Corranga
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The NQ500.
In the car world, here in the UK, the North Coast 500 seems to the to do thing. The 500, Route 500, NC500… well, here is my version, the Not Quite 500.
The plan was a simple one. A camping holiday with my family was planned.
7 or so years back my wife and I did a ‘Campaganza’ as we called it with group of fellow Lotus owners. We stayed at Gairloch, and the site was beautiful, right on a lovely beach, so that’s the destination. They go directly their via the A9 in my mother in law’s camper van. I leave a day before, and seek out some of Scotland’s finest roads. My return journey will be after 4 days at Gairloch.
The execution… what can I say other than, why didn’t I do this sooner!
Why the silly name?
Well, for those of you unfamiliar with the NC500, it’s this:
https://www.northcoast500.com/explore-the-route/
Living in Dundee, I enjoy close proximity to some fairly fantastic roads, so, excluding the initial 10 or so miles of dual carriageway, I think most of my route is notable, and worthy of a name. I think we have some members that live on or very close to part of the NC500 so I’ll apologise in advance if I offend with this… From advice I read online, I cut out the boring bits! That is to say, I barely touched the A9. I didn’t bother with John ‘O Groats, I can tick that box some other time!
The preparation should have been easier than it was. When I say my MIL has a camper, actually, she has a 1996 Mazda Bongo people carrier with a pop top - a day van, so much of the preparation was me fitting an electric hook up and leisure battery to the van, meaning I was still on my laptop downloading routes to my sat nav at 10.30 the night before I left.
When I finally got around to sorting the Maserati out, I had little time left. I had a feeling that the battery was weak. I’d taken a run out and the CTEK indicator wired to the battery (which flashes a small LED in red, amber, green, was amber on arrival, and red on departure. The car is always plugged into the CTEK conditioner, so I decided to leave it off a couple of nights, of course, it went dead! A new battery was ordered and lots of panic set in as it was delayed in transit, and arrived 2 days before I left! After night 1, it was amber again so I think it’s a drain on it, perhaps the tracker, though overnight seems a bit crazy. I took the conditioner and charger overnight off the camper hookup!
Anyway, I’m sure you don’t want to hear about all this, so let’s get to the important bit...
Day 1 - Dundee to the North Coast
Google says 7h45m - 284 miles.
This is the route:
https://goo.gl/maps/9NYjAUoPs972
For the starting location, I’ve used the last roundabout north of Dundee rather than my house!
Dundee - Glamis - Kirkton of Glenisla - Glenshee - Braemar - Grantown-On-Spey
Old reliable. My goto route when I have a spare afternoon on a sunny day. There is enough road to get the oil up to temperature before high revs. The short route from the A90 to Glamis is a lovely little road of sweeping bends, with a nice twisty section in the middle. Never fails to get you in the mood.
A couple of straight roads suffice to skip Kirriemuir, and I’m on my way through Glen Isla. The road is good, though narrow in places, and the surface isn’t amazing. It feels really remote, despite me only being 30 minutes or so from Dundee. Starting on a Sunday morning meant I reached the Glenshee road with only 1 car to overtake! Blissful!
The Glenshee road is as good as ever, the resurface of the southern park (in the last 2 or 3 years) probably benefitting the heavy Maserati as it’s pretty smooth now.
On through Lecht, Tomintoul, Grantown-On-Spey, to finish off the bit I’m familiar with, both ski district roads would be definite candidates for making a top 10 roads in the UK list.
Cawdor Castle - Inverness - Beauly - Dingwall - Tain (Glenmorangie Distillery)
Onto uncharted territory, as it all is from here on in. I’ve been to Inverness before, but on this side of our Island, it’s as far north as I’ve ever been. I travel via Cawdor Castle to keep of the A9, and head to Beauly in-keeping with the start/end of the official NC500 route, though I’m not on it for long. Crossing Inverness isn’t fun, too much traffic, even around midday on a Sunday, but the car thermometer is reading 27 degrees and there isn’t a cloud in the sky, so I’m not complaining.
I turn off the A9 before the Cromarty Firth, but not too early to see the amazing sight of the lines of oil rigs that are berthed there. Beautiful in their own way, through the locals perhaps don’t agree!
I end up with 4 miles of almost but not quite single track road that wasn’t remotely enjoyable to get to the distillery, but never mind. The distillery is beautiful, the tours is, well, like all the other distillery tours, but I still enjoy them. Glenmorangie is the first malt I ever had, so it was great to see where it’s made.
Bonar Bridge - Lairg - Altnahara - Forsinard - Armadale (B&B)
Back on the road, I’m heading towards Lairg. At some point around there, half of the road simply disappears. Single carriageway down to single track with passing places. I pass a Lamborghini Huracan Performante in grey (I think) which perhaps bodes well for the day!
65 or so miles of single track road later, I’m questioning my route a little
The road is relatively clear, and most drivers are courteous enough (or at least read the signs!) and pull over in a passing place to let faster traffic through. The exception is a group of 4 Belgians on bikes. 2 of them pass through a village, a 30 road with some traffic. I end up in the middle of their group. After 5 or so miles, I decide to let the other 2 pass, thinking that perhaps those up front are waiting for the other 2. Big mistake. I spend the next 20 miles behind 4 bikers travelling slower than I am. I get past as the 1st in the group for some reason stops in the middle of the road, blocking traffic from the other side so they can all turn right around Altnaharra - except there is no traffic to block, and he ends up dropping his bike! By this time, the 2 up front are maybe 300 yards up the road, and stop to look back, blocking the road (and me). They move and I carry on figuring between the 4 of them, they’ll manage to get the dropped bike up and started and on their way.
The rest of the journey is uneventful, but some of the single track would be better suited to my Elise rather than the bigger and heavier 4200, though sections, such as the bit passing
Mainland Britain's Most Remote Hotel, between Syre and Kinbrace and on to Forsinain is often well sighted, and passing places are frequent.
When I reach the top, I take a right and head past Dounreay to Thurso for a walk around and some shopping, before retracing my route to my B&B - Armadale House, which, if you’re looking for someplace cheap and cheerful, I’d recommend. The house is a bit worn, but it’s clean, has character and the host, Detta is a lovely lady.
All in all, Day 1 was a great day, the weather was impeccable, and car very well behaved.
I didn’t really plan on ranting on so much, so i’ll type up and post Day 2 and 3 through the week probably!!
In the car world, here in the UK, the North Coast 500 seems to the to do thing. The 500, Route 500, NC500… well, here is my version, the Not Quite 500.
The plan was a simple one. A camping holiday with my family was planned.
7 or so years back my wife and I did a ‘Campaganza’ as we called it with group of fellow Lotus owners. We stayed at Gairloch, and the site was beautiful, right on a lovely beach, so that’s the destination. They go directly their via the A9 in my mother in law’s camper van. I leave a day before, and seek out some of Scotland’s finest roads. My return journey will be after 4 days at Gairloch.
The execution… what can I say other than, why didn’t I do this sooner!
Why the silly name?
Well, for those of you unfamiliar with the NC500, it’s this:
https://www.northcoast500.com/explore-the-route/
Living in Dundee, I enjoy close proximity to some fairly fantastic roads, so, excluding the initial 10 or so miles of dual carriageway, I think most of my route is notable, and worthy of a name. I think we have some members that live on or very close to part of the NC500 so I’ll apologise in advance if I offend with this… From advice I read online, I cut out the boring bits! That is to say, I barely touched the A9. I didn’t bother with John ‘O Groats, I can tick that box some other time!
The preparation should have been easier than it was. When I say my MIL has a camper, actually, she has a 1996 Mazda Bongo people carrier with a pop top - a day van, so much of the preparation was me fitting an electric hook up and leisure battery to the van, meaning I was still on my laptop downloading routes to my sat nav at 10.30 the night before I left.
When I finally got around to sorting the Maserati out, I had little time left. I had a feeling that the battery was weak. I’d taken a run out and the CTEK indicator wired to the battery (which flashes a small LED in red, amber, green, was amber on arrival, and red on departure. The car is always plugged into the CTEK conditioner, so I decided to leave it off a couple of nights, of course, it went dead! A new battery was ordered and lots of panic set in as it was delayed in transit, and arrived 2 days before I left! After night 1, it was amber again so I think it’s a drain on it, perhaps the tracker, though overnight seems a bit crazy. I took the conditioner and charger overnight off the camper hookup!
Anyway, I’m sure you don’t want to hear about all this, so let’s get to the important bit...
Day 1 - Dundee to the North Coast
Google says 7h45m - 284 miles.
This is the route:
https://goo.gl/maps/9NYjAUoPs972
For the starting location, I’ve used the last roundabout north of Dundee rather than my house!
Dundee - Glamis - Kirkton of Glenisla - Glenshee - Braemar - Grantown-On-Spey
Old reliable. My goto route when I have a spare afternoon on a sunny day. There is enough road to get the oil up to temperature before high revs. The short route from the A90 to Glamis is a lovely little road of sweeping bends, with a nice twisty section in the middle. Never fails to get you in the mood.
A couple of straight roads suffice to skip Kirriemuir, and I’m on my way through Glen Isla. The road is good, though narrow in places, and the surface isn’t amazing. It feels really remote, despite me only being 30 minutes or so from Dundee. Starting on a Sunday morning meant I reached the Glenshee road with only 1 car to overtake! Blissful!
The Glenshee road is as good as ever, the resurface of the southern park (in the last 2 or 3 years) probably benefitting the heavy Maserati as it’s pretty smooth now.
On through Lecht, Tomintoul, Grantown-On-Spey, to finish off the bit I’m familiar with, both ski district roads would be definite candidates for making a top 10 roads in the UK list.
Cawdor Castle - Inverness - Beauly - Dingwall - Tain (Glenmorangie Distillery)
Onto uncharted territory, as it all is from here on in. I’ve been to Inverness before, but on this side of our Island, it’s as far north as I’ve ever been. I travel via Cawdor Castle to keep of the A9, and head to Beauly in-keeping with the start/end of the official NC500 route, though I’m not on it for long. Crossing Inverness isn’t fun, too much traffic, even around midday on a Sunday, but the car thermometer is reading 27 degrees and there isn’t a cloud in the sky, so I’m not complaining.
I turn off the A9 before the Cromarty Firth, but not too early to see the amazing sight of the lines of oil rigs that are berthed there. Beautiful in their own way, through the locals perhaps don’t agree!
I end up with 4 miles of almost but not quite single track road that wasn’t remotely enjoyable to get to the distillery, but never mind. The distillery is beautiful, the tours is, well, like all the other distillery tours, but I still enjoy them. Glenmorangie is the first malt I ever had, so it was great to see where it’s made.
Bonar Bridge - Lairg - Altnahara - Forsinard - Armadale (B&B)
Back on the road, I’m heading towards Lairg. At some point around there, half of the road simply disappears. Single carriageway down to single track with passing places. I pass a Lamborghini Huracan Performante in grey (I think) which perhaps bodes well for the day!
65 or so miles of single track road later, I’m questioning my route a little
The road is relatively clear, and most drivers are courteous enough (or at least read the signs!) and pull over in a passing place to let faster traffic through. The exception is a group of 4 Belgians on bikes. 2 of them pass through a village, a 30 road with some traffic. I end up in the middle of their group. After 5 or so miles, I decide to let the other 2 pass, thinking that perhaps those up front are waiting for the other 2. Big mistake. I spend the next 20 miles behind 4 bikers travelling slower than I am. I get past as the 1st in the group for some reason stops in the middle of the road, blocking traffic from the other side so they can all turn right around Altnaharra - except there is no traffic to block, and he ends up dropping his bike! By this time, the 2 up front are maybe 300 yards up the road, and stop to look back, blocking the road (and me). They move and I carry on figuring between the 4 of them, they’ll manage to get the dropped bike up and started and on their way.
The rest of the journey is uneventful, but some of the single track would be better suited to my Elise rather than the bigger and heavier 4200, though sections, such as the bit passing
Mainland Britain's Most Remote Hotel, between Syre and Kinbrace and on to Forsinain is often well sighted, and passing places are frequent.
When I reach the top, I take a right and head past Dounreay to Thurso for a walk around and some shopping, before retracing my route to my B&B - Armadale House, which, if you’re looking for someplace cheap and cheerful, I’d recommend. The house is a bit worn, but it’s clean, has character and the host, Detta is a lovely lady.
All in all, Day 1 was a great day, the weather was impeccable, and car very well behaved.
I didn’t really plan on ranting on so much, so i’ll type up and post Day 2 and 3 through the week probably!!
