North Coast 500

[James_Death]

I got Rain all the way up, Camped under some trees that night near Fort Augustus, rain stopped till i got tent up.

Then continued all night and morning a brief respite when nearing John O' Groats camped at Durness Camp site, took advantage of the Hot shower and then a warm meal in the pub.

Half hour of rain at 4 in morning.

Stayed dry till tent packed and on the move half hour later Biblical rain for rest of day, didn't make it to the one piece i wanted to do Applecross as while nearly to Gairloch i though i lost the left ear bud as exhaust sounded even fruitier until i felt exhaust hitting my foot , snapped the remus link pipe in two and muffler foot peg mount snapped on one side.

Sounded like a Lancaster Bomber, my feet felt wet don't know if that was just sweat as the Altberg road runners had never leaked before, hands would no longer squeeze into my richa arctic gloves, infact i could wring them out.

So called it a day and headed the 482 miles home.

Hope better in July...

Oh i won't have my wife doing the Drumbeg/Clashnessie section, that is very very narrow, tall crest to road gravel all over felt the rear slide a few times on the R1100R with me and luggage must have been tipping at 335kg.

I also can see why the Inverness to John O' Groats can be missed out.

Perhaps go clockwise to John O' Groats if you want to go there or just upto Durness or Bettyhill and then turn back and do it again.

[sprintster]

Shame you didn't get the weather.For future reference if you're not bothered about being able to say you've done the NC500 the best thing to to do is head to or from Tongue to Bonar Bridge and Dingwall.That's a good ride.And put the remainder of the miles on a trip to Skye.

[ollydog]

There's a gaggle of us doing it first days of June. We have a site on Facebook with GPS routes,waypoints etc. from when 18 of us last year.

It's nc500 2017 as a search term.

See thee on the road.......

hi bernard, how long are you taking, i dont do face book
steve

[Africa John]

hi bernard, how long are you taking, i dont do face book
steve

2nd to 6th June plus getting there and back so 1st to 7th for me (thumbs)

[ollydog]

is it camping all the way, whats the meeting point as i live near burnard, think chris with buddy dog might be up for this
steve

[skinny]

Same dates as me and a buddy, arriving in Inverness on the 2nd, where is the best camping in Inverness, or are they all good? Hopefully meet up with a few of you!

[V-Rider]

Right, dates set, leave Herts on the 1st June, 1 night in alnwick, into Inverness on Friday the 2nd of June, been looking at sun-art etc, but keep the tips coming, some useful information. Thanks guys. V-rider look out for white 1150gs adv and a KTM 990s, both sporting ABR stickers and too much gear! Anyone else up at that time? Thanks again. Skinny.

Think I'm going to be a day or two behind you. I finish work on the 2nd at 0700 in the morning so that'll be a sleep / prep day, then will be heading out on the third. I'm planning on spending a night wild camping on the Raider's Road, in galloway forest park as it's been designated a dark sky and I've never seen / appreciated a full view of a night sky before.

After that its another night up to invermoriston area for another stay somewhere local, third day to isle of sky, fourth up to durness, 5th day is spending time exploring the durness area and ending up on orkney, 6th is ferry back from orkney down to cairngorns for the night, then onto lake district on day 7, then home stretch to Clevedon nr Bristol on day 8.

[ScottHeyden]

12 of us doing it between the 26th & 30th of this month. Looking forward to it.

[Bluebird]

I am going up to do it on 12th May. But no camping for me, hotels all booked.

[Philiptigerrice]

I may be up that way over the weekend of May 12th too.


A ruck of us did the NC500 last year, or a versaion of it anyway - we didn't bother with Loch Ness as we've all done it - and instead took the ferry to Strontian (Sun Art).

Next month - I'm supposed to be offshore Aberdeen for three weeks - but have to come in for a weeks course - there's no helicopters planned over the weekend though - so I'll be free to wander.

If a mate can join me - I'll head south and cover the borders - if he's unable too- am going to do Aberdeen to say, Dingwall / Invergordon on the Friday night.

On the Saturday, I'm going to cut up through the middle of the highlands and head to Lochinver - thats a brilliant place to camp - and head down to the beach to light a bonfire and chill out as the sun goes down.

I did think about doing the Inverness to John O Groats route again - but fancy something mre inspiring, with no speed cameras every 1500metres!#

Sunday will be a jaunt back down to Aberdeen, and Monday morning, fly out to work again


All done on full pay :whistle: :woohoo: