Alternative North Coast 500 (NC500)

The North Coast 500 (NC500) has, since its launch in 2015, become increasingly well known and popular as a tour on both 4 and 2 wheels. We originally planned to follow the whole route, but when we heard from Simon, a friend that had ridden the route a couple of years previously, that the final section on the A9 from John O’ Groats to Inverness was best avoided on a bicycle, we came up with an alternative route.

Having just re-watched the entertaining GCN Rides the NC500 with Mark Beaumont video, I can now see that their route also avoided the A9, but took a route further east of ours. So it looks like we rode the Alternative Alternative NC500. By luck rather than planning we managed to clock 500 miles, and whilst our version is probably not destined to become the definitive one, it did give us two nights in Tongue, which was one of the most scenic places on our route.

I hope the pictures below will show why the NC500 is so popular. I think the most spectacular days were the first two, but every day had something special in it and even when it was cloudy and not suitable for photos we were awed by the grandeur and wild beauty of the Highlands.

Day 1 (Inverness to Torridon)

This was a long day at 192km so we adopted a routine of each spending 10 minutes on the front. Three turns each meant an hour of riding, so it didn’t seem that long until we had covered the first 70km and were at our first stop in the wonderfully named Midge Bite Cafe. After this we descended to towards Lochcarron, which is on the west coast of Scotland, and the scenery started to become truly spectacular. At around 2pm we found ourselves at the bottom of the road to Applecross which climbed over Bealach na Bà. This climb is well known as it is the road in the UK with most vertical ascent, just over 600m. Unfortunately during the summer it is now also infamous for the traffic jams on its narrow and steep single-track road.

After initially spinning up and taking some pictures – I was surprised to see some large old platforms and a dry dock in the loch at the bottom – I turned the corner and saw the crux of the climb, a steep, 14% road straight up a valley followed by some hairpin bends at the top. It was case of making maximum effort to get up it as quickly as possible – I actually hit a 20 minute power PB for the year – and was rewarded with some sweeping views of the Isle of Skye.

After a late lunch of fried fish and ice cream in Applecross, we followed the undulating (or should I say severely undulating) coast road to Sheildaig where we had dinner of fish and chips and pizza. We still had about 15km to ride to our accommodation and I think this was the best part of the trip to for me. It was after 7pm so the road was empty, the sky had cleared and the dramatic Torridon mountains were bathed in evening light.

Our accommodation for the night was at the Torridon Estate which was notable for a couple of reasons. Firstly the midges were out in force – it was the only time in the 5 days where we were midged – and the place itself was a mansion with faded paintings of hunting scenes on the walls. Our spacious room contained just one double bed. Our hostess effusively explained that they served breakfast to the room meaning that we could have breakfast in bed together. This proved too much for Martin who interjected that he thought he had booked a twin room. After some investigation it transpired that he’d only requested one, and a bit more negotiation led to us getting an extra duvet which I used to sleep on the floor… which was actually quite comfortable.

About to start our tour at the Redcliffe Hotel in Inverness.

Luckily a breeze, quite cold unfortunately, meant that there were no midges.

Looking across the water to the climb of Bealach na Bà.

‘Road Normally Impassable in Wintry Conditions’

Looking south from the climb over Loch Carron with a platform in the dry dock on the left.

After the hairpins on Bealach na Bà, though not quite at the top of the climb which has a final kick to it.

Looking to the Isle of Skye and the magnificent Cuillin Ridge in the distance.

Outside the Sheildaig Bar where we had our fish, chips and pizza for dinner.

Our post dinner ride to Torridon. The mountain on the right is Liathach, which I climbed on my first ever winter trip to Scotland.

Day 2 (Torridon to Ullapool)

Shortly after leaving we came across a Canadian couple who we’d met when we were having dinner in Sheildaig. They were just about to start riding having camped in a what looked to be a perfect camping spot in a grassy clearing. With wild camping being legal in Scotland, there were a lot of good camping options on the route. However, camping did of course mean carrying more, and shortly thereafter we passed a Polish rider who we’d also talked to on the previous day. He was probably the most heavily laden person we saw with what he said was 20kg of kit. Unfortunately we didn’t meet these three again or any of the other riders we saw on the first day.

The scenery for Day 2 continued to captivate us with some roads that reminded me of the Stavanger region in Norway. Green mossy forests of silver birch, exposed granite domes and spectacular beaches. Our lunch stop was in Gairloch harbour at the Coast Coffee shop. From there we had a 90km push to Ullapool and although the day was a lot shorter (145km) it felt like a long way. Our digs in Ullapool, the Westlea Guesthouse, were really nice. I’d recommend the guesthouse to anyone visiting.

Bidding farewell to Torridon Estate.

Gairloch Harbour.

I wished we’d had time to see some of the sea-life around Gairloch and Hebrides.

More open road. The granite domes and lakes reminded me of Norway.

A naval facility at Loch Ewe. This loch was where the WW2 Arctic Convoys massed before setting out on their perilous journey.

Gruinard Bay, also reminiscent of Norway.

The stunning road running down the side of Little Loch Broom.

Looking back down the long climb up from Little Loch Broom with the impressive An Teallach in the background.

Day 3 (Ullapool to Tongue)

The owner of our guesthouse suggested a variant to the driving route so about 15km after leaving Ullapool we took the road towards The Summer Isles and then headed north on another small road to Lochinver. Here we picked up the NC500 route which continued around the coast. Initially it was heavy going with too much traffic for the single track but after we passed some beaches where a lot of people were staying the cars and camper vans thinned out. Although tough going it was worth riding, not least because the short sharp hills that came towards the end were probably the cycling crux of the route, with the final one being a sustained 20% in gradient.

Lunch at the Rock Stop Cafe in Kylesku was followed by some fast and open roads towards the north coast. We’d been dreaming about stopping in the town of Durness, the most northerly point of our ride, but perhaps we picked a bad time to visit as it was somewhat uninviting. Windswept, crowded with tourists and with the local Spar was so busy that we declined to enter it and decided to push on with the limited food and drink we had. We still had 50km to ride to Tongue and the traffic remained heavy (for Northern Scotland!) for the first hour or so. Then the roads emptied (at about 6pm) and the sun came out making the final section much more pleasant. We reached The Tongue Hotel at 7pm after another 192km day. My left knee had been hurting on Days 1 and 2 and I’d been worried how it would cope with this, the toughest day. As it was it seemed fine; it’s strange how one’s body responds on these multiday rides.

I love the name ‘The Summer Isles’. It sounds like something out of a fantasy novel.

On final stretch of road into Tongue after the sun came out and the road cleared of traffic.

Day 4 (Tongue to Tongue)

Originally we had planned to ride the 50km back to Durness, then ride to and from Cape Wrath, the most north-west part of the UK, and then return to Tongue. However in order to get to the road to Cape Wrath it’s necessary to get a ferry over the Kyle of Durness. The ferry only ran twice a day, plus we weren’t sure if the gravel road to Cape Wrath was something we could do on our road bikes and finally the thought of playing chicken with camper vans for 100km was not appealing. So instead we did a couple of circuits around Tongue starting with a c.100km anti-clockwise mountain loop up the Strathmore Valley and back down the Naver Valley. We stopped to refuel and wait out some heavy rain at the Tongue Deli and Post Office, the only shop in the village, and finished with a beautiful small loop inland around the Kyle of Tongue.

We saw only a few cars, except when we were on the main coast road. It was well worth doing and I think regardless of what route you’re taking around the the NC500, Tongue is worth spending a couple of days in. Plus the food in the hotel, where we ate on both nights, was excellent.

I used this Rapha handlebar bag for the first time on this trip. Once I learnt not to overfill it, it worked well.

Looking north towards Ben Loyal from our big loop south of Tongue.

Ben Loyal from the north as we rode our short loop around the Kyle of Tongue.

The causeway over the Kyle of Tongue. Beware sea monsters.

On our second night in Tongue we stayed in the Tigh-Nan-Ubhal Guesthouse. It was fine but did have strange set up in the bathroom. The sliding door to the bathroom was missing, and as well as containing this chair there were two wine glasses and a bottle opener on the windowsill.

Day 5 (Tongue to Inverness)

Our direct route back to Inverness took us south from Tongue along the A836. Although officially an A road there were hardly any cars on it even in August. The first 60km to the village of Lairg, where we stopped at the excellent Pier Cafe, was another amazing road passing through heather covered highlands and then the Flow Country, Europe’s largest area of blanket bog. After Lairg we diverted off the A836 to ride beside the beautiful River Shin and at Bonar Bridge cut off the corner by climbing Struie Hill. This was a solid climb with some great views of the Dornoch Firth. We were now just opposite The Black Isle and back on the official NC500 route. A final stop at the Highland Farm Cafe just before Dingwall fuelled us for the final 40km back to Inverness.

This was another stunning day and whilst I’m sure the other routes south are equally nice we were very happy with how our choice worked out. Our only regret was not making it to Cape Wrath but with the way our accommodation panned out it was just not possible. Given that we were trying to book places with only a couple of months notice in a lockdown staycation summer I feel it was a minor miracle that we found any places to stay. Plus we were incredibly lucky with the weather only getting rained on a couple of times on Day 4, though it’s worth noting I never took my gilet off! And much to Martin’s disappointment, as he’d carried a can of Smidge all the way round, we didn’t even have a sustained midge attack.

I’d highly recommend the area as a place to ride and all of the bits of our route that were not officially on the NC500 were fantastic. Although looking at the map of our route it seems more appropriate to call it the North West Coast 500.