I woke up with that sinking “Oh, it’s the last day of my holiday” feeling. The past few days seemed to pass very quickly, yet I had packed so much in and seen a lot of the Northern Highlands driving North Coast 500. Once at Brora, I felt I was in more familiar territory. I pulled back the curtains, and it was a beautiful clear day. I looked out at the Moray Firth towards my home town, Nairn. Continue reading
This stretch of North Coast 500 took me to part of the UK I had never seen before. I had previously visited Kinlochbervie and Thurso, but not between the two. I was going “over the top” or “the roof of the UK”. First stop was the beach at Oldmoreshore, which is a bit of a little sister to Sandwood Bay. It is much more accessible too – just a short 10 mile round trip detour off NC500 with parking a couple of hundred metres from the beach. Take the B801 to Kinlochbervie – it’s worth it … Continue reading
My strategy for driving North Coast 500 was to have a beak from driving around the halfway point. My plan for my driving rest day was to walk to Sandwood Bay, one of Scotland’s most isolated and beautiful beaches. It is a good two hour walk to get there from the nearest car park at Blairmore, a few miles North of Kinlochbervie. The weather however was still not cooperating, so I reverted to Plan B – a day trip to Handa Island, a nature reserve managed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
Up bright and early, I enjoyed an excellent breakfast prepared by Isobel before heading off just before 8.30am. It was a mixed weather forecast and I had a lot of driving ahead of me, so was keen to get going. Continue reading
Bags of Adventure 