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A guidebook to the 850km (528 mile) NC500 cycle route around northern Scotland. This circular tour starting and finishing in Inverness and passing through Wester Ross, Sutherland, Caithness, Easter Ross and the Black Isle is suitable for all types of bikes, and cyclists with a good level of fitness. The NC500 can be cycled in 2 weeks. Presented in 16 stages between 24 and 89km (15-55 miles) Alternate routes are given to avoid the steep ascent of Bealach na Ba or the undulating Assynt peninsula The busy A9 east coast road is avoided, but is described as an alternative route Route passes Ullapool, Thurso and Tain 1:150,000 mapping and profiles are included for each route GPX files available to download Detailed information on accommodation, refreshments and facilities along the route
About the author
After a career in marketing, culminating as marketing director of a leading supermarket group, Mike Wells started to write walking and cycling guides in his fifties. He has been a keen cyclist for over 25 years. After completing various UK Sustrans routes, such as Lôn Las Cymru in Wales and the C2C route across northern England, he then moved on to cycling long-distance routes in continental Europe and beyond. These include cycling both the Camino and Ruta de la Plata to Santiago de la Compostela, a traverse of Cuba from end to end, a circumnavigation of Iceland and a trip across Lapland to the North Cape. Even further afield he has ridden the Congo-Nile trail from the Congo basin to the source of the Nile in Rwanda's Nyungwe national park. On all these trips he was accompanied by his partner Christine, who sadly died in 2020. He has written 10 cycling guides for Cicerone, including a series following the great rivers of Europe. For a full list of Cicerone books and articles by Mike Wells, visit his author page.
