North Sea Cycle Route - Lairg to Thurso
Caithness Coast
Ride overview
If you think that riding across the world’s largest peat bog might be a dull and wet day, then you may have to recalibrate your thoughts once you reach Thurso. The ride across this raw and wild landscape is an adventure and a passage over one of the world’s rarest habitats. So rare and beautiful in fact, that The Flow Country has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status, only the fifth natural wonder to be so listed. The Scotland of castles, quaint villages, rocky glens and lochs is left far behind, for this is a wilderness found nowhere else in the UK.As ever, the experience will be weather dependent, it could be a really wild and challenging crossing of The Flow Country or it could be sublime. Whatever the weather, this stage will be truly memorable, perhaps even one of the best you’ve ever ridden.
Ride practicalities
The route is signed with a white bicycle emblem on a blue background. There are occasional North Sea Cycle Route signs. However, other than a road leading off to the right at Altnaharra, there is only one road to the North coast, and that’s the one you’re on. When you reach the coast, turn right and continue to Thurso. The directions are that complicated!
START/FINISH: Lairg/Thurso DISTANCE: 128km TOTAL ASCENT:1453m TERRAIN AND SURFACES: a quiet single track road. The North coast road is a little busier and is dual laned. That said, camper vans are the issue on this route as it forms part of the popular North Coast 500. Sometimes there are more than you’d like to see, at other times they are as rare as the trees in this part of the world. Most observe the ‘give way’ code and pull in on the lay-bys as you ride towards them. You too, are expected to pull in to let vehicles behind you pass. Please do so. RECOMMENDED CAFÈS/PUBS/ACCOMMODATION: The Crask Inn, Altnaharra; Altnaharra Hotel, Bettyhill; The Store Cafe, Bettyhill hotel NEARBY MAINLINE TRAIN SERVICES: You’re on your own until Thurso PLACES TO VISIT; LINKS TO OTHER RIDES: Thurso to Kirkwall, Inverness to Lairg
Ride Notes
This is a long day on a touring bike, especially if the weather is against you. The route can split into two parts, in which case break the journey at Bettyhill (80km). If there weather is dangerously foul, there’s the Crask Inn after 21km and Altnaharra Hotel after 33km, both of which offer accommodation. However, they can be booked up way ahead in the popular summer months, so whilst you may shelter there from a storm, you may not get a bed.
The Crask Inn as remote an Inn as you'll find in the UK
The ride is a magical one and will be up there as one of, if not the best ride you’ve ever done. For you ride across an Arctic landscape of water, hill and sky. It’s both monumental and thrilling. You may feel a little vulnerable as you ride your bike across this vast landscape as the imperious and ancient scenery spools out beside you, the hills passing as bits of knotted rope. Water; rivers, lochs and bog pattern the way.
Camper vans on the NC500
The single track road will not be entirely yours for there are others up here to enjoy what you’ve come to see. Patience and a tolerant mood are required as you will be expected to pull in to a passing place, should a vehicle be behind you. (Signs along the way remind you of this). In return, nearly all motorists will pull in to allow you to pass as you ride towards them. One thing to bear in mind, is that some who hire the motorhomes in Inverness to drive the North Coast 500, will not have driven anything so big before and their driving skills might reflect that.
A National Cycle Network sign
The A836 forms part of the North Coast 500, a route popularised and promoted by the Lord of the Isles, Duke of Rothesay, and Steward of Scotland as Prince Charles was known in Scotland before he was crowned king. He was trying to bring more life and money into these remote parts of the kingdom by encouraging people to visit. However, the route has become a victim of its own very considerable success and perhaps the King is now ruminating on the amount of traffic, (and rubbish) that now characterises the far north (according to locals propping up the bar in Lairg). The NC 500 (as the North Coast 500 mile route is known) is also popular as a cycling route, and this road also forms an integral part of LEJOG. Indeed I met more cyclists than motorists when I rode in late September.
The riding, particularly on a lovely day, is sublime. Truly spectacular. It is a one of only five UNESCO World Heritage sites listed for their natural eco systems. (I’ll leave you to work out the other four as you ride.) The Flow Country, as the area is known, is the world’s first peatland to be listed as a World Heritage Site and the most expansive peat bog in the world. Not only is a wildly beautiful, but it also stores approximately 400 million tonnes of carbon – more than all the UK’s forests and woodlands combined. The Flow Country has been over 10,000 years in the making and some of the bogs are over ten metres deep, so best not toleave the firm tarmac under your wheels.
The store Bistro and Bar, Bettyhill
Once at Tongue, you route returns to the sea which you left behind in Inverness. Bettyhill has a great cafe to re-fuel and it’s also a good spot to hear the tales of other cyclists making their way up the length of Britain to John O’Groats.
The road along the top of mainland UK undulates and turns around bays, lochs, inlets and rocks. It is dual-laned, which means that you will no longer have to pull in to allow drivers to pass you. Should you have time and energy (perhaps if you’ve over-nighted at Bettyhill) forays up single-track roads to the sea are well worth it; tropical coloured seas, glistening white sand beaches. There are few hills on the way to Thurso, but the wind might oblige if you’re in need a struggle.
Thurso
Thurso is Britain’s most northerly town. Homes are thick-walled and wind-resistant. You are now latitudinally above the southern tip of Norway, and a mere 500 direct miles from London. (Yes, I know you’ve ridden about four times that, but you’re not a crow flying on a straight path). Thurso will provide you with a choice of shelters, food and drink. Rest up, for tomorrow, you head ever northwards.
Every route on this website has been carefully researched as well as ridden. However situations on the ground can change quickly. If you know of changes to this route, or cafes, pubs and the like which you think other cyclists need to know about, feel free to share your thoughts below.
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