Not the NC500 14th-16th August 2022

[Argyll Andy]

Positioning day…cars coming from Argyll, Lancaster, Geordie Land and Scottish Borders..

Rendezvous at Loch Leven Larder for lunch then lovely drive up through Spittal of Glenshee, Braemar, Balmoral and Tomintoul to Elgin..

Pleased with how the car felt on the roads up following all the bits and geometry changes along with damper settings..

Never managed to get all 4 cars in the same shot..

There you go

 

[Argyll Andy]

Washed, waxed, hoovered and fuelled ready for the Highlands tomorrow

Super down to £1.64 a litre here today so even better

Looking good fella I've heard of the 2 bucket approach to washing your car but is that 3 buckets I spot?

Well spotted Vaughan, indeed it was a 3 bucket wash, bucket 1 clean water/rinse for wheels, bucket 2 clean water/rinse for body, bucket 3 shampoo wash for bodywork

 

[Argyll Andy]

And a respray booked in :wink:

Still not got last years scars sorted Paul so with this, the Pyrenees and a few others it can wait until after those :lol:

 

[Argyll Andy]

Super down to £1.64 a litre here today so even better

Bargain! At this rate they will be giving it away by September!

Must admit to being a wee bit jealous (I did the Scottish thing there) of that run. I haven't been to the Highlands for over 30 years but remember it being absolutely stunning, even in a 1986 Ford Transit van. Enjoy

Tbh, I was surprised at how much it’d dropped in a few days

I’ll give you you’re Scottish interaction as it’s acceptable

It was fantastic and we had reasonably clear road and 25-28 degrees so all in a pretty good day

 

[earthdweller]

Have a great run out.

Hope the weather holds for you

 

[earthdweller]

Have a great run out.

Hope the weather holds for you

I take it from this it didn’t and was mildly moist ?

 

[B21]

We defied the Gods today…got to the Premier Inn Thurso and then 20 minutes later the rain came…

Tops down all day..mostly in sunshine with a bit of haar around Bettyhill..

Revised our route to avoid the A9 and wandered through the middle of the NC500 area with barely a car..what there were were German and Dutch registered camper vans..

 

[earthdweller]

Excellent stuff, you dodged it well then it seems

The pier at Lairg looks a lot warmer and drier than last time we were there

That new premier inn looks quite fancy

 

[pvr]

Very brave hanging over that kerb like that

 

[Mr Tidy]

It sounds like you had a good first day anyway!

I was at Zedfest today and tried to convince myself that I would be half way to Scotland anyway so should have joined up, but it would have been a long day!

I'll keep watching for Scottish events as I really want to get up there in my Z4 - last time I went was in 2009 in a 123d. :roll:

But it was still a great trip, not least because I visited Muir-of-Ord where my late Dad was born.

Hope the weather is kind for the next couple of days.

 

[Argyll Andy]

pier at Lairg looks a lot warmer and drier than last time

Cracking weather and as usual I got sunburned :lol:

 

[Argyll Andy]

A few pictures from today, good weather, apart from Bettyhills, and good company

 

[B21]

Excellent stuff, you dodged it well then it seems

The pier at Lairg looks a lot warmer and drier than last time we were there

That new premier inn looks quite fancy

Yes it was an awful lot warmer than when we there earlier this year…

Yes the new Premier Inn is great , much better quality and prices much lower than traditional hostels…

 

[B21]

It sounds like you had a good first day anyway!

I was at Zedfest today and tried to convince myself that I would be half way to Scotland anyway so should have joined up, but it would have been a long day!

I'll keep watching for Scottish events as I really want to get up there in my Z4 - last time I went was in 2009 in a 123d. :roll:

But it was still a great trip, not least because I visited Muir-of-Ord where my late Dad was born.

Hope the weather is kind for the next couple of days.

Yes it’s a fabulous country…and the good news is that your road trip can just start in the Borders and work your way then whichever way you want to go…

I’ll reflect on your visit when we go through Muir tomorrow

 

[buzyg]

Nice pictures. Good that you caught the end of the sunny weather. 8)

 

[B21]

Day 3…a wander through the NC500 hinterland plus the Grand Tour Penis 287 Lairg to Durness road..pictures from GT and others..

Picnic in Lairg..

Car through a wobbly with incipient coolant pump failure at the mathematical furthest point from home..

On the spot Protool showed coolant pump motor overheat and failure to adhere to control commands..limped all along the north coast to Thurso..emergency repatriation tomorrow, hopefully we can limp all the way home..

A few spots of rain, a bit of haar but mostly dry and in parts sunny..

 

[B21]

Nursed the Yellow Peril with its failing water pump back to Thurso, then we decided to try and get home..so a slow and very boring drive down the A9…

Great cafe south of Inverness on the A9 called 3 Bridges for those wanting a pit stop far from the normal holiday Grockles..

Over 9 hours and 400 miles nursing a sick puppy was very tiring ..but made it home…great for fuel consumption…

 

[earthdweller]

Glad you got back under your own steam Peter .. a couple of weeks to get it sorted before the next run, hopefully it won’t be a big job

Looks like you had a good weekend regardless, 9 hours and 400 miles and still in Scotland makes you realise just how big it is !

Remember a few years back driving from Manchester to Durness and on getting to Glasgow realising I still had more to drive than I’d already done

 

[B21]

Thanks, my heart sank when I detected the car going into limp mode, then a yellow coolant overheat then red overheat warnings..initial reports of smoke out of the RH tailpipe added to my woes…

It came out of the blue following a spirted drive up the GT Lairg to Durness road with no issues…

We pulled over on a makeshift lay-by at about the furthest point from home…Sunday 3pm didn’t feel like a good time to breakdown on Cape Wrath..

Coolant all over the engine bay didn’t look good.

Used Protool to read two water pump faults..overheated motor and refusal to obey DME commands..

Anyway we decided to try and limp to Thurso on the basis every mile was a mile less on the AA transporter…

So set off at 45mph then 50 mph which given how bad the traffic was wasn’t really that much slower than we could have gone..

A couple of interim stops revealed no fresh codes following my reset..

Next morning I added 500ml of coolant and we set off..the rest is history…

Think I will avoid the A9 for future trips…

 

[AlienZed]

Apart from that little blip looked a good trip,some nice pics there
On a positive note better to have happened now rather that on your euro trip, at least it will be all sorted .
M