North Coast 500, Scottish Highlands

On Friday morning we took a ferry from Stromness on Orkney to the tiny village of Scrabster in the north of Scotland, then a taxi to the train station at Thurso where we boarded a train for Inverness. I slept most of the way after getting quite travel sick on the ferry. 

We picked up our rental car (free upgrade to a brand new BMW, still had a new car smell!) and began our travels on the North Coast 500. The NC500 is a loop around the north of Scotland, mostly following the coast. 

Highlights have included: 

Culloden Battlefields where I leave about the Jacobites and the impact of this battle on Scottish life. The nearby Clava Cairns and standing stones was also very interesting.

Visiting a farm shop that had pet Highland cattle, we've seen many in paddocks and they're a focus for many souvenirs.  

The beautiful town of Dornoch was a random find but a lovely pub lunch and charity shop. We never found the yarn shop that I'd seen a sign for and caused us to enter the town.

Dunrobin Castle was our original lunch focus but given the crowds when we arrived it became just a quick photo stop and we were glad we'd spent the time in Dornoch instead.

Dunnet Head is the most northern point on mainland UK.

John O'Groats is a lovely spot, the most northerly village on mainland UK.

This deserted castle, on the edge of a cliff was fun to explore, I love how it's perfectly normal to walk through farm paddocks to get to historical sights.

Taking the coastal, one lane roads took much longer to get to Ullapool but the reward was a water view around each corner.

Very impressed by one farm's stone fences that had been recently restacked.

Lots and lots of sheep on the roads today, many villages had cattle grids to keep them out.

We've seen warning signs for sheep, deer, otters, children and elderly people crossing but this sign was a first. Sadly we didn't see any pigs or piglets.