Northcoast 500 Roadtrip in the TVR T350C - loads of pictures

[Bazzon]

We were attending were due to attend a friends wedding in Airth on Saturday 5th September and we planned to take the TVR up there from our house in Warwick. The original plan was to drive up to Airth enjoy the wedding and drive home, i then became aware of the North Coast 500 route. In the following weeks piston heads did the route in a new Mx5 and i started to think maybe we should do it in the TVR.

We also decided that we did not want to do the same bit of road twice unless it was a necessity.

So we booked the hotel for the wedding and some B&Bs for the Route.



Thursday 3rd September, Warwick - County Durham. To visit parents on the way up and have a free nights accommodation.



Getting Ready to leave/packing, theres not a lot of space in a T350 but a lot more than there is in a convertible TVR

Packing_003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Packing_001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Stopped in the services on the way up,

Wetherby_services_3 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Wetherby_services_2 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Borrowed my Grandparents garage for a over night stay.

Garage_001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Friday 4th September, County Durham - Airth Castle



ROUTE WE PLANNED - https://goo.gl/maps/zDpRt



As we planned to go up the M6 way in to Scotland we needed to cross the country normally this would be via the A66 but you can also do it via Teesdale and the Hartside pass which are some of my favorite roads, so naturally this was the only choice.

Teesdale_001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Teesdale_012 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Teesdale_007 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Alston_009 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Alston_004 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Then some boring motorway driving and in to Scotland

Borders_002 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Border_001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



A stop at the Falkirk Wheel as it was on the way, this is one impressive bit of engineering well worth a look if you pass it,

Falkirk_004 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Falkirk_012 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Falkirk_020 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Arriving at Airth castle for the wedding.

Airth_005 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Airth_004 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Airth_003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Sunday 6th September, Airth Castle - Lochcarron



ROUTE WE PLANNED - https://goo.gl/maps/aTlVo



Up through Loch Lomond National park, saw a few cops with radar guns mainly in 30 zones, so fingers crossed i was not to bad.



This road gets interesting up at Glencoe, but you can find yourself stuck behind tailbacks of campers and caravans if your unlucky, we had a ride up to the Glencoe ski resort for a break, then on to Fort william this is the last stop for any decent 97/98 Ron fuel.

Fort_william_oo1 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

glencoe_003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

glencoe_001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



The mist started to set in as we got close to Lochcarron and the roads start to become single track, this is fine until you meet a procession of caravans, but it was not to bad for us. We stayed in the Old Manse B&B, we thought it was really nice, old fashioned but was a lovely place, we had a meal in the local pub over looking the loch

Lochcarron_001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Lochcarron_005 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Lochcarron_010 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

 

[Bazzon]

Monday 7th September, Lochcarron - Lochinver (including Applecross)



ROUTE WE PLANNED - https://goo.gl/maps/B7B6P



we thought this stunning place with the mist, but when it cleared in the morning lochcarron was stunning.

Lochcarron_morning_001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Everyone had warned me about the famous Applecross and how dangerous it can be, the views were stunning but as we climbed the mist set in which made the narrower sections and spotting oncoming traffic a bit tricky, needed to be very gentle on the throttle coming out of some of the tight hairpins when the ground was wet.

Applecross_001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Applecross_006 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Applecross_008 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Applecross_003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Applecross_005 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



As expected there was very little in Applecross itself a burger van some toilets and a pub.

Applecross_009 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



So back on the road again heading round the coast to Fearnberg and on to Shieldaig. This is a lot of single track roads, with plenty of passing places, they were relatively quiet and theres some stunning views of the isle of skye.

Applecross_011 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Applecross_018 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Applecross_017 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



From Shieldaig we then headed up to Gairloch, these roads opened back up and progress was a lot faster.

Applecross_020 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_1695 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_1701 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



From Gairloch we then head to Ullapool the road is great very fast and flowing some great views as you would expect, the last couple of miles in to Ullapool where you rejoin the A835 can be a bit tedious as you can fall victim to the caravan and camper trail again.

IMG_1756 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_1761 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Ullapool_001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Ullapool - Lochniver this was my favourite stretch of this day, really flowing long bends some tall mountains and plenty of overtaking spaces for the odd bit of traffic you come across.

Ullapool_002 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Ullapool_003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Lochkinver_001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Lochniver is a small habour town, we stayed in Kirkaig Lodge B&B it was out the town a couple of mile up in the hills, on appoarch of the driveway i was a bit sceptical as the TVR was bottoming out, but what a place looked away looking over the loch, the Rooms were great and the couple who owned it could not have been any more friendly, even offering to loan me his Landy so i did not have to take the TVR back to town. If you go to Lochniver make sure you eat at Peets reastruante it is fantastic, local stuff cooked very well and very good potions, you will have to book.



Tuesday 8th September, Lochniver - John O Groats



ROUTE WE PLANNED - https://goo.gl/maps/G5LQ1



Head out of Lochniver and take the coast road, B869, this is another sigletrack road with passing places, the first thing you will notice about this road is the amount of sheep that in habit it and they do not move you have to drive round them, a couple of miles in this road winds through a little village and after it theres a really nice bay.

Lochniver_coast_002 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_1853 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



The road then becomes very narrow with barriers and walls but it does have some stunning costal views and some great view points, the road gets very steep in some places when you reach Drumbeg, where the roads are once again filled with sheep and sheep poo.

IMG_1844 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



After Drumbeg the last part of this road before you join the A894 at Unapool is fabulous, its still single track but open and it feels like you on top of the world in places.

Lochniver_coast_004 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Lochniver_coast_005 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



You join the A894 and are greeted by a nice smooth dual lane road with a great view of Loch Gleann Dubh on the right and your soon on the Kylesku Bridge, this was one of the highlights of this trip for me.

Kylesku Bridge 009 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Kylesku Bridge 008 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Kylesku Bridge 005 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Kylesku Bridge 003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Kylesku Bridge 007 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Kylesku Bridge 006 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Now its the A894 all the way up to laxford bridge, then the A838to Durness, the first part of this is fast A roads with long sweeping bends, but as the road pulls away from the coast at Rhiconich it becomes single track again, but there is so little traffic up here it never bothered us to much, the last part in to durness down the mountain and round the bay was really fast.



Theres a small petrol station and spar in Durness and not much else, but just past Durness is Smoo caves which is worth a stop.

smoo_001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

smoo_002 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



The A838 is then single track round loch eriboll to hope, from hope it then becomes a dual lane road down to tongue this section includes the bridge over the kyle of tongues.

smoo_004 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2165 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2168 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2174 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



From Tongue take the A836, this road is back to single track for 5 or so miles, but i round this section really frustrating as we kept meeting campers and caravans.



The A836 then becomes a really quick road all the way to turso, taking in a few villages on the way, there are plenty of sheep on some sections of this road and a lot of bikers.



From Turso to John o grates the road is a tad boring and slow due to traffic, the landscape really flattens out towards John o groats.



Typical photos of John O Groats.

john o groats 003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

John o groates 002 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

John o groates 001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

John o groates 006 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



We stayed in the Anchorage B&B in John O Groas, it was fantastic, the owner was great and the B&B was spotless.

john o groates 001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

 

[Bazzon]

Wednesday 9th September, John O Groats - Inverness - Elgin



ROUTE WE PLANNED - https://goo.gl/maps/Tt07z



overnight the wind was really strong in John O Groats, the car was Filthy from stuff from the surrounding Fields, we headed out to the lighthouse first thing.

john o groates 002 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



From John O Groats you have 2 options south either head back to Thurso then down the A9 or head south on the A99 to Wick, i had read the A9 was the better road, but that meant driving on a road we had already use which i was against so we headed south to Wick, not the most interesting road but the mileage goes fast, my wife drove the last 3 miles in to Wick (the only 3 miles she drove)

IMG_2289 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2295 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2308 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



From Wick keep heading south on the A99, there are probably some fantastic sea views but it was ruined by Fog for us, eventually the A99 meets the A9 again and becomes the A9.

IMG_2322 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2325 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



We stopped in Dunrobin Castle near Golspie for some photos as the fog had prevented us getting any on the way down from John O Groats.

dunrobin castle 001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

dunrobin castle 003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

dunrobin castle 002 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



The A9 in to Inverness is fairly un eventful but it feels like you are back to civilisation as you start to see a lot more cars and things like roundabouts.

IMG_2406 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



We stopped in Inverness for a few hours, beautiful city everything you would want is there, but i left my camera in the car.

IMG_2402 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



From Inverness we left and headed East on the A96 towards our accommodation at Elgin, just a normal busy A road that passes through some villages, we stayed at Ardgye House which is a large family own country house thats run as a B&B, its just of the A96.

Ardgye house 001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



The owners recommended we have look to Findhorn by the coast as it was a glorious evening, lovely little village on the coast and the weather was stunning so we had a evening meal in the local pub before heading back to the B&B.

Findmore 001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

findmore 003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

findmore 002 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Thursday 10th September, Elgin - Knockhill - North Berwick



ROUTE WE PLANNED - https://goo.gl/maps/qdO71



Chatting with the owners of Ardgye house in the morning they asked if we had seen the Northern lights over night, i was gutted i had missed it as we had not seen them in John O Groats either.



The original plan for today was to leave Elgin and head to aberdeen then to Perth, but this would not be the most interesting drive, i had read a bit in Evo magazine about the A939 only problem was the start of this road was Nairn which we had driven through yesterday, so not wanting to drive the same road again we decided to head through Elgin and down the A941 in the Glen of Rothes, which is on the Whiskey Trial route.

IMG_2653 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2528 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Cairngorm 002 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Cairngorm 001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



We join the A939 at Tomintoul just in the Cairngorms, this would take us up to the Lech Ski Centre the highest bar in scotland, this road did not disappoint it was great really open and really fast.

IMG_2550 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Cairngorm 003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Cairngorm 004 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Cairngorm 005 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Cairngorm 007 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Cairngorm 006 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



the road then became single track passing Balmoral Castle then headed to Braemar on the A93 through Glenshee Ski Centre.

IMG_2633 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Cairngorm 008 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Then its the run in to Perth and back to normality,

IMG_2651 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



We headed down the M90 and made a detour to Knockhill Circuit for a break.

IMG_2664 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Back onto the M90, over the Forth Road bridge, down the M8 and around Edinbrugh on the Bypass then on to the B196 heading to North Berwick along the Coast.

IMG_2707 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



We stopped at the Myreton Motor Museum, which on the map looks like a decent attraction turns out its just a bloke with a few old cars and signs in a barn, some he’s just looking after for friends and its £7 per adult to get in, its great its there and it exists but its not as larger as our map suggested it would be.

IMG_2775 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2743 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2754 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2739 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2744 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2797 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



When we arrived at our accommodation we were told the museum of flight was very interesting and it had a concord.



The area around North Berwick is full with golf courses and so is north Berwick, which is a very pleasant Seaside town.

IMG_2812 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

IMG_2880 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Friday 11th September, North Berwick - Co Durham



ROUTE WE PLANNED - https://goo.gl/maps/UQEMS



Simple Final day down the A1 a little detour to Seahouses then back on the A1.



The first part of the journey was uneventful.

North Berwick 001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

North Berwick 002 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Berwick 001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



We detoured to Seahouses had one last look at the sea.

Bam castle 001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Seahouses 001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Seahouses 003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Got stuck in traffic outside Newcastle and made our way through the roadworks.

A1 001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

A1 003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Arriving back at my parents where we will spend the weekend before the final 200 miles back to Warwick.

Bish 001 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Bish 002 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr

Bish 003 by Adrian Barron, on Flickr



Great Trip, the roads and the scenery were stunning, the TVR was fantastic gave us no issues what so ever and the attention it got all week was great, its booked in for its service next month so we will see what actually fell off then.

1483 miles in total, 200 more to come on Sunday to complete the journey, no idea on things like MPG etc but it was fun.

I have loads more photos and videos to sort out at some point.



Adrian

 

[Dano']

What a car! Stunning trip :smiley:

Thank you for sharing it with us!

 

[Daz.]

It really is a beautiful car - It's an even looking at it, I can only imagine what it's like living with it.


Looks like you had a giggle anyway!

 

[deutsche_blonde]

Wow. I do love a road trip. Epic car, roads and scenery.
Does your Mrs get a bit narked when you keep asking her to take pics?

 

[George@RTR_Parts]

Looks a great trip. TVR looks awesome

 

[Barron]

Wow. I do love a road trip. Epic car, roads and scenery.
Does your Mrs get a bit narked when you keep asking her to take pics?

Not really as it means she gets to enjoy the views and it's a break from a really noisey car and it's normally very warm so a break is good

Logged into wrong account on phone

 

[Lal B3N]

Stunning car and photos!

Stopped in nairn a few weeks ago with the mrs. The roads to Nairn were superb.

We went home via Fort William and Glencoe. One of my favourite roads in the UK that. Had an awesome battle for around 20 miles with an old Porsche.

Need to plan a trip like yours though that looks very special.

 

[Ph1 Tom]

I keep going on at the wife about doing a trip around Scotland, the North Coast 500 looks great! As does the TVR or course, stunning car.

 

[Ian_182]

Cracking car and phot's.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[andywa]

Brilliant write up and pics mate. Car looks stunning. Hartside cafe is a bit earie! I cycled up that hill to the cafe. Something I won't be doing again.

 

[jesus]

What a write-up! That photo outside the castle is splendid. :hearteyes:

 

[StuOwen86]

Awesome, properly jealous off that trip and a fantastic car to be using for it. Although I would be hesitant about breaking down lol my mate in work has a TVR and we do give him some stick about him not using it for work in case he breaks down haha. Stunning pictures and car anyway. Hope to do that route myself some time.

 

[White16valver]

A tour of scotland is definitely on my radar in the near future, while petrol is 'cheap' - I am slightly jealous of your adventure!

Looks like it was an awesome time, thanks for sharing the pics

 

[Ali]

Super!

 

[cat171]

Fantastic road trip, love the TVR! Love your Monaco too!

 

[Sargara]

I was eyeing this route up when PH also posted it, and then their following MX5 article. Good to see someone that has done it