Detour #86: North Coast 500, Scotland
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Formally established by the Scottish tourist board late in 2014, the North Coast 500 is, in brief, a 500-mile circular route around the Northern Highlands and has been pitched as a sort of Scottish Route 66 – although with fewer diners, giant Ketchup bottles and dinosaur museums, says Luke Ponsford.
It has been breathlessly described as one of ‘the world’s most iconic touring routes’, and for many has been ‘a life changing experience’. But on setting off from Inverness – the capital of the Scottish Highlands – I have the distinct feeling that previous reports of what lies ahead may have been leaning on the hyperbole just a tad. A network of municipal dual carriageways and roundabouts lead me out of the city and into clear air, swathes of grassy heath and rolling moorland. As I pass through a series of sleepy hamlets and villages the scenery is indeed lovely, in the same way that, say, parts of Sussex are lovely. But spectacular? Not yet. Scotland’s most celebrated poet Robert Burns, in his popular seventeenth century song My Heart’s in the Highlands, waxed lyrical about the “straths and green vallies” and “mountains, high-cover’d with snow”. But so far, I’m not seeing it.
However, as I peel off the A9 trunk road and head towards the town of Achnasheen, my first port of call as on arriving in the Wester Ross region of Ross-shire, the scenery changes its tune. Journeying south west to Lochcarron reveals spectacular views of shimmering Loch Carron and the neighbouring Loch Kishorn before I reach the entrance to the spectacular Applecross Pass, also known as the Bealach Na Ba. This winding single track road transports me 750 metres up and over numerous corries and crags, with jaw-dropping vistas over the Inner Sound and across to the island of Raasay. I drop down into the beautiful village of Applecross then hug the coastline heading around the shores of Loch Torridon. As the road widens it takes in more stunning lochs – Maree, Gairloch and Ewe – on the way up to the town of Ullapool, the most bustling in Wester Ross.
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The frequency of the changing landscape, and weather, is what impresses most along the west coast of the NC500. One moment it feels like I’m taking in the lush coastline of Cornwall with shaggy Highland cattle roaming across my path, the next I’m driving under the umbrella of a Scandinavian treeline. Turn another corner and I’m on the Western Slope of Colorado, all the while being sternly watched over by the monolithic snow-capped mountains of Beinn Alligin, Liathach and Beinn Eighe.
I head north, into the majestic Sutherland region, which makes up a significant chunk of the Northern Highlands. Passing through Durness – the most remote and least populated parish in the UK. The road cuts across endless ranges of rolling quartzite hills and blankets of peaty moorland. I accelerate off along the east coast of Sutherland, passing the ancient sites of Iron Age houses, Bronze Age burial grounds and tiny isolated hamlets with Old Norse names. It’s hard to understand how communities survived back then in this weather-ravaged, topographically challenging part of the world. Existing here today looks hard enough.
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As I make my way across the moors towards the region of Caithness and the east coast of the NC500 route – known as the extreme edge of Europe – the vistas flatten out, the desolate terrain moulding into the coastline. After an overnight stay in the age-old fishing port of Wick, the journey southwards wends its way through verdant green valleys, along a softer coastline replete with calming sandy beaches and thick carpets of wildflowers. The roads too become markedly less dramatic, as the A99 threads its way through the wonderfully named villages of Thrumster, Ulbster and Lybster before joining the A9 once again and spiriting me along 30 miles of stunning coast road to Brora, where the old stone walls flanking the tarmac give way to dual carriageways and modern roundabouts that punctuate the remainder of my journey south through the Easter Ross region via Tain and Invergordon.
My Highlands expedition concludes as I pass the Cromarty Firth and make my approach back into Inverness, where the journey started. To say that the NC500 route impressed is an understatement. Easy to navigate using just a simple map and easily accessible – probably best you don’t bring an RV though – this trouble-free Scottish itinerary has taken me along the finest coastline and through the shadows of the most dramatic mountain ranges mainland Britain has to offer. The opportunities to stop and marvel at the local wildlife, the historical monuments and the jaw-slackening views have been endless. Diverse scenery, wild terrain, mind-bending topography. Apologies to Robert Burns. I get it.
Words Luke Ponsford
Photography Luke Ponsford & Shutterstock