Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Post NC500 thoughts

Well, after three sessions in the garage, My Roadster is 95% clean, with just a few bits to finish off. After any long road trip it's important to get it in the air, take the wheels of and do a thorough visual check. Some of the roads on our 1,213 mile epic trip were challenging, but we didn't get many hard bangs from the suspension. The dampers remained connected, which was a bonus, having had a rear bracket fail, and a top front mount detach.

The flies were epic this time, although we did not come across any midges. So basically I was doing a deep clean. The wire wheels had stood up well, with just a bit of gunge on the rears, but a lot of brake dust on the fronts. Wheel arches were quite good with just a dash of muddy water stains to the nearside, from when an oncoming speeding local had us in the gutter, and it was bumpy and wet. Thankfully we saw little rain but we did see occasional wet roads in the first three days, when the showers missed us.

I dropped the rear valance slightly because with over-riders, leaves and debris drops into the narrow gap above the beading and it does need getting out. Similarly, knowing that flies would be plastered across the radiator, I dropped the grille, and used a soft brush with a vacuum cleaner.

The most important aspect, should you decide to do the NC500, is timing. And obviously you don't have to do the whole thing in one go. Timing also matters for Applecross, which was insanely busy when we did that a few years ago, even in early May. Applecross is best done North to South, anti-clockwise. This is because the Pass of the Cattle, (Bealach na Ba) is at the South end, and this way you descend. We were stopping at most passing places on the way down on a hot day. Coming the other way, clockwise, you may face many hill starts, and the inclines are severe. There are also cyclists struggling up those inclines, and a few larger vehicles which have no place on such a narrow road with tight 180 hairpin bends. The tarmac is quite high in places and so with a steep drop off the edge. If we did this again I would probably go very early morning.

The NC 500 is very different. The A9 out of Inverness turned out to be a much more enjoyable drive than I expected. Mostly fast and sweeping, with two standard lanes. The 20mph village limits are a bit pointless in such remote places, but there are few speed bumps. The traffic was light, but melted away as we went further North. We chose to do this in three days, with two stops, but since you can't check in until after 3pm, it needs a bit of planning. The first night was at Forss House Hotel, and I calculated that going via John O'Groats from Fort Augustus, we would arrive around 4pm, which we did. JOG was disappointing. Not the remote wilderness portrayed by the media. A huge car park and distillery, which was rammed with tourists, on a dull and windy day. Forss House has ample parking and excellent food, and is situated just to the West of Thurso, and has a walk over fields down to the coast where there is a ruined chapel on the beach.

Day 2 was harder to compute because this took us East to West along the North coast. At least 40% of this is single track, and if it had been busy, would have been slow. As it turned out it was quiet. We hardly saw a camper van on the road, but there were a lot parked up in a very limited number of lay-bys. This far North, don't expect pubs, coffee shops, toilets, filling stations, or lay-bys. On the odd occasion we passed a "facility" it was busy. But that's OK. Our road trips don't usually involve stopping. We arrived at Eddrachillis Hotel at Badcall Bay an hour early but that was OK. The view from the conservatory over the bay and its multiple islands is astonishing. The food here was also excellent. The car park I would describe as "Average pub". Good enough, but two cattle grids on the way in, the second being teeth chattering, plus three sets of speed bumps, which seem out of place there. Timing wise we could have got to Lochinver or Ullapool, as it turned out. Two years ago we stayed at The Kylescu Hotel. (Harry stayed there in his recent Highlands Vid) But we were a bit underwhelmed, as it failed to live up to the fairytale images on the website. The car parking there is either on the slipway, or the lay-by over the road, and with comings and goings at lunchtime, not ideal. The road surface on this stretch varies from acceptable to "building site"

Day 3 was down through Ullapool and back to Inverness, and for me, this is the best and most spectacular section. The geology is ancient, and looks it. The road is fast a sweeping, and also switchback. There are no single track sectioins. It's a fantastic drive. We didn't take the Gairloch coastal loop this time, because some years ago, we did the Southern half of that route, and so that will be done maybe next year. Most of that is standard two lane A road.

Here are a few end of trip images:

The offside rear wheel arch as it looked after the trip. The nearside was a bit grubbier.



Brake dust.



Flies on screen, but only from Aboyne.



Flies on front wing, whole trip.



Flies on radiator:

Dave, as usual a very nice, informative and inspiring write up, thanks!
BertR

I noticed in Wales this month the flies seemed very abundant. A great write up Dave & a fair review of our trip in terms of the good & bad..