North Coast 500

After returning to the mainland from our Orkney exploration, we headed west across the northern coast of Scotland, to continue our counterclockwise jaunt on the NC 500.

The variety of terrain was amazing…

… and beautiful.

This is Scotland?!

This is Loch Eriboll - just a pretty stopping point along the way -

Green expanses kept popping up...

… as well as mountains and blue lochs -

We then came out to the coast again…

… with the beaches and water color resembling that in the Caribbean, but the air temps sure didn’t!

Our next stop was Smoo Cave - a large combined sea cave and freshwater cave.

This next shot was taken in the cave, looking back out at the bridge you can see in the above picture -

There is a waterfall inside…

… but the views we enjoyed more were outside -

And I found some more Marsh Orchids!

Always moving on, we found another beautiful beach with colorful rock walls…

… with obvious volcanic rock debris on it -

Coming away from the coast, we crossed a pretty barren area that reminded us of the altiplano in Peru…

… except for the gorgeous blue lochs -

We then passed through an area of yet another type of terrain…

… seeing the only Red Deer of the trip…

… and pausing at the Kylesku Bridge, just because.

Now for the end of the day, we drove 22 miles on a single track road…

… and enjoyed yet more variety -

I’m at a loss for more description…

… so I’ll just keep sharing more pretty pictures. ;)

More types of terrain just kept coming -

Ahhhh… finally the end! I’ll share Ardvreck Castle…

… before saying goodnight (this was taken about 11 pm).