Scotland: North Coast 500 – best time of year??

https://www.motorcyclescotland.com/routes/north-coast-500/

Whats the best time of year to tackle the Scottish North Coast 500 by car or motorcycle?

Never understood doing this by motorised transport tbh, but each to their own. I’d say you want to avoid the gluepot times, and go with the weather, not a month specifically. We can have phenomenal weather in february, or snow in april, ye never can tell.

Wife & I have a week, travelling from North Yorks, & need to book holiday well in advance, so generally when?

When are midges an issue, if at all in the coast?

Midges All summer – take nets and repellant.

I had a fantastic summer there decades ago… by Loch Eriboll with the occasional trip to Durness or Tongue.

I’d love to go back … at some times you get the Salmon gathering… pretty spectacular and the seals love it.

I even saw a freak Northern lights in early Autumn…

Without being sarky, what do you mean by “best”?

The usual advice is to go in May – statistically better chance of decent weather*, but before the midges come out. However as it’s the usual advice, it’s probably when the route will be busiest with all that entails.

If you want quieter then perhaps September / October could be nice**

*Still a chance of snow and blizzards though!

**Still a chance of storms.

The usual advice is to go in May – statistically better chance of decent weather*

*Still a chance of snow and blizzards though!

Having been heavily snowed on in Torridon in May, I can vouch for this

From what you wrote May sounds “My Best”.

Might be my memories being clouded over the years, or rather selective!, but if I really had to organise something up here and pick a month, it’d be May.

We did it last year in September and had a great time. Only really had midgies when we stopped at places with no wind. It wasn’t too busy and the weather was amazing.

We used this stuff for midgies and it works wonders. Just make sure you put it on any bare skin as they will go for places you have missed. I didn’t get bit once. The midgies will still land on you but fly away almost immediately. – https://www.lifesystems.co.uk/products/insect-repellents/expedition-100-plus-spray

smidge is the game changer on midges.  Works as well as Deet without being horrible and toxic

April or May are usually the best months for weather. You would be very unlucky to get snow/ice although there is an outside chance, and its going to be quieter on the roads than June to September. Its also before the midges get too bad, especially as we have had a very full on winter. Smidge is deffo the stuff for keeping the midges at bay

The NC500 is becoming very popular so book places to stay in advance if you need to otherwise you can end up staying in some real rubbish

I did it by bike (pedal bike) in April last year. No midges whatsoever although a few ticks found me in the ground cover. The weather was changeable with some nice days but also some really wet days. It was really quiet all week with not much else on the road. I’d say April or May.

We did it second and third week in May last year  – only missing out the Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh as we started having been over on the Isles. Traffic though was quite busy – appears to be a bit of a honeypot for ‘sports car’ clubs from UK and Europe, many who appeared to have forgotten how reverse gear works. Didn’t have any problems with midges until the end of the trip. Some of the campsites were busy / imposing minimum stays. I’d also avoid the stretch from Kyle of Tongue to JO’G and down the east – simply cut across to Inverness to Lairg as it’s far more scenic / quieter. Also worth exploring some of the areas not on route like the Inverpolly Road which was probably one of the best bits.

As I’ve posted on a number of similar threads my advice would be not to go at all. Look at the NC500 route and use it to knock out all the roads and towns to avoid on your own route. Be wowed by all the amazing scenery that didn’t make it onto the route. And open, empty roads and deserted car parks and wild camping spots. Roll up to welcomig B&Bs that have a room free with a moments notice instead of months in advance and charge sensible money. Go out for a meal not surrounded by american accents and terrible golfers trousers and fanny packs. Then feel smug at the thought of all of the those sheeple tripping over each other on the NC500 safe in the knowledge that once the fuss is over in 6 or 7 years you can go back do all those lovely bits too.

Failing that ignore the above and go properly out of season. What are you doing next week?

edit – but generally May is one of my favourite months in Scotland. Closely followed by the other 11.

convert speaks sense, there is so much exploring to do in that whole area which will be even quieter than before as the NC500 honeypot sucks people in

we were up that way a couple of weeks ago, were quite lucky with the weather and had a great time with the most wonderful beaches all to ourselves :)

Agreed, I wouldn’t get hung up on the specific 500 route. It’s a very successful piece of marketing for the area, but it’s just a coastal route that someone invented. There are miles of fantastic roads up there that aren’t on the route, so I’d use it as a starting point, but wander off and do some exploring.

Take one of those balloon tyred motorbikes whenever you decide to go.

The roads are , er, rustic – and getting worse.  There’s numerous signs telling us it’s a temporary road surface though, so it should all be ok soon…

I concur.  Do the south west 200, the south south west 300, the trossachs and cairn gorm 9000 instead.

And watch out for Potholes – The roads have been hammered this winter.

I’ve been organising a mtb trip for whit week and accommodation is starting to get booked up already, torridon and Applecross hostels are both full that week, if you can, avoid school holidays!