NORTH COAST 500

had a fantastic few days last week up in scotland riding ROUTE 500 with taffy nick and glen. we left bridgend wednesday at about 9.30 after loading the bikes into our hire vans and headed north and 9hrs later we arrived in inverness, we booked into our rooms and headed off for a pint and a bite to eat.
day 1 was a pretty straightforward ride upto john o groats (after jump starting nicks 1190) and across to thurso which would be our stop over but first we took a spin around loch ness which to be honest was quite disappointing as we didnt see one single ripple in the water, nessy must have been on holiday......may be down in claerwen
inverness was quite warm but when we hit john o groats the temp had dropped a fair few degrees but it was dry but a bit cloudy, its at least 3 coats colder up there, as we hit thurso it began to rain but we were about 10 mins from the digs so didnt get wet at all. we had a proper sesh that night and me and taffy ended up in a pub sporting a towel and a pillow slamming the gin and whiskey......and it got a bit messy
day 2 was a run from thurso to lochinver across the north and down the west coast which was incredibly picturesque with the odd small holding dotted around, the roads were fantastic with hardly any oncoming traffic and not a single pothole. glen had studied the map and found a nice little detour to add to the route inland following the river naver where we passed loads anglers fishing for salmon, around loch naver and up past loch loyal which led us back onto the main route in tongue, the scenery was getting really impressive by now with huge mountains in the background made to look even more dramatic against the black storm clouds which im glad to say didnt burst . lochinver was a bit of a bizzar town with probably less than 100 houses a huge posh hotel pub, resteraunt and big fish market with deer grazing in the kids play park, taffy even met an old mate from bridgend in the pub
day 3 was a 230 mlie run to ullapool and across to applecross where we rode the applecross pass and back down to inverness but it was going to take us pretty much all day to do as the roads were mostly single track zigzagging along the amazing coastline. applecross village is right on an estuary and it took us a good hr to get to and probably 45 mins to get to the next village it really is in the middle of nowhere but stunning and was the part of the route i was looking foreward to the most or at least the pass was and it didnt disapoint either riding up to it with a gale force side wind was really sketchy as i felt as if i was riding at 45 degrees to go straight , the road then zigzags down between to huge mountains, its got to be one of the dodgyest yet picturesque roads in the UK. the rest of the route wasnt so dramatic but very pretty though riding down valleys or glens i should say lined with huge spruce trees all the way back to inverness where we finished in front of the castle in one piece

ive made a bit of a vid but to be honest its not brill as taffy thought we were on a track day not a road trip to take in the sights of the scottish highlands but to be honest its more for us who were on the trip as something to remember it by
would i do it again ?? defintely
would i recommend the trip ?? absolutely p
ps.... sorry aboutthe screechy music

Cracking vid & report would you say the same route needs 4 or 5 days riding to soak it up ?

3 was just about fine but 4 would be better but taffy wants to go back next yr to do it in 2

Brilliant juljam, loved the vid but the music is crap

Nice! Roads look narrow single track at places!

Great stuff Jules - wheres the clip of taffy pissing his pants ?

great report - pukka vid (i understand your choice of music juls - reminds me of braveheart)
... what beautiful scenery - and you got the weather too...

would have loved to have seen you two pissed walking around with your bedding in hand 

It wasn't in hand it was on head
Well with the trip up there, the scenery is amazing tbh the vid doesn't show it very well also the applecross pass is a lot steeper than it looks

Cracking Jul, will definitely do it again next year, do it the opposite way around next time, 2 or 4 days will do, it would have been a shame not to unleash the might of the 1290 down that straight, plus I behaved all the trip around anyway

Apart from the odd wheelie and i dont think nick wore much of his front tyre ether