NC500 trip May 2022

[Princess Ariel]

So after getting our gorgeous Cockapoo puppy, Willow last month, we have decided to do the NC500 next year! First off let’s introduce ourselves!

Me, Kelly, age 42, this past few months have been extremely challenging & have encouraged me to rethink my priorities & values, we used to save and save for our couple of Florida holidays every year, but the last few months have made me realise how short life is and to make the most of every day, therefore we decided to get a dog, have more weekends/holidays and days out in the U.K. and prob just one holiday abroad each year now.

Darrell (46) DH who just basically lets me get on with the planning and decision making and goes along with things 😂 he has also had quite a serious accident at work which has resulted in fracturing both his wrists so we have thrown ourselves into planning this trip.

Jacob (13 will be 14) moody teenager, not sure how he is going to cope with limited WiFi signals during the trip! He also has coeliac disease so it will be interesting to see how easy it is to find both dog & gluten friendly eating places during this trip.

Finally Willow! Our lovely little cockapoo who has settled into our family so easily, it’s like she’s always been with us, she has literally helped get me through the last few weeks!

I have done some initial planning and booked accommodation. It was challenging finding places that would accommodate the 3 of us and Willow. I’ve put a brief outline of our planned trip below :

Day 1 - travel from Worcester to Bamburgh, stay one night at Craster Arms Hotel (£165) for 1 night

Day 2-3 - travel to Aviemore area, it’s quite a long drive but we will stop during the journey & we are staying 2 nights at the Argyle Guest House. We are planning to explore the Cairngorms but any other suggestions for this area are welcomed. This is costing us £191.70 for 2 nights.

Day 4 - travel to Inverness, we are staying 1 night at Cheiftain Hotel, we are planning to visit Loch Ness and hopefully do a Loch Ness ferry cruise. Cost is £99 for the night.

Day 5 - travel to Wick, we are staying 1 night at Burnside Cottage, (£200) we are planning to visit John O Groats & Thurso.

Day 6 - travel to Durness, we are staying the night at an Airbnb small cottage type accommodation, it has amazing reviews and the host is a star host, it’s costing £111 for the night. We are planning to visit Smoo Caves and Durness Beach.

Day 7 - travel to Ullapool, we are staying 1 night at Morefield Motel, it’s costing £150 for the night, the reviews were mixed for this one but I was reassured my Mitch’s trip report as she stayed here recently with her dog! We haven’t really decided what we will do here but will decide nearer the time! Suggestions welcome!

Day 8 - travel to Gairloch, we are staying 1 night here at the millcroft hotel, this is costing £200 for the night, we are planning to do a dolphin cruise from here.

Day 9/10 - travel to fort William, we are staying 2 nights here at the Inn at Ardgour, we want to do the Jacobite steam train and explore Glencoe hopefully.

Day 11- begin the journey home staying 1 night at a cheap B&B in the Lake District to break up the journey!

So those are our rough plans! Any thoughts and suggestions for must sees or places to eat would be greatly appreciated!

I have to say a huge thank you to Mitch84 as her trip report has been so helpful with my initial planning and I’m sure I’ll keep referring back to it during the rest of my planning process! Also thank you to The Wizard who suggested Bamburgh!

It will be lovely to see what you all think so far!

[snowbelle]

We aren't far from you and did a big chunk of the NC500 last year, don't worry Jacob will not have to be without Wifi even at the very top of Scotland

Dibber Dollymixture has been recently so I would check out her trip reports with teenagers .
We found the Jacobite too expensive for what it was and I know Dollymixture took the normal train which definitely saw the same sites including the viaduct.
Glencoe is stunning.

Aviemore is lovely and if you like reindeer the cairngorm reindeer centre
The Cairngorm Reindeer Herdhttps://www.cairngorm reindeer.co.uk
was interesting, we didn't do the mountain walk but you can visit the paddocks and when we drove up Cairngorm mountain they were walking about freely.

We took a little camping stove and really enjoyed stopping at picnic areas and having soup and a coffee even though we stayed in mostly Premier Inns it saved us a lot of money buying lunches and got us out in the open air.

We also enjoyed the Highland Wildlife park

highlandwildlifepark.uk/ but I don't think they accept dogs, but it's worth checking.

You might like Chesters Roman Fort on the way up to Bamburgh it's a nice hour or so with a good part of Hadrians wall.

On the way home we stayed at Gretna and they have a small but nice little outlet shopping village there which we found nice for a stop over for an hour or two.

Personally I would miss out Wick and travel up to John O' Groats and stay in Thurso

We stopped at the Falls of Shin visitscotland/info/s...ction-p1905721
to see the Salmon Leaping ,on the way up from Inverness to JOG and Thurso, the later in the day you get to JOG the less busy it is and the sunsets are gorgeous.

[Puddle5]

Hi Princess Ariel we are doing most of the NC500 in September as part of our road trip around Scotland. We are also travelling with our doggie so I am very eager to hear how you get on.

We are retiring this year so have longer time to take and aim to be away about 7 weeks.

We are staying in Lancaster on the way up then Stranraer, Edinburgh (only for one night to go to the Tattoo (doggie booked in kennels for one night). Pitlochry, Loch Lomond, Arrochar, Fort William, Skye, Lochinver, Thurso, Inverness and Torridon so far. Mostly cottages, lodges and a couple of pods as we are staying between 3 and 5 nights in all the places except for Edinburgh.

Pitlochry is a good place to stop on your way to Aviemore, lovely little town lots of places to eat and lot of places around to stop and have a walk with doggie. Faskally Forest(short walk round lake) looks a nice place just above Pitlochry for a quick stretch of your legs.

We have booked for the Jacobite so again looking forward to hearing how you get on

On your way from Durness to Ullapool please stop at Lochinver, its a lovely little town and apparently has the most fantastic pie shop now! Inverkirkaig three miles from Lochinver was where I spent many of my happiest childhood memories. That whole area is stunningly beautiful.

I was lucky enough to spend a lot of my childhood in all the places we will be visiting and we have visited some since, some I haven't visited since I was a child/ teenager.
Really looking forward to our trip and reading how you get on

Have a fantastic trip!

[*source*]

If you need any tips whilst in Fort William please don't hesitate to ask

[*source*]

Originally Posted by Princess Ariel

So after getting our gorgeous Cockapoo puppy, Willow last month, we have decided to do the NC500 next year! First off let’s introduce ourselves!

Me, Kelly, age 42, this past few months have been extremely challenging & have encouraged me to rethink my priorities & values, we used to save and save for our couple of Florida holidays every year, but the last few months have made me realise how short life is and to make the most of every day, therefore we decided to get a dog, have more weekends/holidays and days out in the U.K. and prob just one holiday abroad each year now.

Darrell (46) DH who just basically lets me get on with the planning and decision making and goes along with things 😂 he has also had quite a serious accident at work which has resulted in fracturing both his wrists so we have thrown ourselves into planning this trip.

Jacob (13 will be 14) moody teenager, not sure how he is going to cope with limited WiFi signals during the trip! He also has coeliac disease so it will be interesting to see how easy it is to find both dog & gluten friendly eating places during this trip.

Finally Willow! Our lovely little cockapoo who has settled into our family so easily, it’s like she’s always been with us, she has literally helped get me through the last few weeks!

I have done some initial planning and booked accommodation. It was challenging finding places that would accommodate the 3 of us and Willow. I’ve put a brief outline of our planned trip below :

Day 1 - travel from Worcester to Bamburgh, stay one night at Craster Arms Hotel (£165) for 1 night

Day 2-3 - travel to Aviemore area, it’s quite a long drive but we will stop during the journey & we are staying 2 nights at the Argyle Guest House. We are planning to explore the Cairngorms but any other suggestions for this area are welcomed. This is costing us £191.70 for 2 nights.

Day 4 - travel to Inverness, we are staying 1 night at Cheiftain Hotel, we are planning to visit Loch Ness and hopefully do a Loch Ness ferry cruise. Cost is £99 for the night.

Day 5 - travel to Wick, we are staying 1 night at Burnside Cottage, (£200) we are planning to visit John O Groats & Thurso.

Day 6 - travel to Durness, we are staying the night at an Airbnb small cottage type accommodation, it has amazing reviews and the host is a star host, it’s costing £111 for the night. We are planning to visit Smoo Caves and Durness Beach.

Day 7 - travel to Ullapool, we are staying 1 night at Morefield Motel, it’s costing £150 for the night, the reviews were mixed for this one but I was reassured my Mitch’s trip report as she stayed here recently with her dog! We haven’t really decided what we will do here but will decide nearer the time! Suggestions welcome!

Day 8 - travel to Gairloch, we are staying 1 night here at the millcroft hotel, this is costing £200 for the night, we are planning to do a dolphin cruise from here.

Day 9/10 - travel to fort William, we are staying 2 nights here at the Inn at Ardgour, we want to do the Jacobite steam train and explore Glencoe hopefully.

Day 11- begin the journey home staying 1 night at a cheap B&B in the Lake District to break up the journey!

So those are our rough plans! Any thoughts and suggestions for must sees or places to eat would be greatly appreciated!

I have to say a huge thank you to Mitch84 as her trip report has been so helpful with my initial planning and I’m sure I’ll keep referring back to it during the rest of my planning process! Also thank you to The Wizard who suggested Bamburgh!

It will be lovely to see what you all think so far!

See more...

You will need to get a ferry each time you go to or leave your hotel if you stay in Ardgour. If the ferry is off it is a long trip round by the road.

Maybe best to look at Kings House Hotel for when you see Glencoe and somewhere actually IN Fort William or Glenfinnan for the Jacobite train?

[*source*]

Originally Posted by Puddle5

Hi Princess Ariel we are doing most of the NC500 in September as part of our road trip around Scotland. We are also travelling with our doggie so I am very eager to hear how you get on.

We are retiring this year so have longer time to take and aim to be away about 7 weeks.

We are staying in Lancaster on the way up then Stranraer, Edinburgh (only for one night to go to the Tattoo (doggie booked in kennels for one night). Pitlochry, Loch Lomond, Arrochar, Fort William, Skye, Lochinver, Thurso, Inverness and Torridon so far. Mostly cottages, lodges and a couple of pods as we are staying between 3 and 5 nights in all the places except for Edinburgh.

Pitlochry is a good place to stop on your way to Aviemore, lovely little town lots of places to eat and lot of places around to stop and have a walk with doggie. Faskally Forest(short walk round lake) looks a nice place just above Pitlochry for a quick stretch of your legs.

We have booked for the Jacobite so again looking forward to hearing how you get on

On your way from Durness to Ullapool please stop at Lochinver, its a lovely little town and apparently has the most fantastic pie shop now! Inverkirkaig three miles from Lochinver was where I spent many of my happiest childhood memories. That whole area is stunningly beautiful.

I was lucky enough to spend a lot of my childhood in all the places we will be visiting and we have visited some since, some I haven't visited since I was a child/ teenager.
Really looking forward to our trip and reading how you get on

Have a fantastic trip!

See more...

If you need any tips whilst in Fort William please don't hesitate to ask

[Princess Ariel]

We decided not to do this trip in the end…we are currently back in Orlando lol 😂

[Puddle5]

Hope you are having a great time! I don't feel up to flying yet but my /daughter and family are going to Orlando in July. They dd ask if we wanted to go but not ready yet.

I will do a trip report when we go for future inspiration