Gazing out from the Inchnadamph Hotel in Sutherland, in the Scottish Highlands, I watched ripples glitter on Loch Assynt, clouds playing with Quinag’s imposing bulk.

I couldn’t see the ruins of Ardvreck Castle, but they were there, just around the bend. A gang of stags, antlers regal, strutted amid the nearby tussocks. A campervan rumbled down the otherwise empty road.

“They’re just driving through; all they’ve done is swap TV screens for windscreens,” said hotel owner Richard McKendrick, who was gazing out beside me. “It’s a marketing enterprise gotten out of hand.”

McKendrick, who has lived in these north-westernmost reaches of Britain for more than two decades, was referring to the NC500, the wildly popular driving route around Scotland’s north coast .

Launched 10 years ago, it ha

See Full Page