”It takes the focus off the tourist sites and puts it onto the drive itself…
We’re all familiar with Scotland’s legendary North Coast 500, but what’s it like in winter? If you are considering planning a Scottish road trip, our resident road tripper Ben Coombs went ahead to find ‘oot’…
Sometimes, it’s good to look at things we’re already familiar with from a different angle. And when it comes to road trips, we’re all pretty familiar with the NC500 – the green landscapes, the bulging mountains, the turquoise seas, and the highland coos. Thanks to its runaway success, the NC500 is the comfort food of road trips – it’s familiar. You know what you’re going to get, and you know it will satisfy.
At least it is in the summer, anyway. But what if we strip away some of that familiarity? What’s it like in winter?
Over the New Year, our classic car road tripping team went to find out, and what we found was a completely different experience to the epic summer drive we all know and love. Instead of midges, there was snow. Instead of endless sunshine, there were barely six hours of daylight. And instead of the legions of camper vans, there were, well, there were still a few hardcore van lifers about, actually.
We spent around a week making our way around the fabled route, starting near the Isle of Skye and travelling anticlockwise. And naturally, we were faced with the worst weather Scotland could throw at us – in fact, anything else and we would have felt short changed. And just to make things a little spicier, we undertook the journey in three somewhat unlikely vehicles – namely a Jaguar F-Type, a classic Chevrolet Corvette and a Honda Accord. Scotland provided the weather needed to make the drive into an adventure – there was thick cloud and driving rain on the Bealach na Baa, drifting snow around Ullapool and the Cairngorms, and little in the way of sun throughout – and that’s not only because in the far north within a few weeks of the winter solstice, sunrise and sunset were at 0915 and 1530 respectively.
Fortunately though, in the Scottish Highlands they know a thing or two about keeping the roads open. The entertainingly-named gritters swarm over the landscape keeping things moving, and even our unsuitable steeds were able to complete the trip, only being detoured once by a road closure in the Cairngorms during the drive back south.
So, what were the highlights of driving the NC500?
The juxtaposition of a familiar landscape with unfamiliar conditions is high on the list. The challenge of the short days, the adventure of not knowing what the weather will bring next and the sense of achievement as we worked our way further north all added up to a satisfying sense of accomplishment as we progressed. It was also satisfying to see the landscape differently, to enjoy the moody drama which swathes it in the winter months, in contrast to its more friendly summer aura. And finally, there’s the sense of achievement of having worked our way up to John o’ Groats, to the northernmost bar in mainland Britain, to see in the New Year. Though, as everyone in the area seemed to have either headed down to the town of Wick, or stayed home due to the severe weather warnings, this wasn’t quite the Highland fling we’d hoped for.
So, would we recommend a winter trip to the far north?
Certainly, but with some caveats. Firstly, as winter is very much the off-season, many of the usual tourist sights – and some of the hotels – were closed during our visit. So, if you’re travelling to the north to tour distilleries, or peruse museums, you may find somewhat less choice than in the summer months. Additionally, the shorter days and less friendly weather make opportunities for activities such as hiking more limited, and to complete all of the driving in the short daylight hours while still stopping off when the mood takes you, you’ll need to plan on committing at least a week to your trip to Scotland. So, in essence winter brings a change of priorities to the NC500. It takes the focus off the tourist sites, and puts it even onto the drive itself. And even that drive changes with the seasons, with summer’s epic driving holiday giving way to winter’s moody adventure.
And I guess this all begs one final question – would we do it again?
And the answer is certainly. In fact, we’re so sold on the merits of the winter NC500 that we’re looking to make it Pub2Pub’s first driving tour of 2026. So, if you’re tempted to come along, watch this space…
Pub2Pub Driving Tours for 2025 and 2026:
