NC500 (north coast road)
Discussion
Condi said:
zubzob said:
I think toilets and rubbish is a bit of a straw man. The real issue is road capacity. If you are in a 10 car train, keeping your litter safe, and blasting down a single track road without any concession to ongoing traffic, is not a free pass to complain.
Is there any data on officially advised capacity for these single track roads? Or on how money is generated? How are NC500 profits spent? Other than boosing hotel and BNB owners revenues, is there actually any profits to reinvest?
Id be curious know any details about NC500 ltd, if anyone has any goss?
Look on Companies HouseIs there any data on officially advised capacity for these single track roads? Or on how money is generated? How are NC500 profits spent? Other than boosing hotel and BNB owners revenues, is there actually any profits to reinvest?
Id be curious know any details about NC500 ltd, if anyone has any goss?
Edited by zubzob on Monday 20th August 09:34
Last year the company made a loss of £76k, it employs 6 staff, and gets funding from private investors (eg Aston Martin, The North Highland Initiative etc). I suspect because its supported by the council its not there to generate profit, but the council generate money by cash being spend in local shops which otherwise be spent elsewhere.
It was originally set up as a not for profit organisation funded by Highlands & Island Initiative - at which time I gave them a bunch of photos to use on their website etc.
A couple of years ago the boss called me and said they were turning it into a PLC and were going to try and run at a profit - so they paid me the going rate for the photos I had supplied.
They tried to get me to be a 'jobbing photographer' on call to take photos of people and their cars as the did the route (a position I politely declined!).
I would say that cafes, shops and hotels are still happy the route was 'invented' as they are coining it. Everyone else is now pretty pissed off, due to the amount of traffic, the dreadful standard of driving (on the single track roads) and the amount of noise and litter. A third person I know has just moved house to get off the route.
Living on one of the said single track roads, we do all our driving before 10.00, April - September. This avoids most of the traffic.
I put a dashcam in one of my cars a few months back, and at the end of the 'season' will put up a vid showing some of the driving antics! Watch this space.
At the weekend, 8.30. 42 miles, saw 1 car.
I have to say when went we didn't see anything untoward (10 car convoy). We went as a group and the main thing said to all of us was to be polite and behave which we all did.
Locals seemed great and very accomodating - I think the trouble arises when people start to abuse the place and become rude.
I do completely agree that the council have been piss poor in investing into the route/areas. Seems to be a general problem within the UK; happy to make money but not reinvest it correctly.
Its clear to see the money that flows up to the top of scotland now because of this route but there seems to be very poor use of extracting the potential of it and taking it further.
Locals seemed great and very accomodating - I think the trouble arises when people start to abuse the place and become rude.
I do completely agree that the council have been piss poor in investing into the route/areas. Seems to be a general problem within the UK; happy to make money but not reinvest it correctly.
Its clear to see the money that flows up to the top of scotland now because of this route but there seems to be very poor use of extracting the potential of it and taking it further.
The trouble is that there is no mechanism to create a flow of monies from additional visitors and business into local government that pays for better infrastructure. Goods, services, food, accommodation, fuel etc will be purchased by visitors but any taxes gained from that go to central government, and if they ever get disbursed back to the regions that takes years. Local business rates intake will eventually increase, but that will take a long time to have any effect.As has been suggested maybe a tourist tax could raise some funds. No one will notice £1 per night added to their hotel or campsite bill, but the intake over the year could have a significant effect. It is being talked about for places like Edinburgh, so why not country wide, as long as the take it kept very local and ring fenced for spending related to infrastructure.
Great thread and hugely useful cheers.
Looking at flying up to Inverness next year and renting a campervan to trundle round. I would only get in trouble if I took my own car so made the choice to do it at a sedate pace and sight see all the way. I apologise in advance for the 2 motorhomes dawdling about all over the shop next September !!
Any recommendations on a decent camper hire place. A quick search has revealed there are quite a few , probably all sprung up due to the route becoming ever more popular but to narrow it down would be handy rather than pot luck ??
Cheers
Looking at flying up to Inverness next year and renting a campervan to trundle round. I would only get in trouble if I took my own car so made the choice to do it at a sedate pace and sight see all the way. I apologise in advance for the 2 motorhomes dawdling about all over the shop next September !!
Any recommendations on a decent camper hire place. A quick search has revealed there are quite a few , probably all sprung up due to the route becoming ever more popular but to narrow it down would be handy rather than pot luck ??
Cheers
Far Cough said:
Great thread and hugely useful cheers.
Looking at flying up to Inverness next year and renting a campervan to trundle round. I would only get in trouble if I took my own car so made the choice to do it at a sedate pace and sight see all the way. I apologise in advance for the 2 motorhomes dawdling about all over the shop next September !!
Any recommendations on a decent camper hire place. A quick search has revealed there are quite a few , probably all sprung up due to the route becoming ever more popular but to narrow it down would be handy rather than pot luck ??
Cheers
I don't think there's a lot between them. See a lot of Inverness Motorcaravan hire... decent spec vehicles. All I'd suggest is that the big fat long ones have a real problem on single track roads. Avoid!Looking at flying up to Inverness next year and renting a campervan to trundle round. I would only get in trouble if I took my own car so made the choice to do it at a sedate pace and sight see all the way. I apologise in advance for the 2 motorhomes dawdling about all over the shop next September !!
Any recommendations on a decent camper hire place. A quick search has revealed there are quite a few , probably all sprung up due to the route becoming ever more popular but to narrow it down would be handy rather than pot luck ??
Cheers
Far Cough said:
renting a campervan to trundle round. ..... do it at a sedate pace and sight see all the way.
Cheers
This is half the trouble, particularly "foreign" campers, foreign reg cars, tourists in hire cars etc. They sight see and forget about other road users and the rules of the road.Cheers
I know you can go more than 35mph!
The lay-by is not for parking in it's called a passing place.
Passing places are a great place to pull in and let the 25 vehicles behind you get on their way
Rant over.
GetCarter said:
Anyone coming up this week watch out for this one... half way between Shieldaig and Torridon.
The condition of our roads makes me really sad. Recently went on a long trip to the north of scotland and around the isle of skye. The condition of the roads is absolutely disgusting. You can see work happening but the simple fact is its no where near at the rate of the damage: its been neglected for so long.
The trip was epic, only let down by the shocking condtion of the roads.
Simple fact is they make it so hard and so awkward to claim, wheels get damaged and your front end runined with stone chips because the condition of the road is not acceptable: period. If the roads were ok these things would not happen 99% of the time so why make the claim process so awkward, with so many conditons of the council knowing about the issue etc etc is a farce. What is worse is they move the goal post each year on what is "acceptable" for the road condition
Funnily enough, a biker mate of mine were discussing this on Sunday night... and is part of the issue perhaps the conflict of interests? For example, it's promoted as a great driving road with fantastic scenery but there lies part of the issue... on one hand you have tourists doing the route to be exactly that, tourists and thus they're more interested in a sedate pace, taking pictures and having impromptu picnics. And on the other hand, you have those doing it because it's a great driving road... thus the other came does it at pace, wearing driving shoes and in convoy with a few other like minded types and probably aren't interested in the views nor Bert and Mary, ambling along with their Westfalia.
So in short, is it any wonder there is conflict... it's really not that different from the Ring in the sense you have Hans Stuck in his GT3 trying to do a lap record and you have Mr and Mrs Jones in their Talbot motor home all fighting for the same bit of tarmac, but each with very different views on what that bit of tarmac is for. Same applies to anything that encourages multiply use, even the path through the local woods that some hatchet faced woman screamed at me for cycling along when she was on her horse. We both have the right to use it, but we're both using in very different ways.
Just seem that its universal appeal to all is causing issues on various levels but ultimately, the infastructure simply cannot cope with the volume of traffic using it. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to do it but I'd love to do it more so for the fact I've never seen the North West yet and with wife and child in tow, I'd probably be one of said tourists... ambling along, swerving round pot holes and stopping to take pictures and have a picnic. But if wife and child weren't there, I'd also be more willing to do it for the roads and to enjoy some nice routes, but then again wouldn't treat it like my own personal race track like some do. Then again, I'm from a rural back ground so perhaps have a little more consideration then Steve and Dan from Hemel Hempstead...
The road condition is a shame and it's something that really gets me angry these days... I'm sick of crashing in to potholes and my "nice" car is pretty nasty on broken surfaces, to the stage where I'd probably not take it on such a trip and instead opt to take the rather soft, wafty family estate as I think constantly dodgy craters and having the car rattled apart would getting tedious after a while. In fact, I'm already less willing to have a random Sunday run out for these exact reasons. Maybe that's part of the local councils plan!
Who knows, but that was my story...
So in short, is it any wonder there is conflict... it's really not that different from the Ring in the sense you have Hans Stuck in his GT3 trying to do a lap record and you have Mr and Mrs Jones in their Talbot motor home all fighting for the same bit of tarmac, but each with very different views on what that bit of tarmac is for. Same applies to anything that encourages multiply use, even the path through the local woods that some hatchet faced woman screamed at me for cycling along when she was on her horse. We both have the right to use it, but we're both using in very different ways.
Just seem that its universal appeal to all is causing issues on various levels but ultimately, the infastructure simply cannot cope with the volume of traffic using it. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to do it but I'd love to do it more so for the fact I've never seen the North West yet and with wife and child in tow, I'd probably be one of said tourists... ambling along, swerving round pot holes and stopping to take pictures and have a picnic. But if wife and child weren't there, I'd also be more willing to do it for the roads and to enjoy some nice routes, but then again wouldn't treat it like my own personal race track like some do. Then again, I'm from a rural back ground so perhaps have a little more consideration then Steve and Dan from Hemel Hempstead...
The road condition is a shame and it's something that really gets me angry these days... I'm sick of crashing in to potholes and my "nice" car is pretty nasty on broken surfaces, to the stage where I'd probably not take it on such a trip and instead opt to take the rather soft, wafty family estate as I think constantly dodgy craters and having the car rattled apart would getting tedious after a while. In fact, I'm already less willing to have a random Sunday run out for these exact reasons. Maybe that's part of the local councils plan!
Who knows, but that was my story...
Edited by Davie on Tuesday 28th August 10:48
Investment in road maintenance across the whole country is frankly appalling, you should try driving round some parts of Edinburgh. It's a complete chore. But yes I would agree that given the huge surge in popularity of the North West and thus the revenue it will have generated, reinvesting some of that money would have been a good move. But then again, has it become a victim of it's own success, overwhelmed the infastructure and by leaving the roads in a state of disrepair it will in turn put some people off? Not sure, but I do find myself wondering when it'll just become too much... perhaps a fatality that is attributed to a road defect may prompt a response.
On which note, her father is on the verge of hanging up his leathers after 40 years of riding as this year he's had more scare due to the road condition than any other... two of which were during a run north, first hitting gravel that had been washed over the road and the next was hitting a crater mid corner which put him off line, but thankfully he didn't come off nor end up in the path of a 44 ton truck. He sold his sports bikes a few years back and changed to a tourer as it was a little less nervous on crap surfaces, but then changed again to an enduro style thing (I'm not a biker!) but that was the bike he had a couple of scares on. Perhaps the NC500 is like the Ring in that sense too, a couple of fatalities is worth it for the revenue it generates...
On which note, her father is on the verge of hanging up his leathers after 40 years of riding as this year he's had more scare due to the road condition than any other... two of which were during a run north, first hitting gravel that had been washed over the road and the next was hitting a crater mid corner which put him off line, but thankfully he didn't come off nor end up in the path of a 44 ton truck. He sold his sports bikes a few years back and changed to a tourer as it was a little less nervous on crap surfaces, but then changed again to an enduro style thing (I'm not a biker!) but that was the bike he had a couple of scares on. Perhaps the NC500 is like the Ring in that sense too, a couple of fatalities is worth it for the revenue it generates...
I was over on Arran earlier this year.
The roads were terrible. Lack of local knowledge and trying not to wreck my car meant I spent a lot of time doddling along at 30mph dodging pot holes. The locals were obviously better prepared and could easily maintain a good 50mph in their 4x4's. When I could, I would pull over and let the faster vehicle past. And then the one occasion when I did catch somebody it was a big camper van thing, bigger than half the road and the driver refused to pull in to let anybody by.
That drove me nuts and that was only 20-30 miles. 500 miles of that would be a nightmare.
The roads were terrible. Lack of local knowledge and trying not to wreck my car meant I spent a lot of time doddling along at 30mph dodging pot holes. The locals were obviously better prepared and could easily maintain a good 50mph in their 4x4's. When I could, I would pull over and let the faster vehicle past. And then the one occasion when I did catch somebody it was a big camper van thing, bigger than half the road and the driver refused to pull in to let anybody by.
That drove me nuts and that was only 20-30 miles. 500 miles of that would be a nightmare.
Yes. And it's the motorhome people that don't seem to be providing any benefit to the locals.
They buy all their supplies in Tescos in Inverness and dawdle around and clog up the roads with the big signs saying "road not fit for motor homes".
If you want to dawdle around, gawping at every single thing go in a car. Eat locally. Stay in local accommodation. Pull over and let people pass. In both directions. Let the bin men through - you'll be amazed how quickly they hustle that thing around. Even more so the postie.
Just a thought.
They buy all their supplies in Tescos in Inverness and dawdle around and clog up the roads with the big signs saying "road not fit for motor homes".
If you want to dawdle around, gawping at every single thing go in a car. Eat locally. Stay in local accommodation. Pull over and let people pass. In both directions. Let the bin men through - you'll be amazed how quickly they hustle that thing around. Even more so the postie.
Just a thought.
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