2 Fatties in a Fiat 500 - North Coast 500 - Day 5

[AJ86]

Today we are heading to the top of Scotland and driving from Ullapool to Tongue google maps says around 100 miles and 2hours 30 driving time.

Our day started as usual, with breakfast in the hotel, again cooked to order nice and fresh. The Royal hotel Ullapool was nice, a little dated, given the accommodation choices it was the nicest I could see, and more importantly available for our dates.

We start by filling up little Nessie, unsure of where the next decent petrol station will be. The petrol station is handily located next door to the hotel. Looks like the majority of Ullapool has the same idea as there is a massive queue to get in.

We head out of Ullapool and again enjoy the scenery around us, around 30 mins away is our first stop Ardvreck Castle. All the Castles in Scotland really fascinate me, there is so much history in their walls, and this one was no difference, and had a bit of a gruesome history including a girl and the devil!

Our route continues on around the Loch Inver and we pop into the Highland Stoneware shop, its very nice inside with some lovely pieces, but they are a bit out of our price range. The main reason for stopping here was to visit the very popular Lochinver Larder, and nicely stocked pie shop/van! We have pork and apple, Lamb and a apple pie, we ask for them warm, but its still a little early for lunch, so pack them away in the car.

We cheated a little on the NC500 and skip a little bit out, taking the turn to continue the tour and we see it is more single file roads with lots of potholes so to save little Nessy and another 2 hours of driving we turn around and head back towards Ardvreck castle where we can take a little shortcut.

Next part of the route will take us to Kylesku bridge, our shortcut takes us around 30 mins on a lot more comfortable, but very steep roads!

Kylesku bridge is a wonder to see and a main point on the route, i’m no bridge connoisseur but i would rate it highly over the ones I have seen and driven over.

We park up at the little car park next to the bridge, take some pictures and have a nice little chat with some bikers. Its after lunch so we pull out our pies and stuff ourselves silly, I'm full after the main, but can’t resist the smells from the apple pie so we devour this right away.

After looking on google maps we spot a craft village near our next beach stop. It's around an hour away so we hop in the car and view some of the most wonderful scenery.

Before long we arrive at the Belnakeil craft village, I think our expectations were a little high after visiting some lovely craft villages and fairs before, but this was basically a series of little chalets that had a few bits for sale outside, we were so disappointed but laughed so hard in the little car.

The silver lining here was the amazing Cocoa mountain, if you have a sweet tooth this is the place to be, fantastic hot chocolates and some great sweet treats. After a couple of takeaway hot chocolates we head back to the car and to the nearby Balnakeil beach, oh my word this beach was out of this world, white sands, blue water, I could have quite easily been in St lucia at first glance, but the harsh wind brings be back to reality. We took a good walk around the beach and look in awe at the water. I would have loved to go for a swim, but fear hypothermia would have set in fairly quickly.

Back in the car our next stop of the day is at Smoo Cave. The scenery as we drive the top of Scotland is amazing and would recommend it to anyone. At Smoo cave we bag a parking space and make our way down to the cave, it's around a 5 min walk down and if you are unfit like us a 10 min walk back!

The cave is amazing and the main draw is that there is a waterfall in the middle of it. It was nice and relaxed in the cave, with only around 10 others down there, I think we picked a great time to go. After a good explore and lots of picture taking we head back up to the car and start our drive to our hotel for the night.

Again the drive is amazing and lots of gorgeous scenery either side of us, our hotel for the night is the Tounge Hotel. The hotel is amazing and has a lot of character to it, we are given a room what I fear is in the basement as we walk down a lot of stairs, but i needn't have worried, we are presented a huge room, massive bed, little sofa area and with views over the gardens and the surrounding hills. The restaurant is fully booked so they are offering room service which we take up.

We are in Scotland with some lovely fresh fish so we have some fish and chips from them to eat in our room. Its lovely and fills a massive hole in our stomachs, we rest in bed and watch what else but some Disney films on the iPad.

Day 6

[caj]

I'm getting itchier feet by the page! This looks amazing!

I know you signed up for this as a lot of driving, did you ever find it too much though? Especially in a little car?

[AJ86]

Originally Posted by caj

I'm getting itchier feet by the page! This looks amazing!

I know you signed up for this as a lot of driving, did you ever find it too much though? Especially in a little car?

See more...

Only really on the first day from Fort William to Gairloch, that was a long day driving!
I'm a little tight and to add my wife on as a second driver was going to cost another £250 odd so decided against that but would have made it more comfortable. The little car didn't really bother us, if anything we found it better as i was more confident with the passing places, it did struggle going up some of the bigger hills, but the little car made it up the top!

[mitch84]

Originally Posted by caj

I'm getting itchier feet by the page! This looks amazing!

I know you signed up for this as a lot of driving, did you ever find it too much though? Especially in a little car?

See more...

I did it solo in a Seat Leon and didn’t mind the driving too much (Even drove from Warrington to Aviemore)

[mitch84]

I did this day in reverse too. Loved the castle. I gave up waiting at the pie shop though, it was really warm and I had eye dog in the car and the queue wasn’t moving.
I loved Cocoa mountain too