Man completes North Coast route a record 17 times

By Doug Shields

A photographer has produced a stunning visual guide to a Highlands tourist route dubbed "Scotland's Route 66'"- after clocking up 10,000 miles driving it a record 17 times.

Steve Campbell, 51, first fell in love with a number of spots along the 516-mile adventure on family holidays as a kid - before it was officially named as Scotland's North Coast 500.

His stunning gallery of photographs has now been published to showcase the route like it's never been seen before.

The NC500 has become one of Scotland’s most popular tourist destinations, with tens of thousands of people heading every year to Inverness, where the route starts and ends, to tackle the challenge.

The route, offering Scotland's finest in terms of lochs, castles, beautiful remote beaches, white sand dunes, wildlife and waterfalls, was officially launched in 2014 in a bid to boost tourism in the Highlands.

It has also been tagged the ‘Instagram Highway’ as younger visitors pull over to shoot a breathtaking selfie, before hopping back in the car and heading to the next beauty spot.

Steve, who reckons he has spent 2,000 hours and driven 10,000 miles on the route over the years, even completed the epic expedition in one day in 2021 - leaving Inverness at 5am and completing the loop in the same city at 11pm that night.

The former journalist and local photographer has now used his exploits to produce his own guide for both visitors and locals to enjoy.

Following his return to Scotland in 2017 after living around the world, he decided to complete the quest from start to finish for the first time, and took his camera with him.

Since then he has made the road trip - dubbed ‘Scotland’s Route 66’ - another 16 times, and is currently planning his 18th journey for later this year.

He said: “I have made the North Coast 500 my life’s passion. Although I have been so many times, no two trips are the same.

“Coming back to Scotland permanently gave me a chance to reflect on where I was and what I wanted to do moving forward.

“Initially Covid gave me more time. I really missed photography, and I missed getting out and about taking pictures. I realised, being back, how differently I felt about that part of Scotland too.

“When you’re younger you often take where you grew up for granted because it’s so familiar, and being young, it’s the last place you want to be when there’s a whole world out there to discover.

Steve, who lives near Inverness, added: “Life changes you and returning through older and hopefully wiser eyes, I saw it differently.

“I realized it is such a beautiful part of the world.

“When it became the North Coast 500, that was an additional reason to go, and with a structured path to follow.

“That’s part of the appeal. Not just driving around Scotland aimlessly. You have a route to explore and places to see.”

On deciding to create a ‘real’ guide to the route, Steve began making twice yearly trips around the entirety of the route, plus day trips here and there to make the most of the ‘perfect light’ for his photographs.

He returned to Loch Carron, where some of his favorite childhood memories were formed, and also visited Torridon Valley, where he used to take girlfriends for first dates.

Steve said: “Torridon Valley is still my favorite area in the whole of Scotland. It’s so romantic, and is incredibly atmospheric to drive through.

“It is probably as close as you can get to the Rocky Mountains. The scale of the mountains as you pass along the bottom of them is so immense.

“You have to be there driving through it to really appreciate it. The scenery looks great in photos but as you’re driving through it’s just stunning.

“Sometimes when the light comes through the clouds there, it is like a postcard.”

While Steve has made many friends on his numerous trips, he has also come close to tragedy - Bealach na Ba where a single track road has a 20 per cent incline.

He added: “I was on a narrow mountain pass with a sheer drop on one side and a camper van and I came face to face. It was like a Mexican standoff, except there was absolutely nowhere for either of us to go.

“We tried to pass each other but there wasn’t room, it was that narrow.

“There was one point when I thought my car was going to slip off the edge of the mountain.”

But while the coast to coast route offers Scotland’s finest views Steve is worried about the preservation issue which comes with the ever increasing number of tourists who arrive to tackle it.

He added: “It is so important that people look after the Highlands and treat these locations with respect.

“Many people live along the route, and tourists need to take that into consideration when they are driving the route.

“So, if you come, please leave it as you found it.”