THE NORTH GROSS 500
How the beautiful scenery along Scotland’s most iconic road trip is being blighted by mountains of rubbish — and sickening stupidity
IT IS a shocking sight. Piles of rubbish bags strewn by the roadside. A discarded face mask left on a bush. A broken-down caravan, abandoned to its fate. Patches of land ruined by wildfires, while bins overflow with waste.
And stretching out into the distance, along one of the most beautiful coastlines Scotland has to offer, a familiar tell-tale sign: tents.
This is the North Coast 500 in the summer of 2020. As the coronavirus pandemic forces more Scots than ever before to holiday at home, the NC500 – a 516-mile route around the north coast meant to be Scotland’s answer to America’s Route 66 – has become little more than a dumping ground, as careless visitors park up wherever they like and abuse the land they have supposedly come to admire.
‘Tourists are being sold the myth of “come to the wilds of Scotland and park anywhere”. It’s irresponsibly selling the dream of the open road,’ said Margaret Meek, a community councillor in Kinlochbervie, Sutherland. ‘Things have got completely out of hand.’
In recent weeks there have been reports of campers pitching at a cemetery, human excrement in a children’s play park and, in one picture, an axe left wedged in a tree. As one resident posted online this week: ‘It’s depressing living here.’
Now locals are fighting back. A Facebook group, the poetically titled NC500 The Land Weeps, has been collating images and testimony from residents who have had enough of their local communities being inundated with litter and camping detritus.
In just over a week it has swelled to more than 2,000 members, many posting pictures and telling similar stories of indiscriminate camping, wild toileting and littering.
Mrs Meek set up the group after locals complained about the ‘desecration’ of their villages.
‘We want people to post photos or describe incidents of irresponsible behaviour,’ said Mrs Meek.
‘This is a short-term project to gauge what is happening in our area and to use the evidence gathered to take forward to campaign for some kind of legislation or bylaws which will help our communities cope with the influx of visitors, which grows each year.
‘This is not about being antitourist, this is about finding a way to protect our home while being able to welcome people.
‘We want to initiate a conversation about this. People coming to the Highlands think we are some kind of Disneyland.’
Mrs Meek said locals wanted the police to manage camper vans, deal with litter and human waste, and for rangers to police the abuses. They are also worried that the swell in visitors who are wild camping could lead to issues regarding Covid-19.
‘If a camper brings coronavirus to the area how are we to contact trace them?’ asked Mrs Meek.
Sutherland Highland councillor Hugh Morrison said that on a single night this week there were 48 vehicles and 28 tents at one beauty spot on the beach in Durness, adding: ‘It’s out of hand.’
There have even been reports that some visitors to the area have been aggressive.
One resident in Ullapool, Rossshire, said he had been threatened by an angry driver of a motorhome after it was pointed out that they were starting camp fires.
‘They said they had something in the back of the van that they would put through me,’ said the local.
A crofter told how he had been forced to close his gate to cars and campers due to the anti-social behaviour of some who, he said, had left litter, stolen wood and shouted at his elderly parents.
But other visitors to the area insist there are many responsible travellers who boost the local economy and use sites properly.
One wrote: ‘You are not giving a fair case here when you clump everyone in the bracket of freeloaders, free campers... it’s sad to see some of the comments on here. I understand the grief as the whole UK is suffering the same but to be so vigilante is really sad.’
Another said: ‘I completely disagree with demonising folk in camper vans and motorhomes, most of whom are extremely responsible and tidy up after themselves.’
The vast influx of visitors since restrictions on travel were lifted has also led to a huge increase in the amount of traffic on the route.
Fifteen drivers were charged with speeding last weekend in the first major crackdown on the NC500 since lockdown. Another 22 motorists received warnings for other road traffic offences.
The North Highland Initiative (NHI) developed the NC500 route five years ago as a way of bringing more tourists into a part of the country which has often been ignored by visitors to Scotland. It is now estimated to be worth more than £22million a year to the local economy and has been hailed by CNN as one of the world’s greatest drives.
NHI chairman David Whiteford said: ‘The next essential step is for the Scottish Government to adopt more nuanced messaging to ease anxieties across the country – especially in the Highlands. We’re now looking to the Scottish
Government and VisitScotland to implement national and local campaigns to allay anxiety among local Highland communities and deliver a positive, uplifting message as we take safe, measured steps to emerge from lockdown.’
BUT Gail Ross, Nationalist MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, says she has been ‘inundated’ with messages from constituents who are becoming increasingly frustrated by the situation.
‘There are places being promoted that will never be suitable for overnight stays, including farmland and common grazings,’ she said.
‘There is real concern the NC500 route in particular is being heavily promoted and advertised to camper van and caravan users without any regard to the lack of infrastructure available on the route at present, or the impact those who camp irresponsibly is having.’
For now, as locals gear up for yet another weekend of visitors, little seems to have changed as yet more rubbish is piled up, fires are left unattended and tents appear across the landscape.
As one individual on the Facebook group posted this week: ‘I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than do the NC500.’