Road trip on Scotland North Coast 500 Road

June 22, 2020December 19, 2020Leave a comment

The North Coast 500 road is a 500ish miles journey through some of the most remote areas of the north of Scotland. On this road trip you will marvel at beaches, mountains, lochs, fresh sea food and much more.

This is the story of a 7 day road trip on the North Coast of Scotland. The idea had been planted in my head several years ago, during a previous Scottish trip. We met travellers who couldn’t stop but raving about the wild beauty of the deserted North. We swore to come back and to see it with our own eyes.

Autumn colours over Little Loch Broom taken from the Badrallach campsite
on our North Coast 500 Scottish roadtrip.

Planning your trip

We had a week for the road trip and after a bit of research decided to start by the east coast. The West coast is definitely the most spectacular part of the road and packed with hidden gems. I would definitely recommend spending more time there. For the same reason, try to drive anti-clockwise (starting from Inverness) to go from beautiful to grandiose. You won’t regret it.

Let the landscape and a good map be your guides. As a co-pilot (with the boyfriend being the driving wheel), I planned our stops around view points, beaches and cafes, following the pictograms on the map. The below itinerary is inspired from our own trip in September 2019. Like all articles on this blog, I only highlight places we visited/ stayed/ ate that we particularly enjoyed.

The article at a glance:

North Coast 500: 7 day itinerary and points of interests

Getting there

We woke up with the murmur of the rolling train. It is the beauty of taking a night train, fall sleep in London and waking up in the countryside, on the over side of the country! The Caledonian Sleeper train links London to Inverness in 12h. Prices vary but a twin classic cabin with 2 bunk beds is likely to cost you around 200-250GBP (one way).

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A week-end of cycling and hiking on Isle of Wight (UK)

July 29, 2018July 21, 2019Leave a comment

For our first British getaway week-end since we sold our car, we chose the Isle of Wight delighted by the idea of cycling its 65 miles of coast in a place we could easily reach by public transportation. The weather was definitely on our side, the skies were as blue as the sea and the 3 days spent cycling, hiking and eating ice cream were a delight. Learn more about a week-end destination to put on your list.

Cycling 110km around the Isle of wight

Start and Finish: Ventnor, but as it is a loop you can start from pretty much anywhere around the island. many people start from Cowes.

Distance: 110km | Duration: 6h30min (depending on fitness) | Difficulty: challenging

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Hiking Mount Snowdon, a welsh microadventure

October 2, 2016June 29, 2020Leave a comment

It was spontaneous. We decided to go just a few days before, and to leave on the Friday, just after work, direction: Snowdonia National Park in Wales.

Overcrowded camping? Grey sky? Busy trail? Who cares! The majesty of the scenery, the fresh air of the outdoors and the smell of the mountains was just what we needed for the week-end break, far from from London life. Sometimes it is just about getting out there in the wild… and enjoying a good beer at the end of the day :-).