North Coast 500

Sarah and I have completed several iconic cycle tours, End-to-End (LEJOG), End-to-End (JOGLE), the Pennine Cycleway, and the Hebridean Way stand out. Now we can add this North Coast 500 to that list. Our team for the tour was Andy P, Sarah, Andy S and Neil, with Nicholl driving our support vehicle.

Sarah, Andy P, Neil, and Andy S in Inverness, the start of NC500

The North Coast 500 is a 500-mile (816-kilometres) route taking you around the coastal roads of the northern highlands of Scotland. The captivating views along the way made for an adventure like no other. The route was challenging with plenty of steep climbs, descents, and hairpin bends, which took us past dramatic mountain landscapes, stunning beaches, castles and so much more. This challenging terrain, along with the variable north Scotland weather and the leisurely pace of the journey gave us time to stop and enjoy the landscape and experience the unique environment and its communities.

Described as ‘the ultimate cycling challenge’, the North Coast 500 is an iconic route circumnavigating the entire north coast of Scotland, from Inverness, across to the west coast and then right around the west, north and east coasts, and back to Inverness. It was definitely cycling-bucket-list-worthy.

The cycling team at the finish of NC500 – Andy S, Andy P, Neil, Sarah

The Itinerary

You can follow our North Coast 500 daily adventures by clicking on the links below:

Planning the route

There are various NC500 routes you can follow, the motoring route being the obvious version. Mark Beaumont’s record-breaking route, the one we followed, is another option. A third possibility is that put forward by Cicerone Press in their excellent Cycling the NC500 guide. If this book had been available when we were planning our route we might have altered the route we ended up cycling! The main route outlined in the book largely follows the route we tackled below. That said. the book offers some interesting alternative variations.