NC500 (north coast road)

[GetCarter]

CABC said:

wow! even by your standards. they have a natural, uncontrived power to them.
how taken? drone? what zoom?

Ta.

Top one Drone. DJI Phantom 4 pro.

Bottom one Sony A6300 with 55-210 (at 210)

[CABC]

[Jag_NE]

Evening all. I’ve booked up hotels for an NC500 run in mid february. Is it a stupid idea to do this in winter? I’m keeping an eye on the forecast and the hotels are refundable.

[GetCarter]

Jag_NE said:

Evening all. I’ve booked up hotels for an NC500 run in mid february. Is it a stupid idea to do this in winter? I’m keeping an eye on the forecast and the hotels are refundable.

It's the best time to do it as long as the weather holds. (no traffic, no midges) Just decide at the last moment. More of a problem are the short days.

[Jag_NE]

GetCarter said:

Jag_NE said:

Evening all. I’ve booked up hotels for an NC500 run in mid february. Is it a stupid idea to do this in winter? I’m keeping an eye on the forecast and the hotels are refundable.

It's the best time to do it as long as the weather holds. (no traffic, no midges) Just decide at the last moment. More of a problem are the short days.

Thanks.

In terms of the weather, what would you say is a stopper? I have a RWD car so I presume snow is a no go. In terms of temperature, should I want the forecast to be above a certain level I.e. no risk of ice?

[GetCarter]

Jag_NE said:

GetCarter said:

Jag_NE said:

Evening all. I’ve booked up hotels for an NC500 run in mid february. Is it a stupid idea to do this in winter? I’m keeping an eye on the forecast and the hotels are refundable.

It's the best time to do it as long as the weather holds. (no traffic, no midges) Just decide at the last moment. More of a problem are the short days.

Thanks.

In terms of the weather, what would you say is a stopper? I have a RWD car so I presume snow is a no go. In terms of temperature, should I want the forecast to be above a certain level I.e. no risk of ice?

Ice is indeed the problem (because of the steep hills). However, even today (-5 here at the moment), as long as you don't go out first thing, let the gritter go first plus some traffic, and you'd be fine.

This was about an hour ago:

[Jag_NE]

GetCarter said:

Jag_NE said:

GetCarter said:

Jag_NE said:

Evening all. I’ve booked up hotels for an NC500 run in mid february. Is it a stupid idea to do this in winter? I’m keeping an eye on the forecast and the hotels are refundable.

It's the best time to do it as long as the weather holds. (no traffic, no midges) Just decide at the last moment. More of a problem are the short days.

Thanks.

In terms of the weather, what would you say is a stopper? I have a RWD car so I presume snow is a no go. In terms of temperature, should I want the forecast to be above a certain level I.e. no risk of ice?

Ice is indeed the problem (because of the steep hills). However, even today (-5 here at the moment), as long as you don't go out first thing, let the gritter go first plus some traffic, and you'd be fine.

This was about an hour ago:

Thanks! Is most of the route gritted?

[GetCarter]

Yes... but as such big distances and few gritters, best to wait until about 09:30 to make sure he's been round for the morning run. Most of the local traffic does 07:30 - 08:30... come 9:30 there's sod all traffic.

[Jag_NE]

GetCarter said:

Yes... but as such big distances and few gritters, best to wait until about 09:30 to make sure he's been round for the morning run. Most of the local traffic does 07:30 - 08:30... come 9:30 there's sod all traffic.

Thank you. We will be on a zero rush schedule so 0930 is great.

[slipstream 1985]

GetCarter said:

Ice is indeed the problem (because of the steep hills). However, even today (-5 here at the moment), as long as you don't go out first thing, let the gritter go first plus some traffic, and you'd be fine.

This was about an hour ago:

Is that the road out of lochcarron heading to applecross?

[GetCarter]

slipstream 1985 said:

Is that the road out of lochcarron heading to applecross?

Yep.

[Rocco1]

We were in Applecross two weeks ago and the guys who were in rear wheel drives had no issues, drive according to conditions and you will be fine

[Rocco1]

[rosino]

Stunning pictures !

I am thinking about doing the loop or part of the loop for Easter Weekend.. Starting Thursday morning in Edinburgh and ending Tuesday night in Inverness.. do the experts around here expect the traffic to be manageable or will it be a nightmare ?

This would be the proposed route..

https://goo.gl/maps/cFaWqLWnWwq

Day 1 Edinburgh - Cairngorms - Inverness (by myself that day, can put more miles in one day)
Day 2 Inverness - Applecross - Torridon
Day 3 Torridon - Ullapool - Unapool
Day 4 Unapool - Durness
Day 5 Durness - Thurso
Day 6 Thurso - Inverness

Any thoughts on bits of roads i might be missing ? Tried to keep some drives short not to overwork the wife, I can always wake up at dawns on some of the days to go and find a perfect drive at dawn..

[GetCarter]

rosino said:

Stunning pictures !

I am thinking about doing the loop or part of the loop for Easter Weekend.. Starting Thursday morning in Edinburgh and ending Tuesday night in Inverness.. do the experts around here expect the traffic to be manageable or will it be a nightmare ?

This would be the proposed route..

https://goo.gl/maps/cFaWqLWnWwq

Day 1 Edinburgh - Cairngorms - Inverness (by myself that day, can put more miles in one day)
Day 2 Inverness - Applecross - Torridon
Day 3 Torridon - Ullapool - Unapool
Day 4 Unapool - Durness
Day 5 Durness - Thurso
Day 6 Thurso - Inverness

Any thoughts on bits of roads i might be missing ? Tried to keep some drives short not to overwork the wife, I can always wake up at dawns on some of the days to go and find a perfect drive at dawn..

Easter Weekend is really busy. But if you do most of your driving before 10.30 a.m. and after 16:30 you'll avoid 90% of the traffic. Drive between 10:00 and 16:00 you'll get stuck behind slow motor-caravans on single track roads.

[Patrick Bateman]

And car drivers who completely stop to take in the views, unaware of what the mirrors are for.

[Condi]

Patrick Bateman said:

And car drivers who completely stop to take in the views, unaware of what the mirrors are for.

To be fair, trying to take in the views through their mirrors probably isnt the wisest idea either.

[Davie]

Headed to Skye for the Easter weekend and whilst not the NC500, will be the first decent run this year but it'll also be with missus, small human and enough crap to invade Poland shoved in to the back end of an aging Volvo estate. Currently sat watching The Grand Tour and wondering if I could manage to get round 'their' loop and back before she notices I've gone missing for a substantial portion of the weekend...

[GetCarter]

Davie said:

Currently sat watching The Grand Tour and wondering if I could manage to get round 'their' loop and back before she notices I've gone missing for a substantial portion of the weekend...

[rosino]

GetCarter said:

Easter Weekend is really busy. But if you do most of your driving before 10.30 a.m. and after 16:30 you'll avoid 90% of the traffic. Drive between 10:00 and 16:00 you'll get stuck behind slow motor-caravans on single track roads.

Thank you.. yes we had similar in Exmoor indeed.. unless you privilege wider roads for faster progress and accept single track roads will just be done nice and slow.. I was looking at the A87 for example that looks decently wide to be able to overtake if need be.. anything around applecross not so much :-D