It’s an ideal base from which to explore this part of Scotland. You can meander through the undulating hills, ablaze with mustard-coloured gorse and pocked with heather, to reach the delightful village of Plockton, population 400. Known as “the Jewel of the Highlands”, its multi-coloured cottages sit on a sheltered bay overlooking the glassy waters of Loch Carron. Grand Duncraig Castle, enveloped in pines, looms from the other side of the bay. You can spot seals, and flocks of fieldfares and redwings arrive for the winter months. Thanks to a handful of excellent restaurants showcasing seafood brought in daily by the local fishermen, Plockton has garnered a reputation as something of a foodie destination, too. We grabbed a water-front drink as the sun set at the Plockton Inn, before sitting down for a fish feast dinner at Plockton Shores to end the day. 

The drive to another charming village, Glenelg, is unforgettable in itself – as so many of the drives around here are – first hugging the shores of Loch Alsh before climbing the single track Ratagan Pass, hairpin bend after bend, rising 1,116ft into the Kintail mountains. The sheer magnitude of the Highland landscape is on full display here. We drove in the face of staggering nature –wild, rugged and beautiful – and seemed to have the road entirely to ourselves. Perhaps everyone was stuck in a traffic jam on Skye. 

Half an hour later we descended into Glenelg, which wraps the shore of a peaceful sandy peninsula. The Glenelg Inn had been recommended to us as the perfect traditional Highland pub, with friendly local staff and a daily changing menu. Punters spilled out the back into the pub garden and  down the grassy bank to the water’s edge, looking out to the otherworldly coastline of Skye which sits at the other side of the bay. The small turntable ferry can take six cars at a time from here across to Kylerhea on Skye (a pleasant alternative to Skye bridge, though rather less convenient). For those looking to take in Skye in a day, it is just a few miles from 57 Nord.

Less than an hour north, we explored perhaps the most famous section of the North Coast 500, one of the world’s legendary road trips, which typically begins and ends in Inverness. Bealach na Bà is one of the highest and most breathtaking drives in the country, a single-track road known for twisting bends that turn sharply through towering cliffs.