Scottish Road Trip - North Coast 500

North Coast 500 - The best Scottish road trip

This is among the best road trips in the UK, and certainly one of the best holidays I have ever been on.  If you are ever planning any trips to Scotland, this should be on the list.  500 hundred miles around the north of Scotland, taking in amazing views and excellent challenging roads.  There is an absolute abundance of things to do here, from touring distilleries to visiting castles, buzzing small towns, hidden away beaches, boat trips, live music and so much more

This is the kind of trip that planning really is key, and you can do as much or as little as you like.  Average is around 5-7 days, however many driving enthusiasts may only focus on driving and complete it in 3 days.  That sounds crazy, but it really isn't.  The driving was the best part of this trip for me.  

It's only once you come back home, you realise how little joy there is in driving in the city.  Traffic lights, rush hour, pedestrians, Ford Ka's...sigh.  The north coast will reignite your joy of driving.

If anyone is taking a motorhome, learn how the bog works.  Sounds daft but we had no idea. "Pull a lever....pour in some blue liquid.....pull this to empty".......

"lets just not use it". Or at least that was the plan.   

2nd morning I wake up first and discover the toilet is literally full to the brim.  

I was calm, the rental guy told me "....pull this to empty...." 

I went outside, I saw the tank, I pulled.

For camping veterans, you will no doubt have already worked out whats wrong here.

When you use the toilet, there is a switch to open the hatch and let everything drain into the tank.

This was not done....I did not realise this.

So I pulled....and instantly a tidal wave of shame came blasting out towards me.

..............................let that sink in for a moment.

My arms, my watch, my new suede shoes.......

I was washing my arms for an hour while all the other campers were having their morning shave.

The Visit Scotland website has an excellent website showing off all the route has to offer along with suggested stopping point, but it is easy to get overwhelmed with ideas and while remembering where everything is.

Quick tips:

• Print off an A4 map of the route and mark up all the good ideas you come across.  Having done this trip with a few School teachers, our map was multicoloured with highlighters.
• leave the sat nav at home and buy a UK road map, it will make the trip much more enjoyable.
• Motorhomes are a great way to enjoy this.  There is something amazing, about pulling up at the side of the road when you randomly find an ruined castle and sticking the kettle on.  Minibus or bike is also good options.  You can take your own car of course, but I really love the joy of driving something different.
• If you are staying in B&B's I would try and book in advance, especially in summer.  A lot of the caravan spaces can also fill up pretty quick in the campsites, so again best to book. 
• The summer is an obvious time to plan this trip, however with the route becoming more and more popular and with a huge chunk of it being single track roads.......congestion can still be an issue.  (I am eating my words from earlier).  So it may be best to avoid peak season.

Few highlights:

• Dunrobin Castle
• Smoo cave + Sango Sands campsite next to it (great beach)
• Applecross + the road in and out (best part of the drive)
• Ullapool 
• Genmorangie distillery 
• Live music, research ahead in case there are any festivals
• .............literally hundreds more