The NC500 Is Known As 'vanlife Hell' For A Reason - Prepare For No Parking And Gross Human Waste!

NC500 HELL, no parking on the NE coast is a no joke!

Join me as I embark on a short walk around the car park, explain what happened yesterday with the parking situation and then what happened at 07:30.

And then a litter pick involved finding something absolutely disgusting!

There is still hope to enjoy this route... So far not impressed!

We hope you like this video, please click like if you do, and click on subscribe, it really helps our channel grow :)

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ABOUT "Travel with Gary and Amika"

Welcome to the Official Travel with Gary and Amika YouTube Channel, a father daughter combo capturing campervan style travel vlogs in and around the mountains, beaches, campsites and wild camping fully off grid.

Gary is dedicated to his daughters future and enjoys documenting her passion for life, which is apparent through Amikas constant giggling and smiles. He is well travelled having visited some 39 countries, however this quickly became difficult to continue when Amika was born. With his love for travel he wasn't going to let being a single father tie him down. When Amika was just 5 they jumped on a plane and backpacked around Romania and have since visited France and Spain twice exploring the Pyrenees mountain range.

In January 2022 Gary bought on old builders van and converted into a fully off grid tiny home on wheels with the aim of getting out and about as much as possible to see more of the world. YouTube seemed the perfect way to documented these travels and to take a step into the world of becoming a digital nomad.

Gary and Amika both thank you for being here and hope that through their videos they can bring you a sense of adventure, a lots of laughter and with a clear message that you should never grow up and never take life too seriously!

[joyphilip]

These roads have always been there to enjoy . Then the big mistake was to name the route. It was then swamped with people who have no idea how to conduct themselves and treat the countryside. Rubbish and human waste just left. Of course the locals react. Hopefully in the coming years things will settle down again to more manageable numbers. This is our fragile wilderness. Please take care of it

[dorcassinclair]

Thank you for picking up the rubbish. I run a local beach cleaning group and appreciate anyone who picks up. I don't think it would have been midges, it's too early, just little flies. I hope the rest of your trip is good. There's loads of amazing stuff to see in Caithness, it's a shame you couldn't stay for a while.

[williamcoulter]

I was there June 2022 and every free parking space was taken up with Dutch or rental motorhomes, they obviously had been using them as base for cycling as they even had washing lines full of cycling gear and wind breaks out! the biggest problem was the campervans using the passing places as overnight parking so it is not surprising some locals get annoyed. One year locals were so fed up with the large motorhomes blocking the Applecross pass and cyclists holding unofficial races along the pass they spread nails and tin tacks along the route then used the alternative route for a few weeks warning their delivery drivers to do the same.

[dallen]

Last night I drove the west side of Loch Lomond, on the A82. Every single lay-bye was filled with camper vans or SUVs with roof tents. Not a single place for any normal driver to take a break and not a chance for any HGV driver to take a break to meet their legal requirements.

This is happening all the time. Camper Vans have no legal right to over night camp (wild camping) in Scotland. It is tolerated. I also agree about the used toilet roll and rubbish. As for bins, have people ever heard of taking rubbish with them? Camper van people are proving to be incredibly selfish and thoughtless.

[BalefulBunyip]

You are a very lucky man to be sharing this with your daughter. Some of my most cherished memories are of camping holidays with my two young girls. Hope the rest of the trip went well.

[Mark-rcgj]

Just finished the nc had a great time, parking free and mixing it with a couple of camp sites, stopped on the way home at Lochore aires site. Couldn’t believe my eyes in the morning the amount of rubbish left by boy racers in the next door car park, I suppose the local’s will blame the vanners!!! Nice vlog anyway 👍🏻

[boneshug]

So sorry you did not feel welcome at times. If you had visited prior to 2015 you would have had an entirely different experience. Slowly but surely the way of life up here is changing. Moving from a slow pace of life and sustainable tourism to a new demographic of visitor who is “doing the NC500” rather than visiting the Highlands of Scotland. This change is not easy on most. Commercialisation brings a host of problems. For those that visit it’s “wild, empty and untouched” For those of us that know the area prior to 2015 it’s slowly getting “paved over” “ busy” and the very reason why people want to visit is slowly disappearing. You can already see the character of a number of villages on the route now changing. Live stock roam free in the North as a result of the crofting system, so very few fences but for how long? The number of dead deer on the side of the road each year seems to increase. Wildlife already spooked by increasing noise pollution from vehicles. The list goes on, so unfortunately some people are scared and annoyed of this change, where will it end. Anyone that speaks out is accused of being anti tourist. Tourism brings cash no doubt, but all over the world we see tourism bring destruction and money but this money does not always flow into the hands of the local people. This area had slow sustainable tourism prior to 2015, there was a lovely balance. There is NO answer to all of this, “progress and commercialisation” is a fact of life. For those of us that enjoyed the Highlands prior to 2015 we feel truly blessed. For the people that follow they will never know what it was like, which is a real shame.

[yellovanneil]

I was there last October, and was told by many local people in Scotland, that during the summer all these newbies in vans and motorhomes who would not normally do this type of holiday, parked all along the lanes and laybys and everywhere else, and left litter and worse all over the place, which sadly has spoilt it for the genuine people who know the importance of leave no trace. The Scottish are lovely people imo, and had had enough with roads becoming impassable due to idiots. It's a bloody shame, and I hope they understand that some of us who frequently use our vans for this are far more respectful.

[coloradoridgerunner]

There should be a program when a person is caught dumping human waste their vehicle is taken and sold for scrap.

[stutracy]

Leave no trace is our motto, we tour in a motorhome we love visiting new places and seeing our fantastic country from the road. It's like most things now though have taken a turn for the worse, people are getting generally more selfish. Respect and manner's are greatly missing from society, thanks for sharing Gary.

[HerbertDuckshort]

I would have loved to have been at the Highlands & Islands Tourist Board planning meeting; “So, we’re going to encourage thousands and thousands of camper vans and motorhomes to a remote area without the adequate tourist infrastructure and mainly single track roads. What could possibly go wrong eh?”

[TrefyJot]

Well said, Gary. We ended up there overnight before crossing to Orkney. A few vans stopped overnight. All very civilised and no rubbish left. Some stuff it for the rest, as you say. It's a fabulous route but with lots of amazing places to check out not on the "prescribed" 500.
We followed it back in 2018 so not as crowded as now.
Enjoy! 😃

[gaffysmenk]

That's the inevitable result of promoting something without putting the appropriate infrastructure in place first. We used to get the boat over the firth a couple of times a year. (We stay in Orkney). We'd take our truck and park up all over the north coast from the east to the west. Didn't see many wild campervans at all. Then they named it the NC500. We don't bother anymore. It's just too busy nowadays for us.Occasionally we've been over in October, less vans and midges.
It's such a shame. It was great when fewer folk knew about it. Used to be a great chippy in Castletown. They did deep fried battered Mars bars, they're surprisingly good.

Don't know if it's still there..

[bobp]

Unfortunately we have huge problems with tourists using graveyards as toilets and to camp in, pouring their toilets over private fences, ripping out fence posts and cutting down private trees for firewood, parking camper vans in people's gardens because "well there's no fence to stop us"
Camper vans filing up lay byes over night stopping HGV drivers from been able to take their legal breaks.
A local village to me blocked the road with locked gates to keep the tourists out.
Tourists seem incapable of pulling into passing places to allow the tailback of traffic to pass, parking and blocking passing places. Cars having competitions of how fast they can get around the 500
The list is endless of arrogant thoughtless tourists who think they are doing us a favour visiting us and it's not a minority.

[JK-zxgo]

The NC500 was a really stupid idea when absolutely no infrastructure was put in place to deal with the numbers. The locals are sick of it. Trying to work in the Highlands and get around in summer is a riot.

They drew a route on a map (a well travelled route) claimed it as a great new thing, and did some advertising.

[meirionevans]

New Zealand have it sorted, plenty of campsites, plus water/waste/rubbish facilities in most towns. But "wild" camping more strictly enforced over there. Apparently rangers or police would come a-knocking in the small hours to move illegal campers. We toured s.island for 3 weeks, really good if you stayed away from the honeypots. UK has much to learn. Big up on your litter pick, sadly not enough of it done here.

[motorhomemavericks]

We spent 5 months here this year out of season. The roads were empty, the locals were lovely and really appreciated us being there and our custom

[Livie]

I just completed the NC500 last week. On my first night it was the only night I had to stay in a lay by. Had like 6 campers in there. But from 5 am had people driving by with the horns blaring.

[johnwhitley]

Living on a single track with a beach at the end of it in a nightmare in the summer Holiday’s and it’s mainly all down to the motor homes. The hired ones are driven by folks who don’t know the system. They even drive along with other vans in tandem. Then they meet two more idiots doing the same. Then when reversing manage to go off the road. Then all traffics stops till the brake nearest breakdown vehicle arrives. Most do not even know their passing places are only on their left. The ones on their right are for the people coming towards them. They admire the views but rarely look in their reversing mirrors to see the lined up cars behind them. Just by pulling in and letting them overtake keeps the whole of the traffic moving. Each year the only motor homes that stop and wave folks through are the ones with no advertising blurbs ie the drivers who own their vehicles and know the system. Why why why can’t the hire people supply this simple Can only assume they fail to educate their customers because they are too busy counting the hire money. I know this will upset but the locals don’t mind visitors. It’s the ones who don’t know the system of driving single track making themselves a general nuisance due to their size.

[WanderingWhites]

Shame you have had a poor welcome unfortunately some people do spoil it for us all - keep positive and keep sharing your adventures