NC500 route in Scotland


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The "North Coast 500" route is a 500 miles long tourist route starting at Inverness and going out to the west coast of Scotland, then up to the north and across the very top to John O'Groats before travelling back down the east coast to the starting point in  Inverness.  Here is a starter for ten that I took yesterday (28th Dec 2017) on theh northh western section of the route.  [More to follow tomorrow].  The photo is the south-west face of "Arkle". I climbed this mountain in better weather some years ago:

 

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And a few more:   A lonely house on Loch Eriboll:     Ben Loyal:     Tongue war memorial:     Sunrise over Bettyhill:  

NC500 continued:   Snow ploughs worked hard all day to keep the roads open:     "....and I think the little house knew something about it too, don't you?" Anyone remember

The "North Coast 500" route is a 500 miles long tourist route starting at Inverness and going out to the west coast of Scotland, then up to the north and across the very top to John O'Groats before tr

Thank you folks.  Here are some more from the same trip:

 

Ben Stack from the south-east:

 

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Foinaven:

 

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The River Laxfod:

 

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A838:

 

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Beinn Spionaidh and Cranstackie in teh foreground and Foinaven in teh background:

 

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And a few more:

 

A lonely house on Loch Eriboll:

 

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Ben Loyal:

 

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Tongue war memorial:

 

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Sunrise over Bettyhill:

 

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Curious young stags:

 

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Compo, Did you have a zoom lens to get the stag picture?    Love the other photos as well - looks wild and deserted..

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NC500 continued:

 

Snow ploughs worked hard all day to keep the roads open:

 

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"....and I think the little house knew something about it too, don't you?" Anyone remember that quote? :)

 

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Snow clouds:

 

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A log store on the hillside:

 

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Loch Shin:

 

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Start of the Ben Hee climb:

 

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Roaring red deer stag:

 

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And finally for this collection..... This stag said " Ok then, just one photo before I get back to my grazing" :)

 

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3 minutes ago, MargieH said:

Compo, Did you have a zoom lens to get the stag picture?    Love the other photos as well - looks wild and deserted..

 

 

You beat me to it, Margie! I hadn't finished posting photos when you replied.  I did have a long lens for the deer photos but earlier in the day they were all standing on the road and roadside.  Problem was that by the time the car stopped, they were off up the hill. :)

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Absolutely brilliant pics Compo. So wild, lonely and inhospitable, but stunningly beautiful. 

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After viewing these again Compo, I'm interested to know what car you drive. 

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Thank you for those super photos Compo :cool:. I was up there again this year and planning two trips in the New Year. Loch Shin and Loch Merkland are on the list to fish as well as the usual Lochs Cam, Veyatie, Urragil and Borralan. Think I have been on all the roads you covered. Torridon, Gairloch, Ullapool, Lochinver, Drumbeg and clockwise around the coast back to Brora. Gods country.

TV series lochs and Lochans of Scotland started today and looking forwards to the remaining 4.

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Sat up until the early hours of the morning looking at their website, and various others too. I feel inspired to do it, despite previously visiting many of the places on both the west and east coasts, but never fully across the top. Hopefully there's no time limit, as there's so many food and drink establishments to check out. 

Right, map, wellies, woolly hat, Mars bars........ Oh ! Not today dear ? Ok then.

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I never have much luck with wildlife photography. Using a zoom lens, by the time autofocus has kicked in, the subject has run/flown away. However yesterday we went up to Donna Nook on the north Lincs coast to look at the seals and their pups. They just lie around most of the time so it was easy to get some great shots. It’s a sight well worth seeing but don’t leave it for much longer as they will soon have swum away. The catering van did cracking sausage cobs as well!

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15 hours ago, FLY2 said:

After viewing these again Compo, I'm interested to know what car you drive. 

 

We were in the missis's car, Fly: A mazda 6 estate.

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13 hours ago, PeverilPeril said:

\snip\Think I have been on all the roads you covered. Torridon, Gairloch, Ullapool, Lochinver, Drumbeg and clockwise around the coast back to Brora. \snip\

 

 

Only did the top section PP.  West from Watten to Durness, south to Laxford Bridge, East to Laig and the Mound, then north back to Watten via Golspie and Brora.

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 We have some Common (Harbour) seals up here but mostly we have the Atlantic Grey seal Phil.  Here is a photo af an Atlantic Grey pup taken last November at Duncansby near John O'Groats.  After taking this photo I went up to Dunnet Head for a walk - the most bortherly point of mainland Britain and found the place swarming with police - turned out that someone I knew had gone to scatter her husband's ashes off the head and either fallen or jumped over herself!  It is 300ft straight down to the sea and the lifeboat eventually fished her body out of the sea after a long search.

 

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An anxious parent waiting for me to leavebefore getting out of the water to feed its pup.

 

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Dunnet Head Lighthouse - you can just see The Old Man of Hoy standing above the cliffs accross the Pentland Firth:

 

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Yes, they were grey seals at Donna Nook. We didn’t really expect to see many but there were at least 200. It’s a very bleak part of the north Lincolnshire coast and is used by the RAF and USAF as a bombing range. The targets can be seen further out to sea. There was a considerable amount of shipping to be seen, primarily going in and out of Immingham but some go into the Trent ports and others go up the Ouse to Goole. Most of the trade is between Holland, Belgium, Germany and Scandinavia. A few miles up the coast and you are in Cleethorpes but that’s best avoided! We returned through Louth, Horncastle and Woodhall Spa, all fascinating places. We even went through Plantfit’s village of Carlton le Moreland but did not see the solitary figure on the recumbent trike!

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For those interested in the magnificent Highlands, watch out for the new TV series on Saturdays BBC2 8.30. 'Grand Tours of Scotland's Lochs'.

Next week is about the Loch Maree region. Loch Maree is a mystical place steeped in ancient history. It was also the finest sea trout fishing in Europe before Salmon farming started on Loch Ewe. The sea trout (call em finnock up there) were all but wiped out by infestation and disease from the salmon farming.  I know a retired ghillie who guided on Loch Maree before working on the salmon farm. There was no data about the environmental impact of Salmon farming in those days. It's still a polluting industry that is protected by big business and politicians. 

I've fished in about twenty lochs and lochans in this region. It is a stunning place.

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Loch Maree is also the startin gpoint for the climb up the 3,000+ft Munro mountain, 'Slioch'.

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Many years ago I stopped on the roadside to look across the Loch at Siloch. Out of sight of the road there was a large flat rock set in the grassy bank and a lone piper in full Highland dress was playing a lament while slowly marching around around the rock. I kept my distance so as not to disturb his solitude. There were no cars or houses for miles around, so where did he come from? Such are the mysteries of Loch Maree that I have often wondered - was he really there at all?

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