Lochcarron to Applecross: the Bealach na Bà, or the long way round?

There are two ways to drive from Lochcarron to Applecross. The direct one is the Bealach na Bà, a single-track pass that leaves the A896 at Tornapress, climbs to 2,053 feet with gradients of 1 in 5, and drops down to the village on the other side. The other is the coast road, which keeps going north on the A896 towards Shieldaig and then loops back round the top of the Applecross peninsula at sea level. Both are single track. Only one of them has a warning sign at the bottom.

Which to take mostly comes down to two things: what you're driving, and how you feel about reversing on a steep hill to a passing place with a car nose-to-nose in front of you. If you're in a small car, the road is clear of snow and you're comfortable on narrow roads, go over the pass and come back by the coast. That is the loop one TravelFeed writer stumbled into on her first day of the North Coast 500, and it is still the best way to see the peninsula. If you're towing, driving a big motorhome or learning, take the coast road both ways. That isn't us being cautious. It's what the sign and the route's own organisers say.

This guide pulls together what @soyrosa wrote across her North Coast 500 series about driving these roads, plus what the road signs, the official NC500 guidance and the road's recorded history say about them.

The two routes at a glance

From Lochcarron the A896 heads west and then north towards Kishorn. The Bealach na Bà turns off at Tornapress, at the head of Loch Kishorn. Wikipedia's entry on the pass describes the climb as rising from sea level at Applecross to around 630 metres in about 6 km, with "very tight hairpin bends that switch back and forth up the hillside" and gradients approaching 20%. The road itself dates from 1822. Work started in May 1818, and the first contractor lasted just three months before an Edinburgh firm took over and finished the job.

For the coast road, stay on the A896 past the Tornapress turn and carry on towards Shieldaig, then take the minor road west along the north coast of the peninsula through Kenmore and down the west side into Applecross. It's newer than you might think. According to Undiscovered Scotland, a plaque near the Shieldaig end records that the Shieldaig to Kenmore section opened on 11 May 1970 after five years of construction, and it took another five years before the whole road through to Applecross was finished in 1975. Until then the pass was the only road into the village. Before the pass was built, Applecross was reachable only by boat.

We haven't given distances or drive times for either route, and that's on purpose. None of the sources we checked agree on a mileage, and on roads like these the time a sat-nav quotes is close to useless anyway (more on that below). What is clear is that the coast road is much longer, so don't plan it as a quick detour.

What the sign at Tornapress actually says

The warning boards at the foot of the pass are plain about it. As photographed in 2010, the blue sign reads: "This road rises to a height of 2053 ft with gradients of 1 in 5 and hairpin bends. Not advised for learner drivers, very large vehicles or caravans after first mile." The red sign underneath points to the "alternative low level route via Shieldaig - Kenmore - Applecross Road", and a smaller sign at the side says the road is "normally impassable in wintry conditions".

The North Coast 500's own FAQ is more specific. It says the Bealach na Bà stretch "is not suitable for large motor-homes, caravans and inexperienced drivers due to its sharp bends and steep gradients" and advises "taking the slip road up at the A896 instead", in other words staying on the A896 towards Shieldaig and the coast road. Its rough cut-off is anything bigger than a standard VW T5 conversion, "about 16 – 18 ft in length". It also gives a test worth applying even if your vehicle is small: if you can't reverse accurately for several hundred yards on a narrow single-track road, don't attempt it. The same FAQ says it only takes one person who isn't used to driving a large vehicle to block the road completely, and that the road to Applecross was blocked several times in a single year for exactly that reason.

What the climb is like, from someone who did it unprepared

Rosanne Dubbeld (@soyrosa) and her boyfriend drove the North Coast 500 in August and September 2017, and the Bealach na Bà happened to them almost by accident. They'd reached Lochcarron early on day one, she suggested a detour to Applecross because she'd "heard a lot of great things" about it, and he said yes. As @soyrosa wrote afterwards, "Little did we know: this is a famous pass."

Her account of the climb is the most useful thing in this guide, because it describes the stress rather than the scenery. Very narrow single-track road, stone walls on the side, sharp hairpins, traffic in both directions and a lot of stopping at passing places. The specific fear she describes is the one that catches people out: driving uphill, unable to see more than ten metres ahead, and wondering what happens if you accelerate and a car appears. She also mentions cursing at cyclists, which is worth knowing: you share the hairpins with people on bikes, some of them grinding uphill at walking pace, so give them room.

Then the summit. They stopped at the top and drove down to Applecross, which she sums up as "basically an Inn next to a beach". It's a fair answer to anyone wondering what's at the end of the road: drivers and motorcyclists who've just come over the pass gather there for a coffee or a hot chocolate before either going back over or carrying on round the peninsula. Applecross's Gaelic name is A' Chomraich, "the sanctuary", which makes more sense once you've done the climb.

Why the coast road is the best way back

The detail in @soyrosa's post that matters most for planning is what they did next. Instead of going back over the pass, they drove the small roads around the Applecross peninsula and returned to Lochcarron that way, and she says it was a blast. After the pass those roads felt easy. Sheep wandering onto the road didn't bother them, and the Hebrides were visible from the road. It's the part of the day she still remembered most sharply when she wrote it up.

That loop (pass in, coast out) is the version we'd recommend to most drivers. You get the hairpins while you're fresh, you avoid doing the steep descent towards Tornapress, and the coast road shows you a side of the peninsula the pass doesn't. It's also how the official NC500 is laid out: the route continues from Applecross towards Gairloch rather than doubling back over the pass, and the coast road is the way out of the peninsula in that direction.

She was honest about the cost, too. Doing Inverness to Applecross and the full peninsula road back to Lochcarron in one day was "doable in time", she wrote, but more breathing room, or more preparation for the pass, "wouldn't have hurt us". If you can, base yourself in Lochcarron or Applecross for a night rather than squeezing the peninsula into a transit day.

How long it really takes on single-track roads

This is the bit sat-navs get wrong. In the next post in her series, about the drive north from Lochcarron, @soyrosa set out the rule of thumb she and her partner had worked out by then. If Google Maps says an hour on ordinary two-lane roads, allow an hour and a half. If the road is single track, that same hour becomes two and a half. She's careful to say this applies to drivers new to these roads, and that locals may well manage it in "Google time".

Apply that multiplier to the coast road in particular. It is long and single track the whole way, and it is exactly the kind of road where a quoted drive time turns into an afternoon. On the pass the distance is short, so the time matters less than the nerve.

Passing places, and the etiquette that keeps the pass moving

Both routes run on passing places, and the pass only works if everyone uses them properly. The rules are in rule 155 of the Highway Code. If you see a vehicle coming towards you, or the driver behind wants to overtake, pull into a passing place on your left, or wait opposite one on your right. Give way to traffic coming uphill whenever you can. If necessary, reverse to a passing place to let the other vehicle through.

The uphill rule is the real exam on the Bealach na Bà. On the hairpins the Highway Code wants the downhill driver to yield, but if the nearest passing place is behind the uphill car, someone is reversing on a 1-in-5 slope. It's the scenario the NC500's reversing test is about, and the reason it's worth being honest with yourself before you start.

If the pass felt fine: the B869 is next

The NC500 FAQ also advises large vehicles to avoid the B869 from Lochinver to Kylesku, the coastal loop past Stoer Lighthouse. @soyrosa found that loop the most adventurous driving of their whole trip, more than the Bealach na Bà: narrow road, rough edges, sharp turns, and more blind stretches than anywhere else. They met only a few cars, but some were campers, and there were moments she doubted they could pass even a regular-sized car. Locals she spoke to shared her worry about the route sending unprepared tourists that way.

Her conclusion is the same one that applies to Applecross. If you feel secure on the roads and your car isn't too big, go, and take a whole day over it even though the driving itself is short. Google Maps gave her 1 hour 18 minutes for the loop. She'd also have you stop at the pie shop in Kinlochbervie and eat at the Kylesku Hotel.

When to go

The pass is the part of this trip most affected by season. The sign at Tornapress warns that the road is normally impassable in wintry conditions, and Wikipedia describes it as often impassable in winter. Undiscovered Scotland notes that before the early 1950s, when the road was still rough gravel, snow could block it for weeks on end. In winter, plan on the coast road and treat the pass as a bonus if it's clear.

The NC500 FAQ puts the warmest months at May to September, with the caveat that it "can't guarantee sunshine". Late summer has one extra: @soyrosa drove the route in August and September and remembers Scotland as purple because of the heather that was flowering along the way, at one point a "purple heather wall" right behind her car at a viewpoint.

Practical checklist before you turn off at Tornapress

• Check the vehicle. Towing a caravan, or driving anything bigger than a VW T5-sized camper (roughly 16 to 18 ft)? Take the coast road, as the NC500 FAQ advises.
• Check the driver. Learners are explicitly advised against the pass on the sign. Anyone who can't reverse a few hundred yards on single track shouldn't start up it.
• Check the weather. In wintry conditions the pass is normally impassable. Low cloud on the summit also takes away the view, which is half the reason to go.
• Plan the loop. Over the pass to Applecross, round the coast via Kenmore to the A896 near Shieldaig, then back south to Lochcarron, or on north if you're continuing the NC500.
• Budget time. Use the single-track rule of thumb: whatever the sat-nav says, multiply it.

For more first-hand trip reports from around the country, see TravelFeed's United Kingdom destination page.

FAQ

Can you drive to Applecross without using the Bealach na Bà?

Yes. A coast road round the north of the Applecross peninsula, via Shieldaig and Kenmore, has linked the village to the A896 since 1975. The sign at Tornapress calls it the "alternative low level route". It's far longer than the pass and single track throughout, but it has no hairpins or high-level gradients.

Is the Bealach na Bà dangerous?

It's steep and narrow rather than reckless: 1-in-5 gradients, tight hairpins and a climb to 2,053 feet on a single-track road with passing places. The danger is mostly to drivers who aren't used to roads like this, which is why the sign advises learners against it and the NC500 organisers tell inexperienced drivers to use the coast road. @soyrosa, who did it unprepared in 2017, made it fine but said some preparation "wouldn't have hurt".

Can motorhomes and caravans drive the Bealach na Bà?

The sign at the foot of the pass says it's not advised for very large vehicles or caravans after the first mile, and the NC500 FAQ says large motorhomes and caravans should take the coast road instead. Its guideline is anything bigger than a standard VW T5 conversion, about 16 to 18 feet.

Is the Bealach na Bà open in winter?

Not reliably. The roadside sign says it's normally impassable in wintry conditions, and it's often impassable in winter. Plan on the coast road from late autumn to spring and check conditions locally before you set off.