NC500

I did it Sept last year, mix of camping and hotels over 10 days ( 2 days on Isle of Skye).
2 cars, one diesel and one electric, charge points and set up was great for electric.
Visited lots of the standard tourist spots and climbed some mountains too.
Beautiful and amazing scenery but v busy in some stops.
Yeah I'll have to get a charge place Scotland card but the infrastructure up there looks great considering the remoteness
 
Yeah I'll have to get a charge place Scotland card but the infrastructure up there looks great considering the remoteness
We didn't get a scotland card, paid for charge on debit card where ever we went 👍🏻
I was worried about charging pre departure but we had no problems on the trip
 
I've seen plenty of vids on YouTube of people in motorhomes and campers saying the driving parts can be a bit fraught due to the amount of traffic.
Might be an idea to modify the route depending on what you are driving. Personally, if I was doing a trip in my van I'd go across the Pennines and up the west coast past Fort William, Inverness, Ullapool etc then do the Western isles.
We did it in a 7 meter long motorhome. We avoided Applecross because we've driven that way before and it's all single track with passing points and hairpins, anything bigger than 5m I think is not recommended at all

On day 3 we had a 16 mile long section of single track to get to the next camp site and parts of that were a bit white knuckle. We really enjoyed whole trip though, cos is £490 for 5 nights of motorhome hire and about £20 a night in campsites - you can wild camp in Scotland but not in anything with an engine so you need to factor that in

Also I wouldn't go anytime when it's midge season as imagine that makes it hell, hence we went may as the females (the ones that bite you) haven't hatched yet.

We took our 18 year old Bengal cat with us and she had a great experience visiting beaches and waterfalls for the first time; lot of amazing views, beaches and nice places to visit. Some of the beaches were pale sand, blue clear sea and deserted.

We had great weather but probably lucky for may.

The last day was fairly dull, coming down the east coast back to Inverness. Seemed like a much more English coastline and a lot less to see than the other days but with more time could have explored more, just a lot less easy on the eye.

 
Also John o'groats probably the most disappointing place on the whole route, reviews did say that but did it because we were there. Dunnet head is the most northerly point and much better aesthetically and hardly anyone there, John o groats packed, have to pay for parking and very little there other than gift shops and a photo op.
 
I was chatting to a client of mine last week who was planning on doing it in their Aston Martin (sounds like an awesome way to do it!) but he has been put off by others who have done it lately.. given the increase of staycations the roads and little stop offs are all rammed so may be worth picking your time carefully to avoid peak crowds.

Think we’ve all seen the Instagram pics of wonderful idyllic views but the reality is battling through dozens of people to get a half decent snap!
 
I was chatting to a client of mine last week who was planning on doing it in their Aston Martin (sounds like an awesome way to do it!) but he has been put off by others who have done it lately.. given the increase of staycations the roads and little stop offs are all rammed so may be worth picking your time carefully to avoid peak crowds.

Think we’ve all seen the Instagram pics of wonderful idyllic views but the reality is battling through dozens of people to get a half decent snap!
It was nice and sunny when we did it in may and we had the opposite experience. May be different in peak summer, but we found most places pretty much deserted or just a few people there. Camp sites had plenty of people at them but the little towns and stop off points weren't busy at all. You saw the odd classic car troupe or a few motorhomes in convoy but then you'd have stretches without people for a long time and lot of places we stopped for a while and we're the only ones there. Only busy place was John o'groats.

Applecross can get busy during peak season I've read but if you go early on you should be fine

We used Pitchup to book the sites along the way. The £20-25 per site included waste facilities, water top up and electric hookup and all apart from one has shower blocks which were all really modern, but we just used the motorhome.
 
I can't really add much to what's been said already.

The best hotels are the Torridon, Summer Isles, and Altnaharra. The Lochalsh Hotel always was good, but not quite as good at the moment I think, and not quite on the route.

Personally, I wouldn't do it in a big camper van. There are some narrow roads down to bays and beaches and you won't get anything bigger than a 4x4 down them.
 
We did Fife-Inverness-Durness-lochcarron-Onich-Oban in 6 days taking in Sky and Mull enroute. We stayed in a variety of quirky Airbnb’s.This was September last year. The East and North coasts were pretty quiet but the west coast was heaving.
The guide books tend to take you clockwise so we did it the opposite way hoping for less traffic. Irrelevant on a lot of the narrow West coast roads. The hidden sandy beaches and Applecross were our highlights.
 
Been ponder this for a while, but in a convertible, so it would need to be in the summer months.

I've been put off slightly by stories of it being rammed with campers/caravans (this isn't an anti- caravan post BTW!).

Anyone done it by car in the summer months?
 
It is a good point about Applecross and motorhomes.
In fact all the single lane roads are difficult for the bigger motorhomes, which I have to say are the cause of the blockages on the narrow routes.

The East coast is way better than painted by some above. Just do a bit of research.
The West coast is not as good as eulogised either, but way more crowded.
The North coast is where its at.
 
AH well, best laid plans and all that.

I'll not actually have my car this summer, one if it's many many faults needs a new coolant valve. Which Tesla don't have. According to the service centre the new part will be delivered "possibly" at the end of July.

Not a fan of the fact they used the word possibly!

Next year I guess. Thanks for all the advice though.
 
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