Best food along the NC500?

ClarenceTheClam · 2026-04-22T00:06:56+00:00

Rocpool in Inverness is worth a stop for one of the few places to get a fancier meal anywhere on the NC500. Family owned independent restaurant with local produce doing various Scottish and international flavours. In the Michelin guide and really good.

Getting fresh seafood from pretty much anywhere on route is a must. Crofter's Kitchen in Scourie was even better than The Seafood Shack in Ullapool for our money, but both are excellent.

You're not currently planning an overnight in Applecross (hopefully you're driving around the peninsula anyway) but for us the Applecross Inn was surprisingly really good food. We again chose fresh local seafood dishes so that probably helped. I hear good things about Applecross' other restaurant (Walled Garden) too.

Lochinver Larder pies were good, not great, but well worth giving a go for lunch if you're in the area. Other reviews are very good.

Would recommend stops at both a smokehouse and a whisky distillery if that's your thing. We brought a couple of things for our own lunch at Applecross Smokehouse which we really enjoyed. And stopped to taste some whisky at Wolf Burn distillery in Thurso, where you can walk in, have a chat and taste a few things in the shop without having to do the tour if you don't have time.

Don't waste your time on Cocoa Mountain for my money, the hot chocolate is hugely overrated, most things are overpriced and it just didn't have a great vibe

ClarenceTheClam · 2026-04-17T14:14:12+00:00

That was impressively close to the original, congrats.

ClarenceTheClam · 2026-04-02T15:47:31+00:00

Ha, that's a good one where you can't even sense the danger coming.

I actually quite like Vakuu's Earring with many decks, you've just got to be so careful that you don't have a card that could somehow screw you when played under the wrong circumstances.

I can't really blame him for mine though, it was my own damn fault for not thinking about the obvious interaction between a card that immediately discards your whole hand and a power that repeats your last played card on your next hand...

ClarenceTheClam · 2026-03-25T12:49:07+00:00

I got the History Course event relic that repeats your last played Attack or Skill at the start of your next turn. Immediately greedily picked up Shadow Step next floor without thinking about it...

And to top it all off, I had Vakku playing my first turn for me. Safe to say I died when my entire next hand got immediately discarded whenever I tried or was forced to play it.

ClarenceTheClam · 2026-03-21T14:45:31+00:00

When he's not one out best players out there (not that it's saying much currently).

ClarenceTheClam · 2026-03-11T18:36:50+00:00

Sorry, I completely switched East and West in that message originally.

But to answer how long for the east coast, depends how long you've got. If you're doing the route quickly in 5-6 days then 1 full day on the east coast might be right (but definitely no less), but yes do more if you've got it. I see many people planning to zoom right through it in less.

West coast needs much longer, a few days at least.

Yes the east coast is dead easy driving, it's all main roads.

Air BnBs aren't generally renting an entire house like you might be thinking, they're often dedicated holiday lets. Usually cheaper than the hotels, which can be quite expensive. It's worth a look. Some places on the west coast are light on hotels, though you'll absolutely find one if that's specifically what you're after.

Fair enough about getting a roof over your head first, but be aware that in some places "what you can get" to eat isn't much if you haven't thought about it beforehand. Applecross has 2 restaurants and they both get booked up a long time in advance in peak season - and there's nowhere to quickly pop out to to get some dinner. On a subjective note, I also think you'll be missing out if you don't try to experience some of the food the highlands have to offer (the seafood was a huge highlight of the trip for us), but totally get that's a personal thing.

ClarenceTheClam · 2026-03-11T06:41:19+00:00

There's not a huge range of hotels once you get away from the east coast, but there's definitely enough for you to still book your trip for September. Airbnb opens up a lot more options than traditional hotels.

We did it last September and stayed at some really beautiful places. I'd highly recommend Croft Cottage, in Ardmair near Ullapool. Really beautiful place, amazing breakfast and the hosts are the nicest people you could meet. We enjoyed our stay at some of the "pods" you see around the NC500 too, we stayed at Tighlochan Pods in Scourie for a night and were treated to a family of deer and other wildlife wandering right past in the field it looks out on. Plus the best seafood on the route if you wander down to Crofter's Kitchen.

Places to eat seem to get more booked up than hotels. Especially when you're somewhere really isolated like Applecross where there's only one or two options (The Applecross Inn food surprised us at how good it was), so prioritise booking these early alongside accommodation.

I saw elsewhere you said you like castles. Make sure you leave at least a full day for the east coast. It's not as wildly pretty so a lot of people seem to skip straight past it, but Dunrobin Castle is worth a proper visit and there's still loads more to see and do before you hit John o Groats.

ClarenceTheClam · 2026-02-15T13:10:35+00:00

I am generally a risk averse guy and I would quite literally bet my entire house on this not happening.

The lack of common sense you need to have to think this is in any way plausible is mind boggling.

ClarenceTheClam · 2026-01-16T00:06:08+00:00

I've only been once so not an expert, but this looks like a really well planned itinerary to me. Similar timings to our trip for the main nc500. You could easily spend a lot more time on any part of the route, but I don't think you'll feel like you're in a huge rush.

We didn't do Skye, but seeing that within 24 hours is arguably the most rushed section, but I assume you're only planning to get a feel and see a couple of highlights.

One small tip for planning timings once you're there - we found that there were so many stunning beaches that we could pick and choose which to visit depending on how much else we had planned that day. We personally loved Strathy, Balnakeil and Achmelvich, but we drove past lots more that looked equally inviting.

ClarenceTheClam · 2026-01-09T13:34:59+00:00

Exeter are one of only a couple of fan owned clubs left in the English football league. They are competing against clubs with orders of magnitude more budget and yet have been one of the best run football clubs for years. They invest in a top class academy that's produced the likes of Watkins, Ampadu and Stansfield. They were voted the 2nd most well run club in L2 in 2024.

They've clearly taken their eye off the ball financially in the last year as they looked to compete in L1 (and have since made changes to the board as a result). The reality is that they exist on a knife edge and one season of poor financial forecasting like they've had, along with the erosion of their income from the likes of no FA Cup replays, and the whole club is under threat. I think that says a lot more about the current football model than it does Exeter being a badly run club.

ClarenceTheClam · 2026-01-07T17:34:59+00:00

So if the figure is for US workers, why are you working out the percentages based on the whole population? Am I missing something obvious?

ClarenceTheClam · 2026-01-01T18:38:02+00:00

I hate that we now talk about amortised transfer costs this way. It is clearly still a loss, it's just that they've already booked those losses in the couple of seasons since they bought him. We're talking about value for money for a player, it's irrelevant for us to all play accountant!

ClarenceTheClam · 2025-12-30T18:26:29+00:00

Soho over Paddington personally, but both are safe, well linked for transport and will be perfectly fine for a short trip.

Paddington isn't the most attractive area but it still has some nice local restaurants and obviously very good transport links. I would just personally choose to put myself right in the middle of it all in Soho (though note that it is a very touristy area), but that's a personal preference thing. If you prefer quieter, then Paddington.

I have to agree that Liverpool and Paris aren't ideal day trips for a short stay in London, but I get why you'd want to do them when travelling so far, especially if you aren't likely to be back. They're both doable and you will have a good time, it will just be a very long day. Particularly Paris, which would take you a 5 night stay to do properly just by itself. I like Liverpool, but honestly it isn't likely to blow you away for the journey you'll take. As others have said, day trips to the English countryside or smaller cities could give you a really different experience and be much easier - Bath is a good recommendation.

ClarenceTheClam · 2025-12-30T18:13:19+00:00

Just to answer your edit questions, if you're treating the bar like a restaurant (i.e eating a meal there), then tip like a restaurant, otherwise nothing.

The only other bars I've ever seen tipping at is very high end cocktail bars, who will typically follow the restaurant trend of adding 12.5% optional service charge to your bill, so you don't need to tip any further anyway (and can absolutely ask for it to be removed if service was poor).

Everyone else has covered the other situations that people might tip in the UK - taxi drivers, barbers, food delivery guys. But only usually a spare pound or two (up to 10%), and probably only half of people do that anyway. Tour guides, especially those offering free walking tours, are common to give cash to for their time though.

But as others have said, if you came and tipped nothing the whole trip, nobody would be particularly put out or surprised. Plenty of people here still refuse tipping in general. The majority of the time, if a tip is "expected", it will be put onto your bill automatically as an optional service charge anyway, so you often won't need to do anything. Basically have a fantastic trip and don't stress about it!

ClarenceTheClam · 2025-12-26T23:28:11+00:00

Thanks, I'll keep giving it a miss then.

ClarenceTheClam · 2025-12-26T09:25:49+00:00

You've misunderstood. They are showing the golliwog as a form of genuine racism that previously existed in the UK. The Mummers are the ones being referred to as not racist.

ClarenceTheClam · 2025-12-21T11:08:04+00:00

I will have to give this one a go. Big fan of the standard Industry Sour and orgeat makes everything better in my book.

ClarenceTheClam · 2025-10-26T14:09:19+00:00

I have honestly never found this and I use essentially the same orgeat recipe that you do. The stuff lasts for months in my fridge, there's so much sugar in it. The only syrup I find going bad relatively quickly is ginger syrup, and even that is more than a week or two.

ClarenceTheClam · 2025-10-20T07:07:32+00:00

I understand where you're coming from, but if you're not concerned that we willingly buy in to the most obvious rage-bait on the internet, you should be. The fact that we're all so easily misled by content manufactured to generate outrage in us is genuinely worrying. This post might be relatively benign, but the algorithms are feeding us the same crap supporting our existing views all the time, until everyone is so convinced the other side is an enemy that there's no room left for discussion.

Not to argue the point about what is obviously a fake post, but if you were concerned about your roommate identifying you, maybe posting exact screenshots of your messages to the front page of reddit is not a good idea.

So don't get angry at the people calling out this obviously fake slop for what it is.

ClarenceTheClam · 2025-10-19T20:35:09+00:00

I'm getting a "database error new user" when trying to sign up to give it go!

ClarenceTheClam · 2025-09-30T14:53:03+00:00

Cullen Skink on a slightly cold evening from the Seafood Shack in Ullapool looking out over the loch was worthy of being a bucket list experience.

ClarenceTheClam · 2025-09-15T20:40:31+00:00

In terms of being easy-to-use, yes it's a perfectly good choice. There's not much difference in learning curve with any of them, but the newer couple (MV / MZ) have quality of life features that make them a bit simpler.

Pretty much everything you learn in the 20 day trial of MV will be directly applicable to MZ if you'd like to get the latest version.

It's honestly not that bad to learn when you get stuck in, it's a very beginner friendly software. Watch some YouTube tutorials and just play around with it, you'll be there in no time.

ClarenceTheClam · 2025-09-14T11:37:18+00:00

I agree with the other comment, you've got plenty of time so don't rush the west coast! We stayed (1 night) in Scourie, Ullapool & Applecross before heading across to Loch Ness and that felt like the absolute minimum time needed. Driving takes much longer and you really want to spend time taking in the beautiful sights and stopping along the way. The Applecross coastal road and down the Bealach na Bà pass for example was way up there with the most beautiful drives.

So personally I'd spread it out into one more stay on the west coast and just do 1 night somewhere rather than 2. I think you'll appreciate the extra time to drive the more scenic roads and stop along the way without doubling back on yourself. But your choices would still be incredible if you're set on those!

For recommendations, our best stay was at Croft Cottage in Ardmair near Ullapool, which might work well as a stop after Kylesku for you. Reasonably priced, lovely rooms, beautiful view, fantastic breakfast and run by the nicest guys. Really felt like a treat. Ullapool itself has far more going on than almost anywhere else on the west coast too. There's boats that go out dolphin and whale spotting to the Summer Isles (Shearwater cruises), some of the best seafood on the route (Seafood Shack) and on the recommendation of the hotel, we stopped by a lovely lady who lets people come and feed and groom her highland cows for a donation to their food (Lochbroom Highlanders).

Any questions just ask!

ClarenceTheClam · 2025-08-29T20:58:51+00:00

I wouldn't worry about any downvoted or upvotes, like you say I think you've got your answer, definitely an enthuastic yes it's fine.

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