Wow, just had an awesome weekend doing the Scotland 500 tour in my new RRS, the trip is 500ish miles around the West Coast, North Coast and East Coast of Scotland. The tour is really breathtaking and one of the best things ive ever done. We covered over 1250 miles from home on the trip returning via the spectacular Cairngorns. Spending over 12 hours Saturday and Sunday in the car i have to say was a total pleasure, the comfort is amazing.

I HIGHLY recommend this trip to all of you, we stayed the first night in Fort William the morning after we travelled up the West Coast and North Coast staying over in Thurso on Saturday then sunday we travelled the east coast via John 0'Groats.
















Last edited by bazzert9 on Tue May 29 2018 12:59pm. Edited 1 time in total

Ahh I think you mean you have just completed part of the NC 500 - Inverness to Inverness 500 miles around the North, NE and NW coasts of Scotland and cross country back to the start. It has been a huge success, way bigger than anybody ever thought it would and accommodation is stretched to the absolute limit during the high season. It IS a fantastic run with stunning scenery and no matter what the weather is like very very dramatic.
All is not sweetness and light though............. there is a fair bit of single track road to drive and if you happen upon a Lamborghini or 4 or any similar cars (and there are a lot of them being used for the route) then just like touring coaches and cars with caravans you can end up doing a huge amount of reversing back to the last passing place as these guys will not back up - also some of the racier cars that come north to drive it are a bit wide for the roads up there so they won’t even try to squeeze passed! I have been told that it is pointless trying to book ahead for hotels and B&B’s for this summer - everything is already fully booked and even camping and caravan sites are booked to capacity.................
Also while the NC500 is undoubtly a very lovely drive, we have many many more and quieter roads that are just as stunning to drive up here in Scotland - even just to take a drive from Glasgow to Fort William on the A82/A84 takes on some of the most fantastic driving roads in the UK but be prepared to have to sit back and drive with the flow because if there is a coach or caravan in front there are few really safe overtaking places......... and a lot of accidents every year with bikers unfortunately and the police can and do close the road for 6-8 hours at a stretch to investigate and there are very few routes to take to bypass incidents. Oh and NEVER blast along at mega speed - the wildlife and sheep tend to jump out in front of fast travelling cars with some pretty awful results!
Want to dribve the NC500? It has it’s own website and would be better driven in the Spring or late Autumn to avoid the crowds in high summer. And of late this has been the warmest part of the UK too!
Highlight of the driving? Scotland’s answer to the Stelvio Pass - The road to Applecross!

I’m glad you enjoyed the run and you probably had one of the best cars there is to drive it too 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

We must have fallen very lucky then, being bank holiday weekend i expected it to be extreemly busy, but it wasnt at all we only booked the trip last minute and found two lovely hotels the one just outside Thurso was brilliant Northern Sands Hotel we stayed over night in Fort William at the Clan McDuff Hotel. Having come up the M6 we decided to stay over in Fort William and start our trip here, and yes you are correct the Glasgow to Fort William was a wonderfull drive. the only section we didnt complete was the Inverness back to Sheildag as we chose to head into the Cairns.

^^^^

Glad you enjoyed the drive, you were lucky with the traffic.

Agree with Tim, I live on Skye and would not attempt the NC until after the August Bank Holiday is over.

Its great to see the exotic cars come up here but the Zombie hordes driving camper vans and Kamikaze bikers are a total pain and don't get me started on cyclists, I retired up here to get away from all that!

Tony 2018 MY19 HSE Dynamic, Santorini, Ebony/Ivory, Sliding pano, Adaptive cruise, Black wheels. Arrived 3rd September 2018
2015 MY16 HSE Dynamic, Santorini, ebony/cirrus, sliding pano, cameras, black wheels - Arrived 1 October 2015

Haha agree with Tim and 0310 it's Mayhem up here, I live in aberfeldy and it's packed in summer so congrats on completing the NC500 with little traffic lovely pictures btw

Despite the traffic being heavy up here, No where on earth could be worse than the road off the M6 off to Anglesey and once you finally make it onto the island to get to my cousins it's another 90 minutes behind conveys of caravans with no way to pass, does my crust!

I'll take the highlands summer traffic any day  MY18 SCV8 Satin flux silver
Gone:
MY19 SV VELAR AUTOBIOGRAPHY firenze red
MY18 SCV8 Yulong white- perfect 👍
MY16 SDV8 SANTORINI BLACK - perfect 👌
MY64 SCV8 DARK BLUE - nightmare car
MY64 SCV8 FIRENZE RED - loads of annoying issues
MY15 SDV6 FIRENZE RED - perfect 👌
MY12 SDV6 DISCO4 IPANEMA SAND - perfect 👌
MY09 TDV6 SPORT BLUE - lots of issues

You were amazingly lucky with the weather, bazzert9, - we spend time on the West coast every year and have rarely seen skies as clear as those. Mind you, it’s great there even when it’s pouring with rain - God’s own country.

Tim, my great uncle used to have to visit Applecross for his work back in the early 1950s and family folk lore is that he used to have to reverse up the hill because the old car wouldn’t make it in first gear (reverse was a lower ratio)!

Drove my R8 all over few years back over a week east, north and west and the highlight had to be the road to Applecroas - amazing MY18 Range Rover Sport SVR (18' - current)
Land Rover Evoque (16'-18')
Porsche 911 Turbo S Convertible (13’-16’)
Audi R8 V10 (10’-13’)
Golf R32 (06’-10’)
BWM M3 (04’-06’)
TVR Tuscan S (03’-04’)
TVR Chimera 4.5 (99’-02’)
Peugeot 206 GTI (99’-02’)
Alf Romeo 156 (92’-98’)
Ford Orion (89’-92’)
Ford Escort (’87-’89)