NC500 Impact
Looks like the marketing of this now well known tourist route is having mixed blessing for the North of Scotland. Soon to be joined by another route showcasing some of the best of Scotland, it can only be hoped that visitors choose not to do it merely as a tick on a bucket list, but to spend some time understanding and embracing this rather special country, it’s culture and spectacular scenery. Some businesses are probably doing very well, others not so, and I can’t help thinking that this is going to end up like a few other too popular must do ideas that are just a list. Snowdon? Long queues to summit. Porthcurno? Enjoy the miles of queues to this tiny, tiny little Cornish village. Reality is often a huge gulf away from imagination.
I sincerely hope folks have great holidays that live up to expectations, but good planning and a sense of respect for local community needs to be part of any holiday.
😁
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Same here DD. I did Snowdon quite a while ago, and couldn’t believe what I was seeing at the time. It was a lovely sunny day when we set off, but 3000 feet up it was a lot cooler and some of the going was rough. Yet we found a queue of folks waiting to get to the actual summit, many in skimpy tops and flip flops. We had seen such walking up, they hadn’t got up there via the railway. Rather frightening.
It’s great that the area is enjoying lots of visitors, but to benefit the community, folks need to spend a little on the way and help support these communities.
We long ago stopped visiting Cornwall in late July and August. It’s a very different place full of huge numbers of ill informed tourists. We have seen unbelievable traffic jams, dogs dying in cars, children dying unsupervised on beaches, hospitals overloaded with severe sunburn cases. All a massive strain on local infrastructures.
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I think many of us could predict what would happen when the NC500 was first promoted. It’s such a shame and I’m sure people tend to dash around without pausing to appreciate the area. I’m glad we toured that area several times before NC500 was invented.
Peak summer in Cornwall is not a time we venture out. It’s a time to enjoy home and garden.
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Have you really seen "dogs dying in cars, children dying unsupervised on beaches, hospitals overloaded with severe sunburn cases"?
If you have then especially the first two must have been very traumatic, particularly if you could do nothing to help but just stand by watching.
It must have been horrendous enough to have seen one dog and one child die but to have seen more than one example of each must have affected you deeply.
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I am not sure they rush around without stopping to admire the scenery but they will not have been used to the roads and the slower pace there. What you get is people looking at the mileage and thinking they can travel far further in a day than they can and end up having to try and go a bit faster than they thought and causing problems with this. There is also a problem with people not used to the rules on the single track roads and causing further problems.
I am afraid that it is a victim of its own success and possibly avoiding the peak season is now a good idea.
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It happens, Dunelm.
I can’t speak for TDA but certainly our local news carries several such sad events each summer and our hospitals are frequently stretched beyond normal capacity with ambulances queuing because A&E cannot take the patients who need offloading. Then ambulances aren't available to repond to further calls. The situation becomes very serious at times.
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The dog didn’t die because another member of public smashed the car windows, then phoned the police. The child however wasn’t so lucky. We were on a beach called Porth Kidney, the opposite side of the River Hayle to Towan Beach. This river is very dangerous, even at low tide when some visitors try to wade across. The incident with the poor little girl took place on the opposite side of the river from where we were. She was buried under a sand dune with lots of lifeguards and others desperately trying to dig her out. Sadly even the professionals failed. Here’s the link to the local news item.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4151632.stm
If you spend enough time in Cornwall, such as the three months we used to each year, you realise just how many incidents like this there are, it’s truly sad to see. Visitors aren’t fully aware of freak waves, rip tides, big flat beaches that are covered within a matter of a few minutes, and we have seen the trials for actually using zone bands on large beaches to reunite lost toddlers with parents! (I think this was Widemouth Bay up near Bude) The only time I needed a hospital was for a tooth abscess, A&E was full of severely sunburnt individuals.
I worked as a Lifeguard, albeit in an indoor Leisure Centre, as a student. You quickly realise how easy it is for something to go wrong.
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Radio Scotland reported the other day that many more complaints have been made recently by locals, along the route, about the number of vehicles driving recklessly especially through villages putting pedestrians at risk, about leaving lots of rubbish strewn by the roadside, and about those not using official touring sites but staying overnight in carparks etc.
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As far as rubbish being strewn is concerned just look along our motorway, our roadside verges and railway track sides. I find this appalling and a considerable danger to wildlife and those of us that are employed to pick it up. Sadly we really are a filthy and disgusting nation!
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SOME are filthy & disgusting, the same goes for most countries MSF there is no perfect country with perfect inhabitants. Let’s keep a perspective☹️
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We too 'did' the NC500 before it was named, and loved every minute of it, from the old mini- bus ride to Cape Wrath lighthouse (lovely Crab sandwiches) to the Castle of Mey, Smoo Cave and being dive bombed by Artic Terns nesting on the beach at Brora. It deserves its popularity BUT it should be done in a 'Relaxed' way over 3 weeks or so, not 'raced around' scattering rubbish as you go.
A few strategically placed Chemical disposal points with fresh water taps and rubbish collection, would solve 95% of the negative reports (paid for by a small charge) and some of the profits generated.
We managed with Sango Sands,Dunnett Head, and Brora campsites.
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Perhaps something could be learned from the West Harris Trust which provides official ‘wildcamping’ places with rubbish bins for £5 p/n and a couple of sites with more facilities.
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It’s decades since we did anything in North Scotland. I do recall it being quite popular then but nothing like it is now. My sister lived and worked in Lochinver for a while, she says it was beautiful and unspoilt, but all she dealt with were a few nice locals and then the seriously rich who were there to kill things. She didn’t have a car at the time, and getting around involved jumping on post bus to Lairg, or if walking, counting the telegraph posts!
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I agree and this being a small "over crowded "island and no one willing to take on the menial jobs,for what they pay,then it will only get worse,
Even in Switzerland's clean country it was most noticeable when we were there ,arround the railway/bus interchanges how much litter and graffiti there was
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Good point JV👍🏻.Too many folk slap there own country down & big up every other country. I’ve visited a lot of foreign lands & I've yet to find one that is pristine, lazy folk with bad attitudes live globally☹️
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It seems, if the Guardian article is correct, that they people originally promoting the NC500 opened Pandora's Box without much foresight and forwards planning? Clearly the route has become very popular but surely those that promote it have to take some responsibility as do all that travel it. Could more have been done to provide better facilities en route?
David
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Yes, it could. See my previous post.
That doesn’t excuse inappropriate behaviour by visitors though.
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I'm not talking about the SOME, I'm talking about the resultant environment. Unfortunately from that railway carriage, that car window the only perspective is that we all see a fility disgusting sight.
So sad, even those rose tinted glasses do not hide this or the dangers associated with it. It's plain for all to see.
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By improving the facilities the nature of the area gets changed and the whole thing becomes a place that is spoilt rather than unspoilt. We could end up "killing the thing we love."
That said there are areas of the UK already designated in tourism terms, ie the Jurassic Coast which already attracted tourists in great numbers but had the infrastructure in place to cope.
The NC500 was a clever tourism ploy but does an area that relies on remoteness and tranquillity need to be exploited so much? Luckily the weather can be a deterrent, if it was in the SW it would be over run.
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Even in Switzerland's clean country it was most noticeable when we were there ,arround the railway/bus interchanges how much litter and graffiti there was
Could it be that it was those of us traveling through the railway / bus interchanges were the actual culprits and not the locals? I'm sure that litter to the degree we experience it in the UK is not a feature of France and certainly not Switzerland.
I regularly get stopped at a particular set of traffic lights on the approach into Derby and I'm appalled by the number of cans and bottles and general litter that have obviously been thrown out of vehicle windows onto the grass verge as they wait at the lights. Because of the location, without shutting part of the road, it would be very difficult for anyone to clear up the mess and so it just gets worse. What an advert for the city as well as being a hazard for wildlife.
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Travelling widely in Denmark I was pleasantly surprised to find proper laybyes properly off the road with toilets, fresh water, waste dumps and rubbish recycling facilities. These were relatively frequently found along even some of their equivalent of our A Roads. All in fine fettle and perfectly useable in my experience.
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Can anyone (outside of London) say that their local area, be it touristy or not, has support services that cope well with local requirements? I very much doubt it.
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Brue
I have just realised that we have done part of the route but only that part up the East Coast and along the top to Dunnet Bay so only limited experience. I would agree that you wouldn't want to spoil it but surely some sort of survey was done that would identify places along the route where some basic facilities could be added? The east coast part seems to be well placed with campsites but suspect the north and west not so much so? Must think about doing it ourselves one day.
David
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I'm not sure about the campsites, I think there are quite a few dotted all round the area, possibly more on the west because it's always been a popular destination due to the "softer" climate. But whether any of them or the communities can cope with a lot of extra visitors remains to be seen.
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I’m not surprised the East Coast has more in way of facilities. We did a tour many years ago in June. Started off on West Coast, had snow, wind and rain all week, gradually worked our way East. The wind was still a factor but it was a lot warmer and sunnier. Mind, I don’t think sunbathing is a priority, but it’s nice when you do get it. We have stayed on Mull of Kintyre a few times as well, that’s lovely touring country using ferries as well.
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The west coast enjoys the Gulf stream so you'll find people visit there to see the gardens at Inverewe, the palm trees in Plockton and some lovely beaches. Gairloch etc has always been a holiday destination but enjoyed a quiet reputation, changing now of course but there is a big variety of scenery to explore. I'm sure it's still possible to get off the main tourist routes but many are limited to "doing" the NC500 only and won't have time to explore the hinterland and coastal inlets.
I've only seen Cape Wrath from the sea but that's a completely different area too, shame to miss these things by just going round the coast on a designated route.
There are still places I want to see up there, I wish we done more when we lived near enough to do it!
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If i see adverts for the latest ( in ] place to visit i go the other way !
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