Exploring the NC500: Travelling Scotland's Route 66 - Softcover

Addison, David M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0993493246 ISBN 13: 9780993493249

Publisher: Extremis Publishing Limited, 2017

Synopsis

Travelling anti-clockwise, David M. Addison seeks his kicks on Scotland’s equivalent of Route 66. Otherwise known as NC500, the route takes you through five hundred miles of some of Scotland’s most spectacular scenery. No wonder it has been voted as one of the world’s five most scenic road journeys.

There are many mays of exploring the NC500. You can drive it, cycle it, motorbike it or even walk it, even if you are not one of The Proclaimers! And there are as many activities, places of interest and sights to be seen along the way as there are miles.  

This is a personal account of the author’s exploration of the NC500 as well as some detours from it, such as to the Black Isle, Strathpeffer and Dingwall. Whatever your reason or reasons for exploring the NC500 may be, you should read this book before you go, or take it with you as a vade mecum. It will enhance your appreciation of the NC500 as you learn about the history behind the turbulent past of the many castles; hear folk tales, myths and legends connected with the area; become acquainted with the ancient peoples who once lived in this timeless landscape, and read about the lives of more recent heroes such as the good Hugh Miller who met a tragic end and villains such as the notorious Duke of Sutherland, who died in his bed (and may not be quite as bad as he is painted). There are a good number of other characters too of whom you may have never heard: some colourful, some eccentric, some very eccentric.

You may not necessarily wish to follow in the author’s footsteps in all that he did, but if you read this book you will certainly see the landscape through more informed eyes as you do whatever you want to do en route NC500.

Sit in your car and enjoy the scenery for its own sake (and remember you get a different perspective from a different direction, so you may want to come back and do it again to get an alternative point of view!), or get out and explore it at closer quarters – the choice is yours, but this book will complement your experience, whatever you decide.

About this title

About the Author

A native of Banff, Scotland, David M. Addison is a graduate of Aberdeen University. As well as essays in various publications, he has written nine books, mainly about his travels. As well as a short spell teaching English as a foreign language in Poland when the Solidarity movement was at its height, he spent a year (1978-79) as an exchange teacher in Montana. He regards his decision to apply for the exchange as one of the best things he ever did, for not only did it give him the chance to travel extensively in the US and Canada but during the course of the year he made a number of enduring friendships. His award-winning "An Innocent Abroad" is the first in a planned trilogy about this extraordinary year while the second, "Still Innocent Abroad", was published in 2016. Since taking early retirement (he is not as old as he looks), he has more time but less money to indulge his unquenchable thirst for travel (and his wife would say for Cabernet Sauvignon and malt whisky). He is doing his best to spend the children's inheritance by travelling as far and wide and as often as he can. In 2015 "An Innocent Abroad" received an award in the Bookbzz Prize Writer Competition for Biography and Memoir. David's most recent travels took him to the Highlands of Scotland, exploring Visit Scotland's recently unveiled NC500, dubbed "Scotland's Route 66", and rated one of the top five most scenic road journeys in the world. For more details about David and his work, please visit his website at www.davidmaddison.org.

Edition details

• Publisher: Extremis Publishing Limited
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0993493246
• ISBN 13: 9780993493249
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 370