Anger as litter and ‘love lock’ issues plague NC500
Visitors blamed for state of sites on the route
PEOPLE have reacted with anger as issues continue to plague the popular North Coast 500 road trip route. The National has previously reported how speeding, and a lack of toilet facilities, have caused problems. It was also recently revealed that a Scottish council has permanently banned caravans from a Highland car park on the route.
Over the weekend, members of the NC500: The Dirty Truth group on Facebook shared further frustrations, including over people leaving “love locks”, and overflowing bins.
On April 12, one group member shared a video saying they had come to the NC500 to look at “all the marvellous sights along the way”. But they shared a video which showed a number of bins overflowing.
They said: “It’s such a beautiful place. So the glitzy videos online tell us anyway. Sadly so often reality paints a different picture.
“The sign says, ‘If this bin is full please take your waste away with you’. Alas it appears some think that the sign doesn’t apply to them as they cram their rubbish into the bins, so much so that they overflow.”
A separate post on Sunday was from group member Cameron Michaels – who said they kept a litter picker in their car – taking matters into his own hands. He posted an image of a bag full of rubbish from the side of the road.
“The amount of litter left is staggering,” they said. “I see lots of glossy videos of the NC500 showing white sandy beaches and folk admiring the vistas etc, but the reality is so different if you open your eyes. Take your rubbish home with you.”
He also said he had previously found human waste on the route.
A number of people took to the comments to share their frustration, with one saying: “We always know tourist season is starting when litter starts appearing along the roadside”.
Another commented: “It totally puts me off visiting having done so since the early eighties.” And a third said: “Why visit then disgrace such a beautiful place?”
A separate post also expressed frustration with the number of “love locks” – a padlock etched with a couple’s names or initials – being left on a bridge at Rogie Falls, near Contin.
A post on the Dirty Truth group said: “Rogie Falls this evening. A lovely location on the NC500 being spoiled by those who think the place is enhanced by leaving padlocks declaring their undying love for one another on the bridge ... it’s nothing more than litter.”
Many people in the comments again expressed anger, with one saying they should all be removed.
Another said: “Seems to be growing everywhere. I wonder if it’s driven by social media because how many people are wandering about with padlocks do this spontaneously.”
“People should leave a place as they found it,” a fourth commented, while a fifth said it was “disgraceful” to see the locks placed along the bridge.
In 2019, Highland Council had to step in to remove such locks from two pedestrian bridges in Inverness. And in 2021, the local authority removed them from the Coghill Bridge, Wick.