North Coast 500 in Nissan Leaf

It’s holiday time again and this time we were off on a big adventure to do the North Coast 500 in our new all electric car.

The car can do around 60-80 miles before it needs to stop and refuel, so in Husky terms that’s two huskies, a husky can run about 50 miles a day. The car needs a special elecsniffity point to get a long drink before it can set off again, she usually takes around 20 minutes to fill up through an elephant’s trunk that attaches at the front. During this time I can get out and roam around and sniff things until we are ready to move on, kind of reminds me of a steam engine filling up at a water tower.

So our route was very carefully planned from Elecsniffity point to elecsniffity point with some strategic overnight stops.

Our first overnight stop and starting point for our trip was Kingussie. We stayed the night in a Bed and Breakfast and in the morning we found the bed and breakfast didn’t serve breakfast until 9am and we wanted to hit the road by then. So we pitched up in a local park and had a bacon and egg roll prepared by Dad using the camping stove and all the kitchen utensils we had packed. 

 A nice local man ventured out to assist us, he boiled a kettle of water in his house to make us tea and he gave us free coffee to take on the road. Ah the kindness of strangers 😊

Onwards then to Dingwall and then on to Ullapool where there is a very nice harbour and I was treated to a nice spot of lunch.

Once we set off from Ullapool the trip really got in to some stunning scenery as we headed up towards Scourie.

The weather was simply perfect, which is not usual in Scotland specifically on the west coast which is more than partial to a lot of rain. It was so hot that we had to have the cold wind machine on in the car. This is a great feature, I can lie with my nose on the door handle and the cold jet stream blows on to the end of my nose and whiskers, this is so addictive. I panted and squeaked every time they turned the wind machine off until they turned it on again. Sometimes I settled for the window being open but it’s nowhere near as nice as the wind machine because then I can sleep with it blowing on my nose.

The waters along the west coast were crystal clear and dramatic hills all the way. Mum and Dad stopped for a picnic and the plan was to sit outside and prepare a sandwich to eat. Unfortunately, we hadn’t banked on the local resident horse flies, huge ones, we were literally attacked every second we were out of the car. We drew straws and Mum got the job of getting the stuff from the boot and then Dad was able to make the sandwich and the picnic inside the car. At least the view was amazing.

After a long drive we arrived in Scourie. Scourie is a small place with an idyllic beach cove. Mum and I couldn’t resist, we ventured in to the icy cold water to paddle before turning in for the night at the bed and breakfast. The poor electric car was quite hot by this point so rather than charge up we let her rest overnight and cool off.

The bed and breakfast was called the four winds and was very cosy. I was feeling a little bit embarrassed as I arrived very wet with a strong odour le wet dog. In the morning when I very tenderly tried to get up from the floor with aching muscles there was half the beach on the floor beneath me and enough dog fur to create a spaniel. We had a lovely cooked breakfast, of which I got two rashes of bacon, the lady that runs the B and B is very dog friendly, no complaints.

So onward we went, charging at Scourie and then up along the coast to Durness. Again, views were breath taking and you weren’t able to take your eyes off the scenery for a second. 

We stopped many times to take photographs and stretch our legs. 

At Durness we stopped at an elecsiffity point for the car to have a drink. We met with bikers who were also resting their motorbikes. Our electric car is a very quiet and sleek machine but the bikes were quite the opposite. Dad went out to talk to the bikers and I stayed in the car with the window open. The motorbikes were quite rude, so I’m glad I didn’t get out. They growled at me! So, I growled back. I think since I had the height advantage that is why they backed off.

From Durness to Thurso was the next stint, this is along the top of Scotland and the scenery is very different. At first some stunning hills and amazing coast but then the nearer to Thurso we got it all went flat, where once there were no farm animals or perhaps a few sheep there was now cattle and crop fields.

We had a holiday cottage booked along here for two nights which was well placed as after two nights sleeping on the floor of a one room bed and breakfast I was ecstatic to see I could roam around the house and had a lovely grassy garden to run around in.

From this base, the next morning we went along to Dunnet Head which is the farthest sticky out bit of the mainland UK. I think Mum and Dad got more out of the trip than me as I couldn’t see over the wall and there wasn’t anything interesting to sniff. 

From here we headed along to John O'Groats.  John O’Groats was not what we expected, it's the town at the furthest top corner and furthest away point of the UK. It’s very very small and the town is not right on the cliff edge, instead there is a car park there with tourist shops and cafes and some signs letting you know where you are.  It was ok for a quick look around and I got my photo taken, which is all anyone was doing there. 

We then went to replenish food supplies at Tesco in Wick and to charge up the car.

Whilst we were charging and having a cup of tea and a sandwich a seagull decided to sit on the bonnet of the car and watch every mouthful we took. He was very bold and not scared at all, even though Dad shouted at him and even got out to shoo him off, but nope, he sat it out until the sandwich was all gone.

A very relaxing evening back at the cottage, we watched a world cup football match, played fetch in the garden and lit a fire in the chimenea outside at dusk.

It was a very peaceful setting surrounded by sheep just across the wall all the way round the garden.

So the next part of the journey was really all about getting back to the start. We needed to get back to Kingussie for our final overnight stay. On the whole we did pretty well, we stopped at an Elecsniffity point in Helmsdale, a slight wrong turn here but the sniff-nav in the car recalculated and we found the point really easily. The next stop was then at Tain and then the next place should have been Tomatin….I said should have been, the co-pilot, aka Mum, managed to give duff instructions, which for most road trippers is not a big deal, but when your car is running out and the next elecsniffity point is beyond the range remaining and you also don’t have enough to be able to turn back, it got a little bit heated in the car. Cutting it fine we managed to roll in to Aviemore, I’m glad we did as this was a nice spot to have dinner in the blazing sunshine and the super scenery. However, if we had stopped at Tomatin we would have been able to explore a distillery. Ah well, we did pretty good on the whole.

All in all, an amazing road trip!

4 out of 4 paws with a waggy tail and I would do it again, but you really need the weather.

Video highlights below: