The North Coast 500, 13 People, 11 bikes, 8 days, 6 cars, 3 dogs, 3 instruments and 1 incredible trip. For those of you not familiar with the NC500, this is a 500 mile circular route around the North Coast of Scotland, starting and ending at Inverness Castle.
In the middle of April 2024, Yulie and I along with friends and family ventured north from our home base here in Edinburgh. Only a couple of us (shout out to the Edwards) cycled the entire way and we also cut a section out to better fit our schedule. The route we took is shown below. The NC500 is an amazing route, with single track roads, rugged vistas, sheep and beautiful sights around every bend.
The scenery is beautiful, especially on the rare occasions when it is not raining. We took a couple of Wee Stands, guitars and ukuleles. Ukuleles are easy travelling partners, but my star musical instrument was a Fursch Little Jane guitar (shown disassembled below). This can fit into the overhead compartments on the plane or, in our case, the back of the car.
The NC500 route gets busy during the summer months and accommodation can be hard to find. In April we were able to miss the seasonal rush and still have some nice sunny days. One of the hardest climbs of the trip, on one of the hottest days, was Bealach na Ba, the climb toward Applecross. It is 8.5km long and bridges 614 vertical metres with an average gradient of 7.2%.
We stayed in a variety of places, with some lovely little gems of hotels. One of our favourite stops was at the Ceilidh place in Ullswater. A ceilidh for those unfamiliar with this gaelic word is a social event with Scottish folk music and singing, traditional dancing, and storytelling.
Another interesting overnight, was at the Old School Restaurant and Rooms which brought back school memories from when corporal punishment was still a thing. Here is a picture of a belt/strap that used to be used to punish school kids. I remember being disciplined with one back in the day. Not the funnest memory!
Music has a long tradition in Scotland. One of the first ever Lyres was discovered in Scotland 4300 years ago. So we have been getting through the long dark months of winter playing music for a very long time. We had a couple of nights when we still had enough energy after dinner to gather as a group and sing and play music. Planning for the next trip was a common topic of conversation at dinner. The combination of exercise, community and a little music is hard not to love.
Here are some more pictures from the week.
