Herb Riddle's photos

Another look across to Skye from Camusterrach, Applecross. The white house was our home for a week. See adjacent photo for details of the area. A 1993 slide. The NC 500: The Scottish 'North Coast 500' is one of the world’s most beautiful road trips. A route of just over 500 miles (516) of stunning coastal scenery, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages and hidden gems. NB the village of Plockton is just 10 miles south of here -as the crow flies!

After travelling west from Inverness and its Black Isle, our next call is the wonderful remote peninsular of Applecross, north-west of Kyle of Lochalsh in Wester Ross, Scottish Highlands. This 1993 slide is taken from near our rental holiday cottage at Camusterrach about 2 miles south of the village of Applecross. We are actually looking west over the Inner Sound to the Isle of Skye. A 1993 slide. The NC 500: The Scottish 'North Coast 500' is one of the world’s most beautiful road trips. A route of just over 500 miles (516) of stunning coastal scenery, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages and hidden gems.

We have now left the east coast and are travelling west from Inverness. The North Coast 500 follows the main roads along the coastal edges of northern Scotland and is popular with sightseers and car enthusiasts due to the rugged nature of the terrain – and twisting roads. Here we are crossing over the Applecross Peninsula on the famous Bealach na Bà pass, a winding single track road through the mountains. Next stop: Applecross itself. A 1993 slide.

Not far from the village of Plockton lies the idyllic named Coral Beach. Some nice soft sand here for sure but even nicer views, even in this cloudy weather. We are looking towards the Isle of Skye and the The Cuillins behind the hamlet of Drumbuie here over Loch Carron. Nice full screen.

On visiting this beautiful village the weather was overcast grey but at least dry. The village itself is mainly based on three streets along the shore of Loch Carron. The real beauty of the village lies with its situation and views over the water and Islands to the soft and rugged landscape beyond. So here is my contribution showing a slightly arty painterly effect over the low tide of the loch. The paintings of John Constable have slightly exaggerated colours and contrast that convey a real feeling as I hope to have done here too. A great pity that there is no sea-otter here with its caught fish dinner. Plockton has a population of around 500 and is situated in the Lochalsh, Wester Ross area of the Scottish Highlands. See PiP, previous photo, for real frontage view of the village. Best full screen Enjoy the day.

A view of the village front in low tide. Plockton has a population of around 500 and is situated in the Lochalsh, Wester Ross area of the Scottish Highlands. See next photo (PiP) for view from the village.

As we leave the Black Isle to start the NC500 proper, heading west across Scotland, we spy this oil/gas rig with its legs high above the water line in Cromarty Firth. The NC 500: The Scottish 'North Coast 500' is one of the world’s most beautiful road trips. A route of just over 500 miles (516) of stunning coastal scenery, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages and hidden gems.

Invergordon, on the Cromarty Firth as seen from the north of the Black isle. Most famous for its Highland Whisky perhaps but now also a very popular cruise ship destination from where its passengers can tour the highlands and its distilleries. This is also one of Scotland's oil and gas rig assembly centres. The NC 500: The Scottish 'North Coast 500' is one of the world’s most beautiful road trips. A route of just over 500 miles (516) of stunning coastal scenery, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages and hidden gems.

The Fairy Glen in Rosemarkie sits just north of Channery Point on the Black isle. There are a number of waterfalls here but this stunner is clearly the best of them. The NC 500: The Scottish 'North Coast 500' is one of the world’s most beautiful road trips. A route of just over 500 miles (516) of stunning coastal scenery, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages and hidden gems.

Channery Lighthouse. Channery Point is perhaps Black Isles most famous tourist hot-spot. Not for its attractive lighthouse but for the sighting of its dolphins. It is one of the best spots in the UK to view bottlenose dolphins from the land. The dolphins are often visible off Chanonry point, particularly on an incoming tide when they play and fish in the strong currents. Porpoise and seals are also seen here. We saw none but many people around us saw them! The lighthouse was established: 1846, Engineer: Alan Stevenson, Tower Height: 13 metres Light Range: 15 miles, Elevation: 12 metres, Automated: 1984 The NC 500: The Scottish 'North Coast 500' is one of the world’s most beautiful road trips. A route of just over 500 miles (516) of stunning coastal scenery, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages and hidden gems.

The Black Isle is a peninsula just to the north of Inverness and Avoch Harbour on its SE coast is a very attractive spot on the way to Channery Point, perhaps Black Isles most famous tourist hot-spot. The NC 500: The Scottish 'North Coast 500' is one of the world’s most beautiful road trips. A route of just over 500 miles (516) of stunning coastal scenery, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages and hidden gems.

The Caledonian Canal. Almost the last of the locks of this most famous canal that runs from Fort William to Inverness via Loch Ness. The big bridge behind is the Kessock Bridge carrying the A862 which would be the first and last big bridge of the whole NC500 journey. The NC 500: The Scottish 'North Coast 500' is one of the world’s most beautiful road trips. A route of just over 500 miles (516) of stunning coastal scenery, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages and hidden gems.

A look at Inverness Castle on the River Ness. Inverness Castle sits on a cliff overlooking the River Ness in Inverness, Scotland. A succession of castles have stood on this site since 1057, although the present structure dates from 1836. WiKi The NC 500: The Scottish 'North Coast 500' is one of the world’s most beautiful road trips. A route of just over 500 miles (516) of stunning coastal scenery, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages and hidden gems.

The Culloden Viaduct is a railway viaduct on the Highland Main Line, to the east of the city of Inverness, in the Highland council area of Scotland. It was designed by Murdoch Paterson and opened in 1898 as part of the Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway, which was built by the Highland Railway. The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby ending the Jacobite rising of 1745. WiKi The NC 500: The Scottish 'North Coast 500' is one of the world’s most beautiful road trips. A route of just over 500 miles (516) of stunning coastal scenery, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages and hidden gems.

The NC 500: The Scottish 'North Coast 500' is one of the world’s most beautiful road trips. A route of just over 500 miles (516) of stunning coastal scenery, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages and hidden gems. The start and finish of this route is Inverness. Here we are at the railway station, the gateway for many on this route. However this route is by road from here on. Hang on to your hat -here we go. Official free Map download: www.northcoast500.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/NC500-Official-Map.pdf NB when we did this in 2014, the NC500 did not exist. It came into existence in 2015 Now as I set off from here I shall in fact virtually travel along the coastal route clockwise as our Ipernity friend Roger also sets off from here but will travel anti-clockwise. We aim to meet each other around Durness on the NW corner of Scotland.

This taken from the car-park at the side of the castle. A nice fence with an even nicer view. Oh to see this in the ‘Golden Hour’ or with a beautiful azure sky but alas it was not to be. One can only imagine what it would be like to have these views from your big inside windows here. Have a good weekend.

Bluebells are a delightful plant and we can never get enough of them on our country walks. Whilst up in the West Highlands of Scotland two months ago, we saw many and here we have a snap-shot of some just on the outskirts of Plockton. Enjoy full screen

A tunnel wall here leading to the loch and more of our walk to and from Duncraig castle. The railway line in question is the Kyle line, from Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness. We are very close to Duncraig station here. See PiP Enjoy the day.