Best Things to do on the NC500 East Coast

We started our NC500 trip going anti clockwise starting on the east coast.

Chanonry Point

Chanonry Point was beautiful but we left disappointed as we didn’t see any dolphins. We must have gone at the wrong time, or we just weren’t patient enough. We’d definitely recommend trying though. There is a paid car park right at the point but it’s very small so be warned you may have to park elsewhere and walk.

Dolphins at Chanonry Point can be seen at any time (and not at all!) but the best time to see them is usually on a rising tide. From around 1 hour after low tide, the tide turns, and dolphins start to chase fish in. This means if you know tide times for a particular day, you can work out the best time to see dolphins at Chanonry Point. There is no guarantee of seeing dolphins, but you can maximise your chances.

Fairy Glen Falls

This isn’t far from Charnonry Point, and we needed to walk Barney properly so it was the perfect stop. The first 3/4 of the walk are easy, paths are clear to follow. It’s that last little bit climbing over stuff. We did it easily but Phoebe did have to help a lady past us so be aware if less mobile. Located in Rosemarkie, this is an easy one hour walk with two waterfalls throughout. There’s a car park located a few minutes from the start of the walk.

Tarbat Lighthouse

This was a great stop, it’s an easy walk and great views. There’s a small car park and it was quite busy when we got there especially with vans parked length ways. From there you walk for maybe five minutes to reach the bottom of the lighthouse. There are a few paths around the lighthouse too. The Tarbat Ness Lighthouse is located at the North West tip of the Tarbat Ness peninsula near the fishing village of Portmahomack on the east coast of Scotland.

Dornoch Beach

We stopped here to end our first day. Dornoch beach is so long and was a great way to end the day. It was very empty at the end of the day so was nice to have the beach almost to ourselves. There are two car parks for the beach, I believe they’re both pay and display.

Dunrobin Castle

Dunrobin is a stunning castle that looks more like something out of a Disney fairytale than the usual rugged Scottish strongholds we are used to seeing. It sits on a terrace above a gorgeous garden, where you can even enjoy a falconry display, and overlooks the Moray Firth. It cost £27 for the two of us to go in.

This was the most interesting place we visited, we started out with a tour round the castle. They’ve got a one way system in place, there’s so many interesting things to look at. We then went out to the gardens, they’re well looked after and provide a stunning view of the castle. They hold falconry shows twice a day, we skipped this to look around the museum. This was the interesting part. Phoebe walked in and said “oh my f*ing god there’s a giraffe!” The museum was a collection of everything that had been collected by the family over the years including lots of animals. Phoebe managed to get round with a few jump scares when she saw certain things.

Waliegoe Steps

This absolutely killed Phoebe off, 330 steps lead us down to an 18th century harbour which was last known to be used in the 1960s as a fishing harbour. There weren’t many people here when we arrived which is good as there’s only a few parking spaces. Be careful not to miss the turn like we did. Once you reach the bottom give yourself a rest and enjoy the view before taking all the steps back up.

Duncansby Stacks

The Duncansby Head sea stacks are some of the most impressive in Scotland. It's only about a 10-15 minute walk, to the main view point. We carrie on past this point to see them from a different angle, be warned if you have a dog there are so many sheep here, Barney was desperate to get to them.

Duncansby Head is accessed via a narrow road, 2 miles from John O’Groats (turn off the A99 opposite the village post office). A small, free car park is available close to the lighthouse.