Hello!
The wife and myself did a good 4 day route around part of the NC500 and roads inspired by ‘The Grand Tour’ Scotland episode. As people have already waxed lyrical (and rightly so) about the roads, the scenery and the hospitality in Scotland I thought I’d settle for detailing the route we took together with timings and accommodation.
Day 1 - HEBBURN TO FORT WILLIAM
- A68 to Jedburgh 1hr 30
- Jedburgh to Swanston A68 then A720 1hr 10.
- Swanston to The Byre Inn, Callander (food stop) A720, A8, A89, A904, A905, A84, A821
- The Byre Inn to Fort William 2hrs A821, A84, A82
- Overnight stay at the Cruachan hotel. Recently fully refurbished to a good standard, nice breakfast, walking distance to town.
- Fort William to Lairg 2hr 32 . A82, A831, A833, A862, B9169, A832, A9, B9176, A836. Lunch
- Lairg to Laxford Bridge on A838 55 mins
- Laxford Bridge to Tongue a838 1hr 20
- Overnight stay at Borgie lodge hotel, (10 mins outside Tongue). Great place to stay for food and beer, really warm welcome. cracking breakfast! Highly recommended.
Day 3 - TONGUE TO BALLATER
- Tongue to Inverness 2hrs. A836 (saw 4 cars!), B9176, A9. Lunch.
- Inverness to Ballater 1hr 45. A9, A938, A95, A939, A93.
- Overnight stay at No.45 in Ballater. 3rd time we’ve stayed here, again highly recommended.
Day 4 - BALLATER TO HEBBURN
- Ballater to Swanston 3hr 25, A93, A9, A823, A91, A977, A976, A905 then as per reverse of day 1 to Hebburn
We had a brilliant time and I guess because it was late March we didn’t hit any traffic of note. In fact some roads were practically traffic free - which is handy as loads of them are single track ??. Anyway, some may find this useful and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Edited - I’d missed off the A93 from Ballater which is an outstanding piece of tarmac which runs up and over the Glenshee ski resort.