On 03/02/2023 at 21:12, AnnoyingPentium said:

Planning to do this route in the summer, potentially in the Fabia but not sure yet.

If its a sunny summer like last year, make certain you have places to stay or camp. Past 2 years Scotland has been full, to the extent the local councils were trying to turn people away.

Also the 500 can be so popular you have queues on normally desolate roads

I would go during term time if you can

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Looking at doing  (some of)  the NC500  this year after the summer rush.
Any advice or 2025 sit reps?

Wife wants to see Scotland, well the highlands and not necessarily "do the NC500" as a route as it seems to be filled with tourists. 
We can be flexible.  Any suggestions.
 

Avoid the craziness and look at the North East 250 (Scottish one.)    http://northeast250.com

 

 

Deeside. A93 & A939, Grampians, Aberdeenshire, Mountains to the Coast even.  Still very busy Braemar, Ballater, Aboyne, Tominintoul, Grantown on Spey etc.   Along the Moray Firth & down the Aberdeenshire coast and Angus Coast.

 

Worth going Braemar to Ballater then Ballater and to Lecht & Tomintoul. 

Grantown-on-Spey across Ferness to Nairn then east.

 

 

Edited 14 January, 20251 yr by Ootohere

3 hours ago, Ootohere said:

Avoid the craziness and look at the North East 250 (Scottish one.)    http://northeast250.com

 

 

Deeside. A93 & A939, Grampians, Aberdeenshire, Mountains to the Coast even.  Still very busy Braemar, Ballater, Aboyne, Tominintoul, Grantown on Spey etc.   Along the Moray Firth & down the Aberdeenshire coast and Angus Coast.

 

Worth going Braemar to Ballater then Ballater and to Lecht & Tomintoul. 

Grantown-on-Spey across Ferness to Nairn then east.

 

 

A good idea,   https://www.northeast250.com/   but that is the lowlands and I have been all over that before, and much of it with a girlfriend who did not become my wife....
Wife would like to see highlands and not somewhere I have been with a past girlfriend.

Edited 14 January, 20251 yr by chills

Fair enough if you have been there.

The A93, Glenshee Ski Centre, Braemar, Lecht Ski Centre & Tomintoul are in the Grampian Mountains.  The Scottish Highlands.

 

NC 500 Bealach Na Ba Pass 2054 ft.

NE 250 Lecht 2090 ft.

Glenshee road elevation 2132 ft.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/435353-north-east-250-scotland

 

Edited 14 January, 20251 yr by Ootohere

I suppose the problem is anything west of the great divide gets rammed as soon as the weather is reasonable.   I do have to visit friends near Wick but an excursion from the NE250 up the east side for a day or two would make sense. After all the wife is looking for nice senary and my mountaineering days are over. I am not doing what a mate of mine did: climbing in Lewis and Skye during February so he didn't have to deal with lots of tourists!!

Was that long ago or last year? 

If you do not count Motor Homers as tourists is suppose some might see it as quieter.

26 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

Was that long ago or last year? 

If you do not count Motor Homers as tourists is suppose some might see it as quieter.

Long ago when I was last up north of Perth.
Last couple of years Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee for work.

 

You mean it is all motor homes?  They are only marginally better than caravans, but they all tend to be large white blobs. 

However, does this mean there is less pressure on B&B's?
 

 

 

Everything is busy almost all the time now. 

2 hours ago, Ootohere said:

Everything is busy almost all the time now. 

I am told that  October, if the weather is OK is probably the best time to avoid the crowds and the autumn colours are stunning.

On 13/01/2025 at 21:04, chills said:

Looking at doing  (some of)  the NC500  this year after the summer rush.
Any advice or 2025 sit reps?

Wife wants to see Scotland, well the highlands and not necessarily "do the NC500" as a route as it seems to be filled with tourists. 
We can be flexible.  Any suggestions.
 

 

As someone that is from that neck of the woods - 

 

The weather begins to turn late September time. My advice (remembering Scottish schools are ahead of England's) would be to head up late August or early September. You could also shoot for before summer -  anything mid-April time onwards is doable.

 

Off to the east is a bit meh... some spots are quite nice but a lot of it is fields, and it's hardly the 'highlands' as you've said.

 

The west (I.E. Fort William, etc) is pretty packed now, and late September is pushing it with the weather over there IMO.

 

The typical NC500 is a bit of a car crash now (pun not intended). Somewhere like Skye has been absolutely devastated by the building of that stupid bridge - what used to be a reasonably quiet and stunning place is now a tourist trap, full of coaches and those fu***** motorhomes. 

 

My suggestion, if you wanted to enjoy as much of the 'highlands' as possible, would be to aim for mid-September time, splitting your trip between somewhere in the Cairngorms, and somewhere like Ullapool. Around Ullapool is still doable (think Lochinver or Gairloch), and you should miss most of the tourists by then. There are some very nice roads too.

 

If you drop a few things you might like doing (local history, fishing, whisky, sheepskin rugs, fighter jets, mountain biking, shooting, walking, photography, foods, dolphin spotting, looking at the views, etc) I'm sure I might be able to suggest a few more bits to do/places to swing past. 

 

Have your wits about you on the roads though. The A9 is not a safe road to drive (it looks fine until someone in a rented motorhome pulls out of a T-junction in front of a someone) and people are absolutely clueless on how to drive the roads in the north. I had a lovely exchange with a Swiss bloke in the summer who thought it was appropriate to stop on very fast road (locals do 70+), on a blind bend, in the middle of the carriageway, to take a picture of a cow.

 

The other thing to note is that, rather amusingly, the NC500 route really isn't that nice. Yes, the views are stunning. However the roads themselves, whilst nice on google maps, are a very rough, hardy tarmac that isn't the best to drive your 992.1 GT3 on. They are full of tourists, logging lorries and the like. The first time I drove up there was in a hire car, and I'd cracked the windscreen about 5 miles outside Ullapool. Certainly, if you're after views and whisky, then that's the place. If you're after driving roads, I would be inclined to look elsewhere.

@Occy245 which part of that neck of the woods are you from? 

13 hours ago, Occy245 said:

 

As someone that is from that neck of the woods - 

......snip ....

 

If you drop a few things you might like doing (local history, fishing, whisky, sheepskin rugs, fighter jets, mountain biking, shooting, walking, photography, foods, dolphin spotting, looking at the views, etc) I'm sure I might be able to suggest a few more bits to do/places to swing past. 

 

Have your wits about you on the roads though. The A9 is not a safe road to drive (it looks fine until someone in a rented motorhome pulls out of a T-junction in front of a someone) and people are absolutely clueless on how to drive the roads in the north. I had a lovely exchange with a Swiss bloke in the summer who thought it was appropriate to stop on very fast road (locals do 70+), on a blind bend, in the middle of the carriageway, to take a picture of a cow.

 

Thanks for the information. Interests are history  (I edit this   https://www.tamworthheritage.org.uk/)  whisky (but not mixed with driving 🙂)    Fighter jets sounds interesting, I used to work on them, shooting yes, (used to do full bore rifle and pistol and rough shooting until we became a "gun free society" don't get me started!)   Photography, though not landscape. I do street, journalism and stuff related to History. 
 

As for routes: not fussed on "doing the NC500"  as much as seeing Scotland. Other than that, I intend to visit a friend just south of Wick, so completely flexible. I have been to Skye, Harris, Lewis before.   The Bridge does take the magic out of Skye a bit, and I can imagine what it does with the tourists. At least the ferry slowed them up a bit.

 

I know about the roads. Not been up there recently, but we get tourists in some parts of the midlands. Stratford, Warwick etc, so I have seen the attempts at Darwin Awards. Also as you point out it is not a leisure park it is a working country with trucks and other business traffic like anywhere else who want to get on.  Tourism is not the nice thing it once was. I belong to a club that has been doing it for a while, and it ran an article in the club magazine about how destructive tourism has become globally.

Edited 19 January, 20251 yr by chills

Whisky trail and visitor centres South of Inverness and next to A9.  As is shooting, fishing, hunting with cameras.  Off road driving, quads etc.  All the tweed and tartan anyone ever needs is at House of Braur and falls of Bruar behind.  Killicrankie.  Pitlochry will be as nice as Highland Town as any selling tat.  Road from there across to meet the A93, then A939 then back towards the sea and Inverness.     A small point about the lovely seaside towns and villages.   All are at sea level.  Like sea lochs.  They are not up hills. It is roads running alongside.    But passes and old military roads are maybe the best for views and great if stops are available and not full of camper vans parked up. 

On 19/01/2025 at 10:17, Ootohere said:

@Occy245 which part of that neck of the woods are you from? 

 

Wherever I'm told to go!

 

Currently I'm on the South Coast (of England, obviously) but I've spent some considerable time in Moray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 23 January, 20251 yr by Ootohere

.

Edited 8 April, 20251 yr by Ootohere

Videos like this remind me of why I love the West Coast. If only it wasn't so far away.

I quite like this guy, but he's a bit of a geek...

^^^ Best not count on having Mobile Phone Reception at EV Chargers even when at towns or villages.

Have a Electroverse & a CPS card and sometimes one or other might work, or you might be at a Rapid with a DD / Card payment.

If there are accidents / incidents on roads the Mobile Reception can get turned down.

I have Mobile phones with 3 Mobile Providers and sometimes still no reception.

Or reception if you have a little wander away from the charger. PITA.

PS

Many of us need chargers at 11 o'clock at night, or later into the night as some travel at night and get peed off at those charging to 100% and then leaving the car till they have breakfast, or finish their walk / cycle or whatever.

Check your app if there is phone reception, or check visually, make sure you are still charging.

PPS.

Plenty care not a jot about £1 a minute penalty.

Then there are £1 or £2 to charge Minimum and the charger might start and cut out multiple times.

CPS will say contact Highland Council. Aberdeenshire, Argyle & Bute etc.

NO TELL THEM TO GET ON WITH THEM AS THEY CAN SEE CLEARLY THAT CHARGER IS HOPELESS AND HOW MANY ARE PAYING FOR NO SERVICE.

Ayrshire, £5 minimum charge. You can get done lots of time.

Green Light is no Guarantee when you try using that the Charger will start, they can go RED after you have started and are charged £1, £2, £5 or whatever.

Edited 8 April, 20251 yr by Ootohere

The only issue with that part of the world, as beautiful as it is, is that it's only beautiful for 3 months in the year. The rest of the time, it's miserable.

I grew up in Moray - I'd move there tomorrow if I could. It's just, people only ever show the sunny, warm days, and don't really acknowledge that a lot of the time it is bitterly cold and wet.

One of my favourite roads in the entire is an old military road that cuts about 20 miles through the Highlands. It has stunning views, some stunning road and is the epitome of what everything I love about the world. My current phone lock screen is a photo of my car, taken on that road. Anyway, it's absolutely lovely in the summer but, due to the weather, largely impassible for the other three seasons. Indeed, the snow gates are shut for winter.

It's great fun up there, but it's not a private race track. Even though things are a bit different now, the conditions can be dangerous and plenty have been caught out over the years. Nobody is saying you'll starve to death, but go 45 minutes off the A roads, get a flat and you can look forward to several hours walking in the cold until someone coming home from work in their 4x4 sees you.

@OccyVRS Total tosh as far as weather.

Covid years they kept snow gates closed quite a bit.

As far as the past decade the weather in winters have been different but the roads closed for more than a couple of days at a time is rare.

Vans and lorries are delivering all the time and people travelling. Skiing open if the tows are running.

This year great, just not for skiing, 2012 a heat wave for March and snow came on the 1st April.

a 23 Degree C drop overnight. On the tops getting sun burned and next morning deep snow in Forfar.

2013 & Arran had Snowmaggedon in March.

I used to be up north of Inverness living in my van Mid week and well out of season and through autumn and winter.

As far as the Snow gates they are open for the ski centres, Lecht and Glenshee as soon as they can in the mornings but can be closed for a few days. Wind and drifts.

(Cairnomount route from Edzell closed this year for past month because a bridge damaged.)

I grew up on the Moray Firth at Macduff and as far as weather that is not the same weather as north of Inverness, nor is Buckie, Foress, Elgin, Nairn. SPEY BAY / FINDHORN.

Skied at the Lecht, had easters at the cairngorms in a caravan as a child sking and that was before the Aviemore Cantre was built. Skied at Glenshee in its early days and even at Mar Lodge after its ski tows were dismantled & its dry slope moved to Glenshee.

My dad towed the caravan over the A939 and A93 during winter.

Jim that was the snow plough driver became the Roads Director and ran the Lecht Ski Centre.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/323078-skiers-and-snowboarders-come-forward/page/10

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/252376-ferrercairn-to-banchory-over-cairn-o-mount

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/435353-north-coast-250-scotland

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/408884-scenic-route-to-aviemore

Edited 9 April, 20251 yr by Ootohere

I wasn't talking about the Moray Firth area - the weather there is lovely and, if it isn't, it'll change in ten minutes.

We're talking about the NC500 route. Having spent many winters hunting up in in the North of Sutherland, the weather changes very quickly and, if you're going off the beaten path as I said, it can be quite interesting. Certainly, I don't think there's anywhere in the UK more remote than Sutherland - and I'm not talking about Helmsdale. That particular road I was on about has snow gates (unofficial ones?), mainly due to the fact the road is impassible by anything other than a 4x4 for many months.

Going over the Dava in winter is a bit different to being up near Allnabad during a storm!

More to the point - you've summed up what I'm saying completely. You are from there, you are used to it. The tourists and NC500-ers are not. I've seen their antics during the summer months - I can only imagine how they'll fare over winter. My post was aimed at those that are used to Milton Keynes and not used to those conditions.

You likely saw the carnage that ensued on the M25 a few years ago when it snowed about a foot - that's the market I was addressing!

As with anything else, YMMV, but my family are all current/ex-military and I grew up in the hills. As I said, it's not Drake's Passage, but if you're unprepared it can come back to bite you (a quick search of hillwalker deaths will offer as much).

Oh, and Findhorn is an exception to the weather rule - a lot of hot air there from the Foundation 🤣