The North Coast 500: 516 Miles That Earn Every Hour

516 miles, and hardly a straight one among them. The North Coast 500 loops out of Inverness and comes back to it, so you never repeat a road unless you want to.

The west coast asks the most of you

You leave Inverness across the Kessock Bridge with a full tank and a vague plan, and the plan is gone by lunchtime. That's the west side. The Bealach na Bà over to Applecross is Britain's greatest road climb and it does not pretend otherwise: hairpins stacked one above the next, a summit that feels a long way from anywhere. Take it slowly. The reward at the bottom is a pint at the famous inn and the smug feeling of having driven something properly hard.

Torridon comes next, and it is the reason nobody keeps to a schedule on this route. The sandstone mountains sit right at the roadside, ancient and slightly unreal, and you will stop for photographs at least three times more than you meant to. Gairloch makes a sensible overnight base after that — beaches, boat trips, sea eagles overhead if you're lucky with the weather. A self-catering place like Longa House suits this stretch better than a hotel, mainly because you'll want somewhere to dry boots and cook late.

Ullapool is the harbour capital of the north-west and the first town in a while that feels like a town. Fish and chips on the pier, live music in the pubs, boats coming and going. Push north and you're into detour country around Lochinver, where Suilven's profile rises out of nothing like a mistake in the landscape and the pie shop has a reputation that travels further than most Highland kitchens.

The top corner is where it goes quiet

Durness is the top-left corner and the point where the trip changes character. Smoo Cave sits just off the road, the beaches are startlingly white, and the route swings east along the north coast. Campers are well served here: Sango Sands has sea views, a bar, laundrette, toilets and parking on site, and there's a motorhome stopover at Balnakeil if you're travelling in a van and want something simpler.

The Kyle of Tongue causeway is, for my money, the best few minutes of driving on the whole loop — wide, empty, water on both sides, no queue behind you. Thurso is a surf town, genuinely, and Dunnet Head just along the coast is the true top of the mainland. Most people skip it for John o' Groats, which is a shame, because John o' Groats is a signpost and a car park. Get the photo, then walk to Duncansby Stacks a mile east. Sea stacks, cliffs, seabirds. Far better than the sign.

Wick rounds off the east: herring-boom history, the harbour that built it, and the shortest street in the world. Then the run south softens, farmland replaces moor, and Dornoch — cathedral, golf, a honey-coloured square — makes an easy last night before you roll back into Inverness.

Doing it properly

Five to seven days is the honest answer. Six works well: roughly 85 miles a day, which sounds like nothing until you meet your first mile of single track with a motorhome coming the other way. Four days is a slog and you'll remember the driving, not the places.

• Book your beds before you set off, particularly in summer. The west coast goes early.
• Fill up when you can, not when you have to. Towns are a long way apart out west.
• Passing places are for passing and for letting faster traffic through — not for parking or picnics.
• Go anticlockwise, Inverness to Applecross first, and you take the Bealach na Bà while you're fresh.
• Pack midge repellent for the summer months. This is not optional.

If you'd rather work from one or two fixed bases than repack the car every morning, a cottage such as Faillie is worth a look. And if the Highlands aren't quite the shape of your holiday, there are gentler options among the UK road trips on the site. But the NC500 has something the others don't: a genuine sense that you've reached the edge of the map and driven right along it.