

GinSour said:

Might do it at some point in August this year. I presume as its still in season the roads will be busier than September.

Yep. August the busiest month of the year. Only time to drive is about 5 a.m. - then you still get the place to yourself (except you'll see me!).

[Trustmeimadoctor]

If your wanting decent accommodation you may struggle unless your camping. We booked the Applecross Inn about 12 months before we stayed and we got the last room then.

[Ross16v]

With regards to the traffic, myself and a mate went from Rogart to Bettyhill at the start of May and had planned to go via the NC500 (anti-clockwise) on our way back to Aberdeenshire but after getting stuck behind queues of cars behind slow drivers on the single track sections who either didn't understand how passing places work or were unwilling to pull over we decided to bail out after Ullapool and just headed back via Garve / Dingwall / Inverness,

Wouldn't fancy doing it in the height of summer. Although to be fair, if you're not as impatient as me or just want to chill out and enjoy the scenery then it wouldn't be quite so bad I guess.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

That's why we did it over 7 days so we weren't in a rush. The faster you go the less you see. What would people consider driving too slow?

[GetCarter]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

That's why we did it over 7 days so we weren't in a rush. The faster you go the less you see. What would people consider driving too slow?

People can drive as slow as they like as long as they move over when faster traffic catches them up. We're not all on holiday!

I've posted this before, but this is the nearest passing place to me... where people stop and have picnics!



ETA... this deserves another airing

Edited by GetCarter on Thursday 14th June 13:51

[Trustmeimadoctor]

I agree with you people stopping is a pita. Also people stopping in a passing place when you have already stopped for them mainly it's the foreign tourists that don't have single track roads

[Integroo]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

Roads are good down to just before Ullapool at the moment. They get worse condition further down. Skye is st road quality wise.

IMHO coco mountain hot chocolate isn't that good it's better than most but the spiced one at the wilhagoe steps is far nicer.

Ive never seen so many Dutch and Germans over here also becareful around any new car especially if its fiesta focus astra etc all tourists. Basically there are no new reg cars up there so they are 99% hire cars bikers are terrible too most near incidents have been with them

Edited by Trustmeimadoctor on Thursday 14th June 10:13

Hey, not quite true, I just did the NC500 in an 18 plate and it was not a hire car and I am Scottish (albeit I live in the central belt so certainly not a local). The tell tale sign is the big sticker saying DIESEL on the fuel cap ...

I have to agree re bikers - I went over bealach na ba in pea soup fog and the bikers just appeared out of the mist, typically in large groups. I didn't have too much difficulty with caravans or those that refused to pull over (though there were a few). The most annoying was a chap in a Mercedes convertible that flat out refused to reverse 10 feet back to a passing place and forced me to reverse about 100 feet back round a bend. Considering we both had our roofs down it was awkward. In hindsight wish I had turned the engine off and made a cup of tea, sure he would have got the point.

[GetCarter]

Just a heads up. About 250 cyclists leave Shieldaig tomorrow (Sat 16th) between 06:30 and 08:30 and go Torridon > Kinlochewe > Gairloch > Ullapool. Means Glen Torridon is a nightmare until about 10.00 After that, just hard work getting past them.

[StonedRollin]

GetCarter said:

People can drive as slow as they like as long as they move over when faster traffic catches them up. We're not all on holiday!

See a few negative comments towards bikers but curious to know what the locals stance is.

Generally i won't stop in a passing place on the bike as there is enough room for a car and a bike on single track. Some people get very upset with this and i have had people drive at me despite the fact that they could have stopped at a passing place had they chosen as i was past my last one.

And before anyone accuses me of not slowing down, yes i do slow down as i pass the car, i don't wheelie past them, i'm not trawling a knee on the tarmac..........

[GetCarter]

StonedRollin said:

GetCarter said:

People can drive as slow as they like as long as they move over when faster traffic catches them up. We're not all on holiday!

See a few negative comments towards bikers but curious to know what the locals stance is.

Generally i won't stop in a passing place on the bike as there is enough room for a car and a bike on single track. Some people get very upset with this and i have had people drive at me despite the fact that they could have stopped at a passing place had they chosen as i was past my last one.

And before anyone accuses me of not slowing down, yes i do slow down as i pass the car, i don't wheelie past them, i'm not trawling a knee on the tarmac..........

Local stance is the same with bikes and cars. In packs of three they are fine (as long as they know how to ride/drive). Packs of 30+ are a pain in the arse. (I see 10+ packs of more than a dozen each day at the moment due to the NC500 'brand' - almost all from mainland Europe).

There's always the occasional bad apple. Loads of 4 wheel drivers can't reverse - some just refuse to as they are so scared of falling off a cliff. Two motorcaravans ended up in this situation last year down the road from me. It ended up with a fist fight, lots of blood and police being called (dozens of cars had to wait over 2 hours).

Similarly, last year a biker came face to face with a 12 seater transit taking old folk over the Bealach to the local hospice. The biker couldn't reverse for obvious reasons, but the driver didn't want to reverse 100 yards with a bunch of nervous old folk. Stalemate. It ended up with the biker losing it, pulling the 65 year old driver from the minibus and beating him up! His plate was taken, a phone call made and the police arrested him in Lochcarron.

I mentioned very early in this thread that we (locals) notice which countries produce the best / worst / most & least polite single track drivers (number plates give it away), and the Scandinavians are generally the best, Germans are good. Dutch are okay. French and English by far the worst. Sad, but true. (I'm English BTW).

Edited by GetCarter on Friday 15th June 14:21

[StonedRollin]

GetCarter said:

There's always the occasional bad apple.

I think that sums it up to be honest although i'm curious to know how you identify the English riders from the rest of the UK riders though!

[GetCarter]

StonedRollin said:

GetCarter said:

There's always the occasional bad apple.

I think that sums it up to be honest although i'm curious to know how you identify the English riders from the rest of the UK riders though!

I don't. I only identify the English drivers (you'll note I said 'drivers' not riders). 90% of the bike riders are European.. as they all stop at the local cafe and speak German, Dutch, French etc.

ETA.. also it's very rare to have a big 'blat' of riders from the UK. Nearly always in 2's or 3's. Whereas most of the car blats with a dozen or more are from the UK.

Edited by GetCarter on Friday 15th June 15:32