South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

https://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/to ... coast-500/

Anyone done this? I'm thinking about it.

Me and a mate are going 2nd week in May. Got 8 days to get up, back and as much of the route as we fancy.

Will probably dip in and out of it as accommodation will be easier to get off the main route. Also means we can deviate off if the weather is shite, which it frequently is.

Just planning a route up now that avoids motorways as much as possible whilst still getting there in good time.

There's a good article in the latest issue of Ride magazine about this.

Think Jay did it earlier last year

I did it back in June. I was up there anyway in a holiday cottage in Glemoriston and from there I did the NC500 in two parts over two separate days. Once on the circuit you can do it easily in two days unless you plan to ride slowly and stop frequently or have long lunch breaks. If you wanted a single base from which to ride the full route, anywhere between Fort Augustus and the Muir of Ord would be a good location.

On day one I rode from Invermoriston along the fabulous A87 to Loch Alsh and then round the Applecross penninsula clockwise then up through Glen Torridon and round the coast road to Ullapool then back down the A835 and home again.

On the second day I did the top end. It's best ridden anti-clockwise, up to Inverness, across the Cromarty Firth and up the east coast to John O' Groats. The east side is bright and breezy but not the most spectacular section. The northwest and west coast are the stunners so save the best till last. Caithness from Lybster through John O' Groats round to Thurso can be somewhat bleak if the sun isn't shining and is often extremely windy (the landscape looks like tundra) so it's a good idea to ride that section in the morning while you're fresh and relax into the really scenic stuff as the day goes on.

The north west coast from Tongue onwards is utterly stunning so if you do it the way I did, my advice would be, start early and get to John O' Groats by noon at the latest, get the so-so bits out of the way and make the most of the good bits to come. Also, this way the sun (if there is any..) will be shining on the landscape and not into your eyes. (John O' Groats isn't strictly on the NC500 which cuts across from Wick to Castletown but it's somewhere you have to visit just to say you have. It's also not a bad spot to stop for lunch and if the sun's out and the wind is blowing, the Pentland Firth is pretty bracing). Dunnet Head is also worth a visit on the way round. It's the true most northerly point of the UK mainland and there's a fine surf beach there, but when I went is was hard to stand up in the wind. There are lots of beautiful little villages and bays along the north coast. Most with crashing surf and white sand. I stopped in several places for a break and photos but still made it round in good time. There is a backpacker hostel in Tongue if accommodation is hard to find and a lovely little campsite right on the beach at Scourie.

From Scourie I continued on the NC500 route proper until I got to Elphin, then rather than go back down to Ullapool which I'd already ridden on the first leg, I cut across on the A837 via Oykel Bridge to Bonar Bridge then went south on the B9176 through Dalnavie to join the A9 back to Inverness. The B9176 is a damn fine biking road and quiet.
My only proviso is that IMO the Stoer Peninsular from Unapool round to Lochinver isn't worth riding. It's pretty enough but extremely slow and narrow - literally a car's width and no more - with lots of blind summits and hairpins and the area is full of second homes and holiday cottages so if you meet one of the many tourist twat car drivers and they're doing anything more than 20 mph you will have a head-on. If you meet something suddenly there is no possible way to stop in time. It takes the best part of an hour to get round and I just found it stressful and unpleasant with lots of heart-in-mouth moments with oncoming car drivers who seem to think that bikes need no room and will just get out of the way, even though there is nowhere to go and often nowhere to even put your foot down. Far better in my view to continue south from Unapool on the A894 to Loch Assynt then turn right on the A 837 to Lochinver and then turn round and come back again. The A837 is a great road and I'd rather ride that twice than go round the Stoer peninsular.

As for getting up to Scotland, go east. Coming from the south west it's tempting to try and pick a route up the west side of the country but it's not worth it. Get across to Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Yorkshire. I managed to avoid all motorways that way and only had an hour of the A1. The rest was all A roads and on the way back I managed to avoid the A1 dual carriageway altogether and rode 700 miles form Inverness to Blandford in one go. The other great thing about the eastern route is you get to ride through Northumberland. I had a one night stopover on the way up in a B&B up on the moors above Hexham. From there it was a fairly easy day to get to Invermoriston by tea time. Northumberland is biking heaven, as are the Scottish borders. Worth getting up early and taking your time getting to Edinburgh.

Anyway, food for thought. If you like I can probably dig out my route notes for the ride up to the border. Got them somewhere.

Just watch out for all those BMWs being ridden at walking pace.


Did anyone mention......... MIDGES

I came back from my last Scotland trip looking like the spottiest ever spotty youth after the attention of those murderous little buggers.

The real scourge are caravans and camper vans. The Highlands are a no-go zone in August. Hopefully it shouldn't be too bad in May.
Avoid doing the NC500 curcuit at the weekend if possible.
Shouldn't be many midges at that time of year anyway and being near the coast keeps them off.

Wow. Thanks for the information guys!

Apart from that stretch from m Unapool are there a lot of hairpins elsewhere up there?

Plenty on the Applecross pass. It's like Zigzag Hill but over several miles and at about 40 degrees.
Much better to go up it than down which means heading up from the south and going round the Applecross peninsular clockwise. Ideally get there early in the morning before the camper vans stir. If you get stuck behind one you'll never get past.

The rest of the peninsula ring road is good fun. Narrow but with enough room to overtake, nice and twisty and decent viability so you can crack on a bit.

Thanks. I'll need to get some practice in ...

I did a lot of that area in an artic a few years ago definetly some good scenery up there , even some of the A roads are single track with passing places

This trip is certainly on my bucket list.... I did a small part of it last year... omg the roads are amazing...
So I’m looking to organise a trip in 2020 due to my racing comittments this year.