Just home from doing the NC 500 over 5 days. Great weather, great roads, didn’t see another zed. Not one. 935 miles of sunshine and no zeds. Where is everyone?
NC 500
- Thread starter Sgr74
- Start date
jamesditchy
Active member
Great trip. Completed it with her indoors a couple of weeks ago, if we got that weather all the time would we ever leave this country
Nice pics what a great way to spend 5 days with your Zed. 8) wonkydonkey
Senior member
Bucket list material! Are the roads as empty as people say? I'd love to do it in the Zed and on the motorbicycle. It's 550 miles just to the start from me!
jamesditchy
Active member
wonkydonkey said:
Roads were not busy at all. Mainly camper vans bit mist of them played ball with the passing places on the single tracks. Rest of roads have great visibility. 1385 miles start to finish for me but we'll worth it.
wonkydonkey
Senior member
Sounds fantastic 8)jamesditchy said:
Thrustyjust
Active member
Will be here this time next year saying we have done it too 
1650 miles in a week for us, as a guess. :driving:
1650 miles in a week for us, as a guess. :driving:
A
Anonymous
Guest
We did it last year anti clockwise as you look at the route.
Rain and midges are two variables to think about..rain difficult to predict midges can be really bad in peak midge season once you stop if you want to spend time walking etc..
Hotels tend to very pricey for the quality level they offer..depends on how much time you are going to spend on it..
Traffic density and type is very variable..if you are unlucky and hit grockles in their camper vans on single track roads your average speed plummets..lots of camper vans are hired so many drivers are shitting themselves on the narrow roads..
Suprising number of push bikes when we were there..
Not that many hooray henries in their Porksters and Jaaagggs...or maybe we were all going at the same speed..
Police have the odd clampdown..given most of the roads they could fill their coffers quite easily if they wanted to..
Some of the best roads lie off the main route but if its your first trip and a bucket list then the full monty is called for...
Scenery in most places is epic save the drive from Inverness to Wick..
The Grand Tour did a take on it which took in some quieter roads as well.
Depends whether you're treating like a surrogate race track or a tourist in the highlands?
Rain and midges are two variables to think about..rain difficult to predict midges can be really bad in peak midge season once you stop if you want to spend time walking etc..
Hotels tend to very pricey for the quality level they offer..depends on how much time you are going to spend on it..
Traffic density and type is very variable..if you are unlucky and hit grockles in their camper vans on single track roads your average speed plummets..lots of camper vans are hired so many drivers are shitting themselves on the narrow roads..
Suprising number of push bikes when we were there..
Not that many hooray henries in their Porksters and Jaaagggs...or maybe we were all going at the same speed..
Police have the odd clampdown..given most of the roads they could fill their coffers quite easily if they wanted to..
Some of the best roads lie off the main route but if its your first trip and a bucket list then the full monty is called for...
Scenery in most places is epic save the drive from Inverness to Wick..
The Grand Tour did a take on it which took in some quieter roads as well.
Depends whether you're treating like a surrogate race track or a tourist in the highlands?
Good to see you enjoyed it
We did it a couple of years ago in September, the roads and sights were excellent, T Shirts and shorts much of the time with no midges so all was good. We added Skye and a couple of cross country detours which worked well. The only disappointment was that we flew up (from SW England) and hired a Focus ecoboost jobbie, it was surprisingly good fun since all post Parry-Jones have decent suspension, but would have been so much better in the Zed. The plan was to do it again in the Zed this year, but have put it off for obvious reasons. Can't wait :driving:
We did it a couple of years ago in September, the roads and sights were excellent, T Shirts and shorts much of the time with no midges so all was good. We added Skye and a couple of cross country detours which worked well. The only disappointment was that we flew up (from SW England) and hired a Focus ecoboost jobbie, it was surprisingly good fun since all post Parry-Jones have decent suspension, but would have been so much better in the Zed. The plan was to do it again in the Zed this year, but have put it off for obvious reasons. Can't wait :driving:
A
Anonymous
Guest
An option I often use to divine great roads is the Michelin app / website https://www.viamichelin.co.uk/
If you use that look for the green edged roads which are ‘scenic’...you may have to zoom in to get the smaller roads displayed..
It’s not foolproof but it generally works well...
If you use it and zoom around the NC500 route you will see a relatively small number (because of the limited roads in the area) that link or go between various NC500 roads especially the northern and southern roads..
Those roads off the NC500 are as or more scenic but almost zippo traffic..and certainly you can zip along at your favourite pace..no -police on those roads too
The Grand Tour NC325 took a few of those in their version.. :driving:
If you use that look for the green edged roads which are ‘scenic’...you may have to zoom in to get the smaller roads displayed..
It’s not foolproof but it generally works well...
If you use it and zoom around the NC500 route you will see a relatively small number (because of the limited roads in the area) that link or go between various NC500 roads especially the northern and southern roads..
Those roads off the NC500 are as or more scenic but almost zippo traffic..and certainly you can zip along at your favourite pace..no -police on those roads too
The Grand Tour NC325 took a few of those in their version.. :driving:
AlphaEchoAlpha
Member
I did this in March in my old TTS. Really excellent road trip, fantastic roads and scenery and just a really enjoyable holiday. We did it over 6 nights: Peterbrough > Inverness, Inverness > Bower (John O Groats), Bower > Kinlochbervie, Kinlochbervie > Ullapool, Ullapool > Applecross, Applecross > Fortwilliam, Fortwilliam > Edinburgh, Edinburgh > Home.
We did a bit from the Grand Tours P.E.N.I.S. 287 route between Kinlochbervie and Ullapool but honestly preferred sticking on the main route. It was practically empty of traffic when we did it and the conditions were brilliant (got lucky I know). We're going again in October but taking a Defender, although I'd also like to take the Z4 up there next year perhaps. We're spending less time on the NC500 and doing a couple of nights on Skye this time, and then ditching the night in Edinburgh for another night around Glencoe.
Fuel was actually quite reasonable up there which surprised me, although the food was quite expensive (more so than the rooms in some places). I'd make a point of stopping in Applecross for some food (or the night), really lovely place and one of my highlights.
This shot will look classier with a Z4!
We did a bit from the Grand Tours P.E.N.I.S. 287 route between Kinlochbervie and Ullapool but honestly preferred sticking on the main route. It was practically empty of traffic when we did it and the conditions were brilliant (got lucky I know). We're going again in October but taking a Defender, although I'd also like to take the Z4 up there next year perhaps. We're spending less time on the NC500 and doing a couple of nights on Skye this time, and then ditching the night in Edinburgh for another night around Glencoe.
Fuel was actually quite reasonable up there which surprised me, although the food was quite expensive (more so than the rooms in some places). I'd make a point of stopping in Applecross for some food (or the night), really lovely place and one of my highlights.
This shot will look classier with a Z4!