Hi only had my 5 for a couple of years now interested in the Scotland 500 run ,any information or help, ie best company to contact .would be of great help any advice would be appreciated
Cheers
Dave
PM me your email and I will send you a guide I have written about touring NW Scotland, which I did for decades . Forget the āofficialā NC 500 designation, it is just a tourist initiative and not only does it run the wrong direction, it misses some lovely roads and places. NB You donāt need any help from a company- just some hotel websites. phone numbers !
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Weāve done it twice, basically as above, book your own hotels, take as long or as little time as you like. Iād recommend at least 5 days minimum just to cover that route, nothing really set in stone, we spent around 3 weeks in Scotland each time. Second time we cut out some of the route and explored other areas off route. Youāll never pack enough of it in if you went ten or twenty times, enjoy the whole of Scotland.
As said the NC500 is just marketing stuff, you just follow the road around, no need to stick on it. We bought an ordinary map and just marked on it our places to stay each night, never driving more than around 70 miles each day, that worked out quite well.
A tip, we found May or September the best time to go, we avoided the summer peak months.
and quite possibly the midgesā¦. donāt underestimate the midges 
(no icon for midge)
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Top tip is to book hotels at the earliest opportunity.
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Agree, we started booking for a May trip the following year near the end of December, couldnāt get the places we had planned to stay at. We aborted and went in the September of that year.
We booked a third trip and in some cases 9 months in advance. That third trip got aborted because of you know what, still not got around to making plans again.
Midges yes, we avoided them entirely on the first trip, that was until we got to Edinburgh would you believe me. I picked up a few bites in the city centre strangely, my wife nothing. We were armed with this anti midge spray too, no big deal
we did it but as mentioned elsewhere made it up as we went and pretty much booked hotels for the night on the same day as we were totally winging it. One of the best things we did was get on the ferry over to Orkney for a couple of days. If youāre that far up it seems daft not to. I also loved Camusdarach beach which is the beach they filmed the movie āLocal Heroā at. Really lovely sandy beach with amazing blue water.
Book accommodation well in advance, personally Iād favour April/May months, they can very often be the best months of the year in Scotland and the quietest. Thereās also very few midges! Head out West and take in Skye, follow the NC500 North through Torridon, Kylescu, Kinlochbervie up to Durness. The scenery really is spectacular. Also, try and get out to Sandwood Bay. Itās a 7km trek but worth it to reach one of the UKs best beaches. At this point Iād retrace my steps and not bother with the rest which is a bit dull compared with the splendour of the West coast and some fantastic places to visit.
Enjoy.
I went last year at the beginning of May, weather was fantastic and no midges!.
Takes 5/6 days minimum to drive round at a nice pace + getting there and back (took us 10 days from the midlands), I intend doing it again next year but over 3 weeks so we can see more.
One of our best ever holidays, only booked a week before, we found it hard to find places to eat in the smaller towns / villages unless you had pre booked. (we have never used airbnb before but half the places we stopped at were booked this way) , most nights cost Ā£80-Ā£100
MX5ās the ideal car for the trip, we did the route anti clockwise , which is great as it gets better and better as you drive round.
On my first visit I was a bit short of time, I stayed at the Waverly Inn Dingwall took the costal road round to JOG, over to Durness, Scourie, Ullapool, and then back to the Waverly Inn. For an NC 370 in one day.
I have been back several times since and can recommend staying at the Alba Sunrise, Nybster near Wick, The Ferry Boat Inn, Ullapool, Coran Guest House, Oban and Constantia House B&B Fort William.
Iāve only been in July once for a day run down to Lands End, the chap at Alma Sunrise told me I was lucky with the midges because it had been raining for the two days previous.
First trip was twixt Christmas and New Year really lucky with the weather and almost no traffic, since been in early March and late September and again low traffic travelling when there are no school holidays and timed it to perfection by keeping an eye on the weather in the two weeks before booking.
Other options if you do not want to follow the 500 slavishly; Dingwall to Durness miles of open country single track road, Oban to JoG is very scenic, as is Grangemouth to Oban.
Favourite bits to drive are the B869 loop out to Balchladich, not recommended in high season when wobble wagons notoriously fail to observe signs as to the unsuitability of this stretch and favourite place to stop is probably the Bridge over the Atlantic just south of Oban.
Have fun what ever you choose.
We used a variety of accommodation, hotels, B&Bās Airbnbās, hostel and something titled motel. And yes you did pull up right outside your room at the motel and that was quite possibly the worse of the lot room wise although the breakfast was the best.
Weirdest was a broken down farmhouse. They did have electricity, I was beginning to wonder about that, no TV, no internet, no cooked breakfast, just cold meat and cheese in the morning. You could make your own food though in the massive old fashioned kitchen. Run by an elderly dutch lady, very quirky, weād definitely return one day if itās still there.
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Bring a tent, sleeping bags and mats and a wee camp stove - forget about hotels and B&Bs
AND TAKE YOUR RUBBISH HOME!
I have never booked more than a week in advance and often only a day or two in advance and never had any issue 
For years I booked hotel when en route , without ever encountering a problem . But since the damn North Coast 500 nonsense it has proved more difficult , and I book ahead . What I find galling is that the wonderful roads and scenery were there for anybody with a map and a small sense of adventure to enjoy but cue a bit of tourist marketing and suddenly it is a bucket list thing , and is well on the way to being ruined . Of course I canāt begrudge anybody going , but I shudder when I see bloody motorhomes everywhere, awful driving and daft convoys of sports cars . To enjoy this properly , do it solo , or in a group of no more than 2 or 3 cars .
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Go the end of May first week in June. If you are camping, John O Groats site is next to Pentland tours to Orkney for the day. Bus and guide pick you up at the jetty Orkney. Full day touring at about Ā£75 pp, well worth it. We had great weather in 2018, itās not guaranteed 