Road Trip Through The Highlands Adventures in English

The North Coast 500 is often referred to as Scotland’s equivalent to America’s route 66!  It’s a 500 mile round trip from our northernmost city, Inverness and takes you to the far north of Scotland and through the Northern highlands. It was created in 2014 by the North Highland Initiative, a non-profit organization as a way of boosting economic growth across the region. The NC500 is not a single road or highway like Route 66  but instead is a series of existing roads that form a loop. It's become a major tourism success story in Scotland with tens of thousands of people having already driven the route.  The Scenery includes rugged coastline, beaches,farmland, rivers, forests, lochs, and mountains. You’ll also see local wildlife such as deer, squirrels, birds of prey, seabirds, and sea life such as dolphins, whales and seals. There are plenty of sheep and highland cows as well as things to see and do along the way like castles, heritage sites, museums, spectacular beaches, whisky distilleries, breweries and much more. Spend at least 5 days on the route to give yourself time to enjoy the scenery and attractions along the way but you can do it in a few days.  The best time is in the summer months when attractions are open and roads are unlikely to be closed You can go in either direction, but if you are new to driving in Scotland then I recommend going anticlockwise and heading up to John O Groats first as the roads in this direction are easier to navigate and it means you are keeping some of the best scenery and worst driving conditions till last. The route will go past some spectacular coastal scenery, At John O Groats you can take photos next to the famous signpost with signs showing distances to various destinations or take a detour over to the Orkney Isles.  Heading round the coast will bring you to Thurso, our Northernmost town where there’s a great whisky distillery called Wolfburn, pretty good whisky. You come into areas deserted during the Highland clearances when tenants were forced off their land, many Scottish crofters emigrated to Canada and the United States. Make a stop in Durness to see the Smoo caves and indulge in some chocolate at Cocoa Mountain. It’s pretty windy round here but you’ll be hard pushed to find fresher air. You’ll be spoilt for choice scenery wise and  finally you’ll reach the town of Ullapool, gateway to the Outer Hebrides and a wonderful wee town with some great seafood restaurants. From Ullapool down to Applecross is where the driving gets a bit trickier with single track roads and some sharp bends, blind summits and the rest. There are plenty of opportunities to get off the beaten track, instagrammable photo opportunities at every turn and the views will truly take your breath away. So now for some driving etiquette, the roads in this part of Scotland can be quite narrow and winding so keep your speed down as you never know what will be around the corner!  There may be sheep or cows or even deer on the roads, a tractor or a cyclist.  Some parts of the NC 500 will be single track roads which means only 1 car can pass at a time the side of the road you will find passing places, usually marked by a black and white sign where you can pull over to let the car coming in the opposite direction pass by. The custom is that if you see a car approaching, you pull into the next passing place on your side of the road. If someone is coming uphill, you give them priority and passing places can also be used to let traffic overtake you especially if you are driving slowly to enjoy the scenery. If someone flashes their headlights at you, they are usually indicating that you can go first, and 1 final thing, it is customary to thank the other drivers for letting you pass by raising your hand Passing places are not parking places so don’t stop there to take photos, this could quickly block the road and the locals will be far from impressed. 


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