In September 2025, Emma and I cycled the North Coast 500 loop around the Highlands of Scotland over the course of about two weeks.
I found in researching for this trip there was a lot of information on the route and write-ups of people’s experiences, but most were from people far fitter and richer than us — completing the route in half the time and carrying half the weight and staying in hotels.
As such, I thought a few words on our experience and lessons learnt may help anyone else out there planning on completing the route on a tight budget and with a little more time to spare.
Our Route
Here is the route we took to complete the NC500, completed over 14 days of cycling with an additional two rest days in Ullapool and Melvich.
Planning The NC500
Guidebook
Our route broadly followed that set out in the Cicerone guidebook to cycling the NC500 by Mike Wells, with a few variations I’ll discuss later.
This guidebook is your first port of call when planning your own NC500 cycle.
This is an invaluable resource that divides the route into 16 stages, gives suggested itineraries for different trip lengths and detailed route guidance information throughout.
The book also has a complete appendix listing all campsites and hostels on the route complete with phone numbers which is very handy when phone signal is poor.
It’s thin and small and light so you have no excuse not to take it with you and we found it very useful to refer to throughout the trip even while using the GPS (particularly for its elevation plots of each stage).
We broadly stuck to the 13 day cycle itinerary, but shortened the days between Ullapool and Melvich to give us less ascent per day.
We also completed a mighty stint from Melvich to Lairg to make the most of the downhill gradient and make it to a proper campsite rather than roughing it in the suggested stop off of Altnaharra.
We also cut out the section looping out from Melvich to John O’ Groats and back because the Cicerone guidebook did an excellent job of making the endpoint sound exceptionally unappealing. Taking the bus along the road later vindicated this decision as its a fast thoroughfare with a fair bit of traffic and not much in the way of scenery.
Although we used a GPS unit (with the included guidebook GPX files), the guidebook’s route descriptions are detailed enough that you could use it on its own if necessary.
I’d recommend buying directly from the Cicerone website: Cicerone offer 25% off if you are a member of an outdoor organisation such as the Austrian Alpine Club or Youth Hostel Association.
It’s worth checking if you might be eligible as then purchase is as cheap as you will find it and your supporting a fantastic British publishing brand.
The guidebook is available here.
I also found Cycling366’s video on the route very valuable — he’s doing quite large days by my standard and stays in B&Bs and hostels but he has a very concise and informative presenting style. His videos on taking your bike on the Caledonian Sleeper are also very useful and I’d recommend his channel as a whole for bike touring inspiration and advice.
Our Route Variations
For the most part we stuck to the “red route” in the Cicerone guidebook, which crucially varies from the driving route by diverting through the centre of the Highlands on the return trip to Inverness compared to going down the A9.
The general consensus from my research was that cycling on the A9 is abysmal and only for the masochists (see Mark Beaumont’s record setting lap of the route).
However there’s a few places where we varied from the prescribed route.
We did not complete the Bealach na Ba pass.
Strictly speaking this is as the Cicerone book describes but for most cycling guides it is included.
We made this decision before starting the trip, based on the weight of our cycles and general fitness.
While I’m sure the views are fantastic and the hill climb rewarding, I think the stress of holding up reams of traffic on the single track lane (or losing momentum on the downhill to stop for it coming the other way) would have taken away from the moment far too much.
This decision was vindicated by talking with motorists who had driven the route saying how busy and stressful it was even in a car.
If I were to do it, I would probably find somewhere to camp around Kirshorn, get up early the next morning, ditch your gear at the bottom and do a round loop before the traffic builds.
Main road into Ullapool variation.
After reaching the Corrieshalloch Gorge (Stage 4 in Cicerone), the guidebook route follows the main road A835 North into Ullapool.
At first glance, this seems like one of the all too common sections of the NC500 where there is only one road in the area, for cars, motorhomes and cyclists to fight over.
It’s a busy, double-lane 60mph road so avoiding it even for a little bit is worthwhile.
Fortunately, there is a 5km stretch of gravel track / very quiet lane that runs parallel for the first section of this road just after you come out of Lochbroom.
This is a nice change of pace and was a really pleasant stretch of cycling for us where the weather brightened after a dismally wet morning. I’ve attached a screenshot from OS Maps here.
You can criss-cross onto a few shorter tracks on the other side of the road that go up into the forest to elongate the diversion slightly, but the last 13km of the road is unavoidable leading into Ullapool.
Taking the Assynt Coastal Road.
This described as an “alternative” route in the Cicerone guidebook for Stage 6 when travelling from Ullapool to Lochinver but I really don’t understand why. This was our best section of cycling by far!
The views are spectacular, including of Stach Polladh, and the road passes through the Assynt “GeoPark” so there is lots of interesting information signs along the way about the geology of the region.
It is also a really quiet road — probably the quietest we were on for the whole trip.
Yes the elevation is slightly more compared to the main road out of Ullapool, but it is constant undulation with only one section of unreasonable steepness towards the end that can be walked.
Plus the lack of cars means you can commit to corners and enjoy the twisty bends in a way that isn’t feasible on any other section of the route really.
A must-do section of cycling, just don’t tell the motorists about it!
Getting To Inverness
Although the NC500 is a circular route, the only practical start and finish point is Inverness.
This is pretty well connected by rail, and I’d recommend the Caledonian Sleeper if you are travelling from the south of England (it also picks up at Preston and Crewe but I think getting bikes on is a bit more interesting due to platform lengths).
Paying for a room is prohibitively expensive but the cheap seats are quite good value if you are willing to rough it — we paid £50 each for the upward leg and £40 for the return, with a 16-25 railcard, booked about two weeks before travel from London Euston.
Pre-booking is essential, especially for bike spaces.
This is certainly cheaper than the equivalent in fuel and parking to drive and much more convenient than getting the day time train as it meant as soon as we arrived in Inverness at 8am we could get going.
The only caveat to this is the Sleeper is quite often delayed or late, especially if you are travelling in winter, but this does have the added benefit of their very good delay repay scheme where you will automatically be refunded if your journey is delayed (typically your full amount).
If you’re a gambling type, you might book a room for your journey and stomach the three-figure price because you’ve got a fair chance of getting most of it back!
Getting your bike on and off is reasonably stress free — see Cycling366’s video below on the subject for more info.
Getting into the hanging section is a bit of a tight squeeze if you have wide handlebars, such as the Koga Denhams on my bike, but doable.
We did not have to rotate the handlebars as the Caledonian Sleeper website suggests you may be asked to.
I’ve always found the staff onboard to be extremely helpful and accommodating if you need any assistance.
General Bike Touring Prep and Equipment
There’s plenty of advice online about what to take bike touring and how to prepare for a trip which I’m not going to repeat here.
For completeness though, I’ll give a brief overview of our bikes and equipment to reassure a novice tourer that nothing too specialised is needed to complete and enjoy the NC500.
I was riding my Oxford Bike Works steel frame touring bike, Nigel, with two rear panniers, a front bag, seat post bag, small frame bag and tent. This was not the most superlegerra set-up, typified by my chair in the bottom of one pannier, but we weren’t there to win a race.
Emma used her Trek hybrid bike she’s had forever and a day with some new 32mm tyres on, a pair of panniers and a front bar bag.
Both bikes performed flawlessly on the route; the route is entirely tarmac and any slight deviations onto gravel are easy and optional, so there is no need for anything more specialist.
While we didn’t have any failures, a decent repair kit and know-how is essential as you can go quite some distance between bike shops (listed again in Cicerone).
Also be confident that whatever you’re keeping your sleeping stuff in is waterproof, it will get soaked otherwise.
Practicalities and What To Expect
The Weather
Scottish weather is fickle — I’ve sunbathed in blazing sunshine on a snow-drenched Ben Nevis in February, and I’ve fought through 60mph winds in sodden wet Arran bog in July.
The North Coast 500 is no different. Be prepared.
We were there in September, as recommended by most for being the “shoulder season”, after the school holidays but still clinging onto some decent weather.
I’d say we had three days of truly good weather in our sixteen days there — most had a bit of all four seasons in them, fierce winds, heavy showers and blazing sunshine.
A decent waterproof is a must, but also one that you can vent in easily when the rain eases and the terrain gets hilly, you’ll soon start cooking.
The north coast in particular, Durness across to Melvich, has notoriously strong winds, and we experienced this first-hand with 65+ mph winds at Tongue.
Make sure your tent is pretty robust. Fortunately we were pitched in a sheltered spot but others on the campsite had a pretty rough night of it.
Of course it’s not all doom and gloom, when the weather is good there’s no better place to be. We had some beautiful weather in Ullapool and Assynt and on-and-off rain and sun always ensured there was a good rainbow.
The Roads and Traffic
Although the Cicerone guidebook markets itself as providing a “cycling alternative route to the NC500”, the truth is that in a lot of places there is simply only one road, and so the cycling and driving routes have to share.
The first section of the cycle, travelling West from Inverness, is essentially a two-way 60mph main thoroughfare the whole way to Lochcarron. We stopped at Achnasheen on our first day, but in retrospect I would have tried to push through to Lochcarron to get the main road slog out of the way.
There’s a few sections like this on the route, including coming out of Kinlochewe on the A832, heading into Ullapool on the A835 and sections across the north coast toward Tongue and Melvich on the A838.
The single track sections are better, as at least lorries won’t be blasting past at 60mph and throwing up standing water, but they can get tiresome with stopping and starting to let vehicles past or come the other way.
The worst culprit for this was UK registration motorhomes. We hoped that being in September we would have missed the summer holiday rush but it seems everyone else had the same idea as campsite owners commented that their bookings had only been growing since August.
To be honest, I’d thought people online had been over exaggerating in their comments about camper vans and motorhomes on the route, but unfortunately they were an ever present scourge on the roads.
The main problem was people — presumably having hired a motorhome — not knowing the width of their vehicle and passing far too close to us as they squeezed through the single track roads.
We’re all on holiday — what’s the rush?!
It must be said that I found European number plate vehicles and local traffic of tradesmen and cars to be exclusively and unequivocally polite and encouraging to us while cycling.
We covered around 8000m of ascent in less than 800km, mostly through undulating roads. There a couple of really hard hills though, including one at 25% gradient which Cicerone neglects to mention.
Where to Stay
For a budget trip, camping is the way to go for the whole route. Except for one night of wild camping and one night in an Inverness hostel at the end of our trip, we stayed in a campsite every night. There are plenty along the route and generally at natural stopping points and a full discussion of all available is in the Cicerone guidebook.
The RideWithGPS map of our route shows everywhere we stayed at the top of this post.
Expect to spend £10-13 per person per night at each campsite for two people sharing a tent; some may charge a bit extra if you are on your own.
Generally with a small tent a campsite will have no trouble fitting you in so we never had to pre book but would call ahead if we thought we might be arriving late as a courtesy.
That said, the campsites were generally fully booked for motorhomes so few felt quiet.
A couple of highlight campsites: the free campsite in Torridon, complete with free public toilets and showers, supported by the community.
Clachtoll Beach campsite, where £10 a night gets you an astroturf pitch, access to a beautiful kitchen area complete with pots and pans, a fire pit lit every night, and paddle boards and wetsuits if you’re feeling brave. Immaculate toilets and showers to boot. One of the cheapest of the trip and yet by far the best — where is the money spent on all the others going?
A less prestigious camping experience came on Night 3 as we arrived in Laide hoping to stay at Grunard Bay campsite.
Here we were not permitted past the intercom outside the gate to even speak to the lady at reception as she informed us on the whisper-quiet speaker that she wasn’t accepting tents at the campsite because of high winds.
Why it’s her problem if my tent blows away I’m not sure, but there was no discussion to be had.
To add to the woes, the turning weather had cancelled ferries so a lot of travellers planning to move on to the islands were stuck on the mainland, combined with a major road closure, meant the musical chairs of highland tourists stopped and all the accommodation options for the night were full.
We put our faith in Providence for something to turn up and a kindly local Stephen and his little dog Pig duly arrived to took us to “a sheltered spot he knew”.
This transpired to be a cave set on a beach only accessible down a grass track and used occasionally for some “hippie crystal readings”.
Lovely and cozy then.
The irony of course is that due to the offshore breeze it was the most sheltered place we’d been all day and, despite the disturbingly close-sounding waves over night, undoubtedly the most comfortable place to spend a night in a tent in Laide.
When we returned to Inverness, we had an extra day before our sleeper train. We were going to stay at the campsite by the sports centre in the city, but arrived to be told the campsite had shut for the season the day before, the 22nd September. Therefore if you’re planning to do the NC500 out of season, especially if later on in September or beyond, bear in mind that the campsites may be shut and call ahead if unsure.
Fortunately we could book into Black Isle Hostel in Inverness centre, which I can highly recommend for the price and has excellent bike storage facilities, including letting us leave the bikes there while we went around the town for the day before our train.
Wild Camping
Wild camping is of course legal in Scotland, and generally I am a great proponent for it. However, the NC500 does not lend itself entirely to wild camping.
For one, you are always on a road, and so despite the marketing hype, the route is never really that far away from civilisation. This means that for me wild camping on the route dangerously toes the line into “being homeless”, pitching up on verges on the side of the road. The alternative is straying off route to be away from the road side, but the terrain is often boggy and not ideal for a tent pitch.
Furthermore, we were doing reasonably short days in the saddle — setting off around 10am and finish generally around 4pm. This is quite early to be pitching up by the road side, and it was often nice to have a bit more of a proper base to then explore the town we were in.
Of course, wild camping is the most budget-friendly form of accommodation, but be warned its probably not always going to be the most idyllic.
Shops
I was pleasantly surprised by the options for restocking on provisions along the trip. Outside of Inverness, your only options for major supermarkets are in Ullapool and Thurso. However, most of the towns we passed through had a SPAR local shop which were incredibly well stocked with a good variety of products and usually a fresh bakery for pastries.
A particularly favourite is at Scourie Campsite, where the SPAR attached to the site is a shop, pub and pizzeria. The holy trinity after a wet and windy day.
Initially we were carrying food for around 4 days at a time, but the frequency and quality of shops en route meant we could get away with restocking more often, making packing easier and bikes lighter.
Where To Go
The main draw of the NC500 is the scenery, which is undoubtedly spectacular throughout, but there are a few attractions and stopping points in particular I think it’s worth spending a bit of time in. The Cicerone book gives a full and rich description of the landscape and attractions but here’s some of my favourites.
Torridon
I’ve had a soft spot for Torridon since my diabolically-bad-idea climbing trip there during red weather warnings in Storm Isha. The weather wasn’t much better this time around, but the road through Glen Torridon, dominated by the mighty Liatach and Ben Eighe, was one of our favourites to ride. A beautiful, wild place.
The Corrieshalloch Gorge
Not something I’d heard much about before starting the trip, but a worthwhile lunch stop off with some interesting history and the gorge itself is quite spectacular. The cafe is extortionate so bring a pack up.
Ullapool
For a long time I’d assumed Ullapool was a dreary fishing port, but how wrong I was!
It’s a vibrant and surprisingly youthful town with a strong community spirit, plenty of nice shops, bars and places to eat, including the famous and worthwhile Seafood Shack.
We took a rest day here on Day 4 and were rewarded with some glorious weather, but it would also be a good place to be if the weather is bad and you’re looking for some time in a real building.
Assynt
As I alluded to before, the coastal road around the Assynt peninsula features I think the most impressive landscapes of the circuit. If you have spent some time in Scotland before you will notice it is very distinct from Glencoe to the south in its geology and there is some very interesting formations that make it feel a little otherworldly.
Clashnessie Falls
A surprising impressive waterfall a short walk away from the road just north of Clachtoll. Well worth a visit on your way out.
Durness Beach
A beautiful sweeping white sand beach with impressive vistas on the horizon of Cape Wrath. Perfect for a nice walk up and down and to soak in the sun if its out.
Thurso
We only cycled as far east as Melvich on the North Coast, but we stayed an extra day at our campsite in order to get the bus into Thurso. This is a bit of an adventure in itself, not aided by the fact that no one in Melvich seemed to know anything about the buses, but in the end it worked out.
It is possible to get a bus to Thurso from Melvich on a weekday, and Google Maps public transport is correct.
There is the local Durness Bus (a silver mini bus) that runs a service on Tuesdays, Thursdays or Saturdays to Thurso along the North coast. On their website it suggests they run on other weekdays, but this is only a school pick up service.
Instead, if you want to travel to Thurso, you’ll have to catch the Douneray worker’s bus operated by Stagecoach.
This is a bright yellow, 70-seater coach that comes once a day each way.
This is what Google Maps public transport displays and can be trusted.
The morning pick up time is generally quite early so make sure to set your alarm to be out and waiting.
Buy your tickets when you get on. Be aware that Douneray apparently closes every third Friday, but when the third Friday exactly is no one I spoke to seemed to know, so you may have to take your chances a bit on that one.
Make sure to talk to the bus driver too about where to pick up for the return journey as its likely different to where you will be dropped off.
Thurso is an interesting place with some rich history as part of the wider region of Caithness and with its links to the nuclear research centre at Douneray.
It’s also recently become a bit of a surfing hotspot, so we saw a few out catching the morning waves when we went on a stroll down to the seafront.
We made a visit to Wolfburn distillery, a little walk out of town but well worth it.
The tour was comprehensive and I liked that the distillery was fully independent and did everything on site, including storing the barrels, which I hadn’t seen before.
It was also really good value for money as we ended up trying seven whiskies if memory serves.
This led to a highly enjoyable afternoon in Lidl and then the local museum (free entry), which is well worth a visit in any state but certainly augmented after a few drams.
If you’ve got your heart set on visiting John O’ Groats, it seems it would be possible to catch another bus there from Thurso, though by all accounts its a bit of a let-down landmark so we didn’t bother. It would probably also be a bit of a squeeze on timetabling.
RSPB Forsinard
Turning South from Melvich, the route comes through the Flow Country — an under appreciated and ecologically vital area of north Scotland.
RSPB Forsinard makes a perfect mid morning stop, complete with a coffee machine in the unmanned visitor centre built into the old train station (pay by donation).
The walk out to the bird hide is short and pleasant and worthwhile to see the striking structure.
We had a very pleasant chat with a chap about the peat bogs who recognised me from a previous campsite in my orange jacket.
Falls of Shin
I looked forward to visiting these waterfalls for the whole trip, but didn’t really know what to expect. They’ve got an interesting history as an attraction, but the main draw is to watch salmon leaping up them, at their peak in September.
I expected to go down to the viewing platform and see non-stop salmon leaping, but its not like that, you need a bit of patience.
Most people seemed to come down, wait 30 seconds, not see a salmon and then go back to their cars, which seemed a waste given the parking charges.
We were down there probably about an hour and saw 10 or so salmon jumping. You’ve just got to keep your eyes locked on!
I even managed a couple of photos.
Final Remarks
I thoroughly enjoyed our cycle tour of the North Coast 500, but I probably wouldn’t do it again as it stands.
I think cycling is the better way to complete the route if you are also considering driving; different types of holiday I know, but for me cycling felt like a better pace to actually appreciate the views and scenery as you passed through.
Plus getting booked into campsites is a lot easier and you’re not contributing to the congestion in the area.
That said, the NC500 is not the ideal “cycle tour”. The motorhome and caravan congestion is, unfortunately, sufficiently high for it to cause a noticeable detriment to the cycling experience.
Similarly, more sections than I would like of the tour took place on busy, fast roads, which never makes great cycling, especially when the Scottish weather is against you.
By sticking to a well-trodden path, the route never really feels that remote or wild. This may be a positive for many, but it limited the options for wild camping in my experience.
Overall then, I think if you are considering the NC500 cycle it’s certainly worth doing once and by bike is a far more fulfilling experience than by car.
However, if I were to go cycling in North Scotland again, I would probably focus the trip in a smaller area with quieter roads (such as Assynt) and combine it with more walking and climbing for a more holistic adventure.