NC 500 in March ?
Discussion
Can't speak for March as I've never been that early. Our trip is always mid/late April.
Likely to be warmer then and the midge season has yet to begin...
In 9 years we've only had 2 where the weather hasn't been kind.
In 2015 we had 5 consecutive days of continuous sunshine with almost cloudless skies.
By contrast, the following year it had just begun to snow as we left the Cairngorm Ski Centre.
It had stopped well before we reached Braemar but came back with a vengeance later.
Climbing the Lecht we ran into a blizzard with driving snow having almost obliterated the uphill lane.
Making the ascent in a white-out without winter tyres was, er, interesting'. -
Luckily nothing was coming the other way...
Likely to be warmer then and the midge season has yet to begin...
In 9 years we've only had 2 where the weather hasn't been kind.
In 2015 we had 5 consecutive days of continuous sunshine with almost cloudless skies.
By contrast, the following year it had just begun to snow as we left the Cairngorm Ski Centre.
It had stopped well before we reached Braemar but came back with a vengeance later.
Climbing the Lecht we ran into a blizzard with driving snow having almost obliterated the uphill lane.
Making the ascent in a white-out without winter tyres was, er, interesting'. -
Luckily nothing was coming the other way...
A lot of accomodation is closed until Easter, which is April 1st in 2018, so you need to plan around that.
I have driven to the north of Scotland many times in Jan & Feb, although not round the NC500. The best thing is to watch the weather forecast and pick suitable weather, but not everyone is in a position to do that.
I have driven to the north of Scotland many times in Jan & Feb, although not round the NC500. The best thing is to watch the weather forecast and pick suitable weather, but not everyone is in a position to do that.
I did a bastardised version of the NC500 in September. One of the best 4 days holidays I've had!
Day 1: Midlands up to Blairgowrie.
Day 2: We started off in Blairgowrie (after spending the night there) and drove North up the A93 on to the A939 Old Military Road. Continued North up to Nairn and then hung a left, through Inverness and up towards the West coast on the A835. We did the West Coast up to Scourie via Unapool.
Day 3: Scourie up to the North coast - in to Durness and across to Tongue. Instead of following the herd along to Thurso etc, we dropped down the middle from Tongue down to Altnaharra (the hotel in this tiny village has had my great grandfather, grandfather and my dad all sign in the visitors book, so it has some sentimental meaning to me, and I signed in too), down to Bonar Bridge then in to Dingwall.
Day 4: We were originally going to do Dingwall to Glasgow and have a night in Glasgow, but decided to sack Glasgow off and do an 11hr trip from Dingwall back to the Midlands, via Loch Ness, Fort William etc.
All in, we drove about 1200 miles over the 4 days. The roads on the West coast are breathtaking, and very enjoyable to drive. Not all of them are particularly fast, but they are good fun none the less. They weren't particularly busy at all, which made it a lot more enjoyable! We are looking at heading back up there in June to do the Applecross Pass and then explore a bit more of the West coast. Thinking about it, I will start my own thread in the next few days with some of my photos.
Day 1: Midlands up to Blairgowrie.
Day 2: We started off in Blairgowrie (after spending the night there) and drove North up the A93 on to the A939 Old Military Road. Continued North up to Nairn and then hung a left, through Inverness and up towards the West coast on the A835. We did the West Coast up to Scourie via Unapool.
Day 3: Scourie up to the North coast - in to Durness and across to Tongue. Instead of following the herd along to Thurso etc, we dropped down the middle from Tongue down to Altnaharra (the hotel in this tiny village has had my great grandfather, grandfather and my dad all sign in the visitors book, so it has some sentimental meaning to me, and I signed in too), down to Bonar Bridge then in to Dingwall.
Day 4: We were originally going to do Dingwall to Glasgow and have a night in Glasgow, but decided to sack Glasgow off and do an 11hr trip from Dingwall back to the Midlands, via Loch Ness, Fort William etc.
All in, we drove about 1200 miles over the 4 days. The roads on the West coast are breathtaking, and very enjoyable to drive. Not all of them are particularly fast, but they are good fun none the less. They weren't particularly busy at all, which made it a lot more enjoyable! We are looking at heading back up there in June to do the Applecross Pass and then explore a bit more of the West coast. Thinking about it, I will start my own thread in the next few days with some of my photos.
A bastardised version is the way the go, that way you can miss out lots of the A9 like this for example
NC500(ish)
https://goo.gl/maps/vGE5KC3GxDm
NC500(ish)
https://goo.gl/maps/vGE5KC3GxDm
mustdash said:
Day 3: Scourie up to the North coast - in to Durness and across to Tongue. Instead of following the herd along to Thurso etc, we dropped down the middle from Tongue down to Altnaharra (the hotel in this tiny village has had my great grandfather, grandfather and my dad all sign in the visitors book, so it has some sentimental meaning to me, and I signed in too), down to Bonar Bridge then in to Dingwall.
I agree. Tongue to Lairg is a cracking drive. JoG really isn't worth it imo. It's just a destination for tourists and coach parties.
The furthest east I would go is Melvich then direct to Helmsdale.
There is so much more to the Highlands than the NC500.
Going elsewhere/off piste is well worth it imo.
If the herd sticks to the NC500 route that's fine with me.
I wouldn't choose June though.
The midges will be out in force and SUVs/campervans everywhere.
Late September/early October for me.
Midge season will have ended and most of the tourists have gone home.
SmilerFTM said:
Link not working: the map doesn't appear to be set for sharing/public.Just looking at that map I posted, you could turn off at Drumrunie and head west alongside a couple of Lochs, just after Loch Bad a' Ghaill you can head north to Lochinver. Just after that turn east off the A837 onto the B869 and loop around along the coast though Clachtoll to the A894 where you join back up with the route
SmilerFTM said:
Try the link again, should be ok now
Personally I wouldn't include the JoG loop. YMMV.
The B871 and B873 are a nice alternative to the direct route from Tongue.
Between Kinbrace and Syre is very quiet: I have yet to see another car on that stretch.
Have encountered some campervans along Loch Naver due to this.
https://goo.gl/maps/cndfwAHgzXn
SmilerFTM said:
Just looking at that map I posted, you could turn off at Drumrunie and head west alongside a couple of Lochs,
One of them (Loch Lurgainn) is just visible in my pic #4 earlier.https://goo.gl/maps/PGiJAX6kNBu
SmilerFTM said:
just after Loch Bad a' Ghaill you can head north to Lochinver.
Inverpolly Estate (April 2015).https://goo.gl/maps/14Yz8vrxwTR2
SmilerFTM said:
Just after that turn east off the A837 onto the B869 and loop around along the coast though Clachtoll to the A894 where you join back up with the route
It's not a road for swift progress: very twisty and challenging in places with blind bends and crests.I nearly got wiped out on one in September last year by a t
t in a BMW 3 series.He seemed to think he was competing on a tarmac round of the WRC.
Take it easy and enjoy the scenery (September 2016).
https://goo.gl/maps/QEWmwix4nkm
Assynt mountains: L-R, Canisp, Suilven, Cùl Mòr, Cùl Beag.
https://goo.gl/maps/EppvEJaShMN2
The long and winding road.
https://goo.gl/maps/YcEFNZQYYZ32
Lemon squeezy.
https://goo.gl/maps/u75su65uLoA2
Roller coaster (April 2015).
https://goo.gl/maps/dXzsJcvsCQ22
We done the NC500 at the end of October, it was cold but other than that we were extremely lucky with the weather. We are half way through the right up on here. Some pretty spectacular roads to drive on :-)
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Red Devil said:
SmilerFTM said:
Try the link again, should be ok now
Personally I wouldn't include the JoG loop. YMMV.
The B871 and B873 are a nice alternative to the direct route from Tongue.
Between Kinbrace and Syre is very quiet: I have yet to see another car on that stretch.
Have encountered some campervans along Loch Naver due to this.
https://goo.gl/maps/cndfwAHgzXn
SmilerFTM said:
Just after that turn east off the A837 onto the B869 and loop around along the coast though Clachtoll to the A894 where you join back up with the route
It's not a road for swift progress: very twisty and challenging in places with blind bends and crests.I nearly got wiped out on one in September last year by a t
t in a BMW 3 series.He seemed to think he was competing on a tarmac round of the WRC.
The long and winding road.
https://goo.gl/maps/YcEFNZQYYZ32
That part of the B869 (the long and winding road pic) that goes to Clachtoll is like driving in another world, agree it's slow progress due to the blind bends etc but it's an incredible looking place and I've never encountered anywhere that looks quite like it
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