North Coast 500
Ah, the magnificent North Coast 500! Beautiful Scotland! What an amazing journey! If you’ve never travelled this route, you should definitely add it to your list. Some of the views along the way are second to none!
The North Coast 500 is a stunning 516 mile (830km) road trip around much of the coastline of Scotland, UK, starting and ending in Inverness. Expanding the route to include the beautiful Isle of Skye is a popular added option due to its proximity and beauty. The route is also known as the NC500 and was launched in 2015 by the Tourism Project Board of the North Highland Initiative.
Our North Coast 500 plus journey
Expanding the NC500 route to include the Isle of Skye is also a popular option due to Skye’s proximity and beauty. We went a step further and included the east coast of Scotland and Loch Lomond too, due to family connections in the area. We also drove the magnificent east coast of Northumbria. Our route is 1,492 miles (2,400 km) long.
Heading up to Scotland
Our route up to the NC500 took us from our base in Leeds, England, UK, past the amazing Lake District and up to the tranquil and scenic Loch Lomond. Loch Lomond is the biggest lake on mainland Great Britain, and is the gateway to the highlands of Scotland. The area has loads to offer in itself, in particular some lovey walking and boating routes around Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, as well as Balloch Castle.
From Loch Lomond, we headed up to the simply stunning Isle of Skye, which greets you with its amazing Skye bridge. Skye is the largest island in the inner Hebrides, and you could spend a long time exploring it, it’s that pretty!
Joining the NC500
From Skye, we joined the NC500 formal route, whereupon we met quite a number of fellow travellers, although it wasn’t busy due to being late Springtime. The west coast of Scotland really holds some of the best sights in the UK, and some are as good as any you’ll find elsewhere in Europe.
The very top of mainland Scotland is amazing too. We’d never been to John O’Groats, and to finally make the pilgrimage 🙂 was a real treat! Even in Springtime, there were quite a lot of people there. Although there were no queues to get into the village, unlike Nordkapp, the top of mainland Europe in Norway.
The east coast of Scotland and Northumbria
After Inverness, we left the official NC500 and followed the lovely coast of eastern Scotland, which was full of surprises, including some absolutely stunning beaches and coves, and some lovely architecture. We then heading back home via the ever lovely and super stunning Northumberland, England. We love Northumberland, with its beautiful beaches and world famous castles. The people are super friendly, and there’s never much traffic 🙂
More information on this road trip and photographs of places we visited can be found on the Scotland and England pages.
We’re also creating blogs for each country when we have data, or we can find decent wifi, and we have enough power!
If you’d like any information on any of these places, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
Don’t forget to check out all the other pictures!