North Coast 500

Wonderful trip, 2 of the 4 seasons seen!

We enjoyed the trip immensely, made this trip in 2022 in the period September 6 to September 15. For us a trip not to forget, on the day of departure it was a pleasant 25 degrees towards the Ferry IJmuiden. Didn't expect the Ferry to be so well organized and have so many options on board! Advice though is to make a reservation for the morning and evening buffet when booking! Plenty of choice and something for everyone to choose from. Quality is more than enough. Day of arrival we were treated to terrible weather! A good suit or rain suit is really recommended! The weeks before they had suffered tremendous flooding and it showed on the roads! After a long trip through wind and rain we arrived at the first hotel; Atholl Palace, the driveway was hugely impressive and you immediately felt the atmosphere. Upon arrival at the first hotel we were told that the Queen had died. Day 2 began drizzly and cold, we were already worried that this would continue throughout the vacation. After a beautiful winding road we finally arrived at Caringorms National Park, from then on the weather began to clear up and the sun broke through. This beautiful weather fortunately continued all the way to the end of the vacation. Average temperatures were between 14-18 degrees. Due to the death of the Queen, we were unable to continue our journey past Balmoral Castle and across the estate. So we had to take a slightly more direct route towards Inverness. Inverness is a beautiful city, only parking your motorcycle at the hotel is really a disaster! Also many restaurants work with reservations and are often fully booked on the day itself, keep this in mind! Tip; If you drive from Inverness along the east coast in the direction of Thurso, you will find tea houses in the small villages. Here you can get handmade local products for not too much money while enjoying a cup of tea or coffee. From Thurso towards Ullapool and Gairloch you can enjoy the beautiful scenery, especially in the interior there are some nice stops to drink or eat something. If you drive from Gairloch to Fort William you will pass through a nature park; during 1 of the stops you may come across a local acquaintance. A ''wild'' deer then hangs out near the parking lot. Despite the signs ''do not feed'' the animal is very affectionate and can be quite cheeky. Arriving in Fort William we can only really recommend 1 thing; take a cab to the city center and visit The Black Isle Bar! Here they serve fresh pizza and a choice of 50 different types of local beer including 20 fresh on tap. Note! You can't make reservations here either; if a table is free you have to be quick. But definitely worth the wait! For those travelers who would like to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct with the Jacobite train from the Harry Potter movies; definitely do it! As a motorcycle rider, you don't have to pay for a parking ticket and make sure you're on time; check the train schedule the night before. Allow for a good walk from the parking lot. But definitely worth checking out. The drive to Drymen is beautiful over many single track roads. Especially check out the viewpoint from the James Bond movie Skyfall. The 19km side road to the lake next to Ben Starav is also well worth the effort. The road is very bad and narrow but the end result is well worth the pause. Drymen; Reserve a spot at The Clachan Bar and Restaurant just down the road. This is an old-fashioned Pub with a restaurant; the food here is the best we have had in the entire vacation. The combination of the atmosphere and the food was really top notch. A nice finish before heading back to the boat. The last day we took a direct route towards the Ferry. The first part you are sent through many small towns and beautiful roads along lakes and high cliffs. Eventually you end up on major roads after which we went straight to the Ferry. Despite the modified route, we arrived 1 hour before departure. A couple of tips for this trip; 1. The speed you drive on the roads are many times slower than the brochure and navigation. This makes the routes take much longer in terms of time! We are not snails but it was really rushing for us on some days! We hardly had time to see things along the route because it was sometimes a race against the clock. We never took the long routes. Leaving in the morning 8 am and arriving at 6 pm! This rushing also meant there was no time to visit Isle Of Skye properly. 2. Any sightseeing, restaurants or outings you really need to have booked or reserved in advance! 3. A lot has changed in Scotland since Corona. A lot has gone belly up. Check this especially on Tripadvisor or ask the locals for advice if you want to eat or drink somewhere. See previous point; sometimes this is reflected in the hotels and rooms 5. If you want to see a lot besides the motorcycle trip itself, the advice is to book 2-3 days extra. Then you have enough time to see everything quietly. For us a wise lesson, we definitely want to go back but with some extra days.