Road Trip up North.

From there it was through Tomintoul and heading to Grantown on Spey and to Carrbridge to join the A9.
lots of roadworks and 40mph speed limits so I was glad to reach Inverness and some V Power as north of Invrrness there is only 95 E10 on that route.
I turned off the A9 north of Inverness and cut over the Skiach to Bonar Bridge and the Lairg.
They say it's a very fast road over that hill.
There is a view point at the top and it is really beautiful. Pics don't do it justice.

 
 

Next stop was Lairg and a picture stop that many of you will have seen on other car club forums.
It is a popular stop.
The little Hoose on the Water.
 

 

There is a really good cafe in Lairg called the Pier run by a young man and his young staff and the food is delicious. I can recommend the Chili fries with hot melted cheese.

From Lairg it is a 37 mile single track road over "the Lairg" to Tongue.
It is now blighted by the most hiddeous Wind farm with huge windmills corrupting the landscape. 

The next stop has a lot of sentimental value to me and I will explain.

Altnaharra...

At Barkerend secondary school in Bradford at around 8 years of age  Mr. Firth told the class that the coldest temperature ever recorded in Great Britain was at a small village in the far north of Scotland. A village called Altnaharra which to an 8 year old in Bradford was thousands of miles away in a land called Scotland.
That fact stayed with me all of my life and around 10 years ago I drove over the hills and arrived at this mystical place. It really did touch me at the time. Here I was Mr.Firth and I remembered the best teacher I ever had.

 

When I said previously there was no VPower on the route I wasn't fibbing.

Once again the pic did not load..!

 

Fill up before Altnharra...

 

Destination and home for a week. No relaxing holiday. Grass to cut, door handles to sort, a blocked kitchen sink and it's only Tuesday.
Borgie Lodge Hotel a truly beautiful place on the route of the NC500.
They have had every exotic car club stay there but now they have to be content with my little MGTF.
They are lucky!

 

 

The story is not over yet. After my initial scare with the temp gauge the car behaved very well. I will flush it out before I leave here.

 

My son owns a croft about 8 miles away on the road to Bettyhill.
This pic shows a white cottage on another croft across from him.
The croft I am standing on and that croft are documented in the Clearances by James Hunter but that is for tomorrow.

 

wrote:

Not so much on this bright sunny day.


 

The summer is loverly in Scotland.........this year it was on a Tuesday!

😁😁😁😁

A great read, thank you.
It has almost tempted me to make a trip up there.
The last time I crossed the border was nearly 50 years ago. We went up the west coast, across the top, and turned right at the end. It was striking how the scenery changed from moorland to arable pasture and fields once heading south. That trip was made in a good old reliable Ford.
Not sure I’d trust a TF to make that journey today without a truck full of spares following on behind!

 

Having done the NC500, albeit in a camper van, I can strongly advise visiting these three places.

Applecross, the access road is brilliant to drive
The Lochinver Larder, a place famous for its pies
Balnakeil Beach