Wild Camping and Bothies on the NC500: Where, Legally

Quick Summary

• Wild camping in a tent is legal anywhere on or beside the NC500 under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code — the most permissive wild-camping law in Britain.
• Motorhomes and camping in cars are NOT covered by the Access Code. They're constrained by Highland Council pitch rules, local byelaws and informal community pressure. The distinction is the biggest source of NC500 visitor confusion.
• The headline pitches — Sandwood Bay dunes, Achmelvich east shore, Loch Hope, Loch Stack, Loch Maree — work brilliantly if you walk in 30 minutes from the road. Car-park camping at the same beaches is what causes the pressure.
• 7 MBA bothies sit on or near the corridor: Strathchailleach (Sandwood), Schoolhouse Inver (Lochinver), Strabeg (Durness), Suileag (Lochinver), Glen Dhu (Loch Stack), Glencoul (Eas a' Chual Aluinn), Kearvaig (Cape Wrath). All free, all unlocked, all with their own etiquette.

The NC500 brand has been an unambiguous success for north Highland tourism. It's been more complicated for the wild camping experience along the route. The legal framework that made wild camping in Scotland one of the world's freest is intact — but the visitor pressure on a handful of photogenic car-park spots has changed the on-the-ground experience and, increasingly, the regulatory response.

This guide separates the parts that are protected by Scotland's Outdoor Access Code from the parts that aren't, names specific pitches that work, names the bothies that can be your overnight infrastructure instead of a tent, and explains where Highland Council and local landowners have started pushing back. It pairs with our broader What is the NC500 explainer and the cycling-the-NC500 guide.

The legal position — what's actually permitted

Wild camping in a small tent for one or two nights is permitted on most non-enclosed land in Scotland under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 as interpreted by the Scottish Outdoor Access Code (SOAC). This includes nearly all of the NC500 corridor — the foreshore, the upland moor, the forest edges, the loch shores. The full legal framework is covered in our wild-camping access code guide.

What SOAC explicitly does not cover:

• Vehicle-based camping — sleeping in a campervan, motorhome, car or roof-tent attached to a vehicle is not included in the Access Code's wild camping right. The car (or motorhome) is the wild camping. You need to find a pitch at an official site, a designated motorhome aire, or to be on a road verge that the relevant landowner / local authority permits.
• Enclosed farmland or cultivated ground — no.
• Within sight of homes or formal buildings — no.
• The Loch Lomond and Trossachs camping management zones (March–September) — separately regulated; see our Loch Lomond management zones guide. These don't apply to the NC500 corridor but the same pattern of byelaws is being incrementally trialled along the NC500.
• Lighting open fires in summer / dry conditions / on peat — no. Use a stove.
• Leaving any trace — Leave No Trace ethics are baked into the Code. SOAC has been used successfully to ban Highland repeat offenders.

The Highland Council has progressively tightened its motorhome rules since 2022. Specific lay-bys and beach car parks have signs prohibiting overnight motorhome use; some sites have introduced paid pitches with composting toilets. The position varies by sub-region and is reviewed periodically — check current local notices before assuming. A useful summary is maintained by the Highland Council and posted at popular trailheads.

The wild camping vs motorhome distinction in practice

The single biggest source of NC500 visitor confusion is the difference between wild camping (legal almost everywhere in a tent for 1–2 nights) and motorhome free-camping (legally constrained, increasingly regulated locally).

The mental model: the Access Code was written assuming a small tent carried in by a walker, not a 6-metre Hymer with a holding tank. The 2003 legislators didn't anticipate the motorhome boom. The on-the-ground regulatory response to NC500-era motorhome pressure has been to formalise the gap between the two.

If you're in a motorhome, your overnight options on the NC500 are:

• Official campsites (Brora, Helmsdale, John o' Groats, Tongue, Durness Sango Sands, Scourie, Lochinver, Achiltibuie, Ullapool — most have pitches; book ahead in summer)
• Designated motorhome aires (small but growing network — Highland Council and a few private landowners run these)
• Farm Stay / Brit Stops / Britstops-style hosted pitches — usually £5–£15/night, often with composting toilet
• Some hotel and pub car parks that explicitly welcome motorhomes (Drovers Inn, Inchnadamph Lodge etc.) — phone ahead

If you're in a tent, the SOAC framework opens up the whole corridor — but the etiquette matters more on the NC500 than it does in less-visited parts of the Highlands.

Wild camping pressure spots — where to avoid free-pitching

The following NC500 spots have visible pressure issues. Wild camping is still legal at all of them (in a tent, SOAC) but the experience is degraded by overuse and you may meet local rangers or signage urging you to use a paid pitch instead:

• Achmelvich beach car park — the headline car-park pressure point in Assynt. Walk 20 minutes inland or south along the coast for a clean pitch.
• Sango Sands at Durness — has a paid campsite right there; using it solves the problem.
• Loch Maree lay-bys — overcrowded in summer; the south-side forest tracks are quieter.
• Loch Hope shore on the A838 — popular with motorhomes; walk into the moor to the west for a clean pitch.
• Sandwood Bay car park at Blairmore — for cars/vans; the beach itself is a 4-mile walk so foot-camping wild pitches above the bay are unaffected.

The pattern is consistent: vehicle-based concentration creates the problem; foot-carried tents dispersed across the landscape do not.

Wild camping pitches that work

Specific pitches on or close to the NC500 that we (and many others) have used responsibly. All are walk-in from the road — that's the point.

Day 4 (Tongue area) — Loch Eriboll east shore

Park at the Bonar / Polla turn-off on the A838. Walk 30–45 minutes east along the loch shore. Flat ground above the high-tide line. Sea view. South-facing morning sun. No facilities — pack out everything.

Day 5 (Durness) — Sandwood Bay dunes

Walk in from Blairmore (8 km, 1h30 each way on track). Pitch above the high-water mark in the dunes — far end of the beach, north of Am Buachaille sea stack, is the wilder option. No fires on the dunes (machair burns).

For a no-walk alternative, the Strathchailleach bothy sits a further 3 km north — Sandy Sandison's old home, atmospheric, water source nearby.

Day 6 (Scourie / Loch Stack) — Allt na Caillich

Park at the Loch Stack road end. Walk 1 km up the Allt na Caillich (the burn coming off Arkle). Flat ground next to a usable water source, dramatic Arkle face directly above. Glen Dhu bothy is 6 km further north as a bothy alternative.

Day 7 (Lochinver) — Inverkirkaig river mouth

Park at Inverkirkaig (south of Lochinver). Walk 15 minutes up the path that climbs north of the river. Flat machair pitches above the foreshore. The classic west-facing sunset spot.

For a bothy alternative on this day, Suileag bothy sits at the foot of Suilven, 5 km walk-in from Glencanisp Lodge — also the start of any Suilven ascent.

Day 7 (Coigach) — Achiltibuie back lanes

Multiple options behind the Coigach coast road. Pull off the back lanes, walk 200 m onto the moor, pitch above the lochans with Suilven and Stac Pollaidh visible to the north. Quiet because the back lanes are too narrow for motorhomes.

Day 8 (Ullapool / Loch Broom) — Rhue lighthouse

Pull in at the Rhue car park (signed off the A835 just north of Ullapool). Walk 1 km out to the headland. Pitch above the foreshore. East-facing sunrise. Ullapool 30 minutes' cycle back for breakfast.

Day 9 (Torridon) — Loch Torridon shore

If you've detoured to Torridon, the south shore of Loch Torridon has multiple pull-offs and walks-in to flat machair pitches above the foreshore. Beinn Alligin filling the morning view.

7 bothies on or near the NC500

Bothies are free unlocked mountain shelters maintained by volunteers (mainly the Mountain Bothies Association — MBA). No booking, no fees, no facilities beyond a roof and four walls. Etiquette matters: see our Scottish Bothies Beginner's Guide for the full code, and our bothy code summary for the short version.

Specific bothies you can use as overnight infrastructure on an NC500 trip:

1. Strathchailleach (Sandwood Bay area) — /bothies/strathchailleach

3 km north of Sandwood Bay on the path towards Cape Wrath. The most northwesterly bothy on the mainland. Sandy Sandison's former home — he lived here for 32 years until 1996 and his murals are still on the walls. Sleeps 4.

2. Schoolhouse Inver — /bothies/schoolhouse-inver

5 km walk from Inchnadamph on the NC500 (A837). The old village schoolhouse — stone-built, fireplace, sleeps 6 comfortably. Good water source. One of the more spacious and atmospheric MBA shelters.

3. Strabeg — /bothies/strabeg

8 km from Rhiconich on the NC500 (A838 north). Small, basic, sleeps 4. Good base for exploring the Reay Forest. Useful for cyclists doing the Durness–Lochinver leg in two days instead of one.

4. Suileag — /bothies/suileag

5 km walk from Glencanisp Lodge, west of Lochinver. The standard base for climbing Suilven — Sutherland's headline mountain. Sleeps 4. Stunning location on the moor with Suilven, Canisp and Cul Mor as the skyline.

5. Glen Dhu — /bothies/glen-dhu

5 km walk from the A894 near Unapool (Kylesku Bridge area). Sleeps 4. Useful base for Quinag ascents from the north side.

6. Glencoul — /bothies/glencoul-bothy

Reachable by boat from the Kylesku Hotel pier OR a long walk-in from the A894. The walk to Eas a' Chual Aluinn — Britain's highest waterfall — starts here.

7. Kearvaig — /bothies/kearvaig

At Cape Wrath itself, accessible only by the Kyle of Durness ferry + Cape Wrath minibus, or on foot via the Cape Wrath Trail. A converted shepherd's cottage on the most remote beach on the British mainland. The end of the road, literally.

Booking note: bothies are not booked. You arrive, you find a space, you share with whoever else is there. In peak NC500 season (July–August) the more accessible bothies (Suileag, Schoolhouse Inver) fill on weekends — carry a tent as backup. Off-season they're often empty.

Code of conduct — what good NC500 wild camping looks like

The Access Code's headline rule is leave no trace. In NC500 context that means:

• Pack out everything, including organic waste like apple cores and orange peels. They biodegrade slowly in cold Scottish soil and look ugly for months.
• Toilet at least 50 m from water sources, paths and pitches. Dig a 15 cm hole; pack out the paper.
• Use a stove, not a fire. Open fires are prohibited on peat (most of the NC500 ground), on dunes (machair fire-risk), and in any dry conditions. Bring a Trangia or gas stove.
• One or two nights maximum per spot. Longer stays move you out of the Access Code's wild-camping permission.
• Don't pitch within sight of homes or buildings. This is in the Code explicitly.
• Leave gates as you found them, dogs on leads near livestock, no firewood-cutting (all SOAC standard).
• If a sign asks you not to camp at a specific spot, respect it. The NC500 pressure spots increasingly have these. They override the Access Code where the landowner has gone through the process to post them.

Good NC500 wild camping is invisible. The whole point of the Access Code is that the experience scales: hundreds of people can wild-camp the same region in the same week without ever encountering each other if they all carry tents and walk in 30 minutes from the road. The visible pressure problem is concentrated at a handful of car parks; the rest of the route absorbs visitors fine.

Best months for NC500 wild camping

May is the connoisseur's wild camping window — long daylight, midges still mostly dormant on the west coast, low visitor density. The bothies are quiet. Loch shore pitches are usable without head-net.

June is peak daylight (18+ hours), still moderate midge pressure. Tent camping is still pleasant; the bothies start to fill on weekends.

July–August is peak midge season on the west coast and peak visitor density everywhere. The midge calculus for wild camping changes everything — see the Scottish Midge Survival Guide for kit, and the live midge forecast for any specific date. A flat-calm humid west-coast July evening can render a wild camp uninhabitable; the same pitch in a steady breeze is fine. Sutherland coast pitches (more reliable wind) work better than inland-glen pitches in this window.

September is the second prize. Midges are receding fast from mid-month; visitor density drops; bracken colour rewards the photography. The single best month for a Cape Wrath Trail or Sutherland Trail walk for exactly these reasons.

October–April is off-season. The bothies are open and quiet. Wild camping is feasible with proper four-season kit. Daylight is the constraint — under 8 hours at solstice.

The motorhome answer (if that's what you're driving)

If you're doing the NC500 in a motorhome and not in a tent:

• Plan paid pitches in advance. All the major NC500 villages now have at least one option — booking pages are easy to find via direct site searches, but a useful aggregator is Brit Stops for pub/farm informal pitches.
• Don't expect the SOAC framework to cover you. It doesn't. If you free-pitch in a lay-by, you're at the discretion of the landowner / Highland Council, not the Access Code.
• Use the official aires where they exist — they're cheap (£5–£15), they have composting toilets, and they actively reduce community pressure on the route.
• Don't grey-water in passing places. This is the single specific complaint that drives community resentment of motorhome traffic on the NC500.

Highland Council has consulted on statutory motorhome regulation for the NC500 corridor several times since 2022. The pattern is moving towards more formalised pitch infrastructure — the trade-off is more cost, more booking, less freedom. If you want the freer experience that the NC500 marketing promises, the answer is to cycle or walk it, not to motorhome it.

Honest take

The wild camping experience along the NC500 is as good as it's ever been if you carry a tent and walk in 30 minutes from the road, and is increasingly compromised if you free-pitch a vehicle at a viewpoint car park. The Access Code is robust; the pressure problem is about how a small number of high-profile spots have been used, not about the route as a whole.

The bothies offer something different — a roof, four walls, the company of whoever else has walked in. They're free, they're a Scottish institution, and they're well-suited to a multi-day NC500 walking or cycling trip. The MBA does a quiet job maintaining them and asks nothing in return except that you respect the bothy code.

If you treat the NC500 corridor as wild country with a road through it rather than as a continuous photo opportunity, the wild camping and bothy options are genuinely outstanding. That's the OutdoorSCOT-shaped version of the trip.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you wild camp anywhere on the NC500?

In a tent: yes, on most non-enclosed land, under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. Maximum 1–2 nights per spot, no fires on peat or dunes, no enclosed farmland, no within-sight-of-houses. In a motorhome or car: no — that's not covered by the Access Code and is increasingly restricted by Highland Council pitch rules.

Is wild camping on the NC500 legal for motorhomes?

No. The Scottish Outdoor Access Code covers tent wild camping only. Motorhomes need to use official campsites, designated motorhome aires, or paid pub/farm pitches. Free-camping in lay-bys is increasingly signed against and locally regulated.

What's the best wild camping spot on the NC500?

Pick by section. Sandwood Bay dunes (walk in from Blairmore) for the headline north-west coast pitch. Loch Eriboll east shore (walk in from the A838 lay-by) for the north coast. Inverkirkaig river mouth for the Assynt sunset. Coigach back lanes for the quieter alternative to Achmelvich. All require walking in from the road — that's the point.

Are there bothies on the NC500?

Yes — seven within 20 km of the corridor: Strathchailleach (Sandwood), Schoolhouse Inver (Lochinver), Strabeg (Durness), Suileag (Suilven), Glen Dhu (Quinag), Glencoul (Eas a' Chual Aluinn), and Kearvaig (Cape Wrath). All free, all unbooked, all maintained by the MBA.

Are bothies free?

Yes — Mountain Bothies Association bothies are open without booking and free to use. They're maintained by volunteer Maintenance Officers and funded by MBA membership and donations. A small contribution to the MBA (membership from £25/year) is the right thank-you.

Can I have a fire on the NC500?

Generally no. Open fires are prohibited on peat (most of the NC500 ground), on dunes (fire-risk to machair), and in any dry conditions. Use a stove (Trangia, gas) for cooking. Some bothies have fireplaces — use only those, with carried-in firewood, never wood scavenged from the surrounding landscape.

What's the best month for NC500 wild camping?

May for the perfect window — long daylight, midges still dormant, low visitor density. September for the second prize — bracken colour, midges receding, much quieter than peak summer. July–August is peak midges + peak visitor density; manageable but demands proper kit and dispersed pitching.

Related Guides

• What is the NC500 — main NC500 route overview
• Cycling the NC500 — 9-day cycling itinerary, wild camping integrates with the bike trip
• 12 best hill walks on the NC500 — hand-picked hill days along the route
• Scottish Outdoor Access Code: wild camping — full legal framework
• Loch Lomond camping management zones — precedent regulatory model
• Scottish Bothies Beginner's Guide — bothy code in full
• Bothy Code — short summary of unwritten + written rules
• Wild Camping Gear List Scotland — kit specific to Scottish conditions
• Scottish Midge Survival Guide — practical midge kit
• Midge Forecast — seasonal matrix + live 7-day
• Bothies hub — every catalogued Scottish bothy
• Far North region hub — full Sutherland + Caithness content
• NW Highlands region hub — Torridon, Wester Ross, Assynt

---

Highland Council motorhome rules vary by sub-region and are reviewed periodically — check current local notices before relying on any specific lay-by advice. The Mountain Bothies Association reserves the right to close bothies for repair or estate access; check the MBA website for current status before relying on any specific overnight option. OutdoorSCOT is independent of the North Highland Initiative and the MBA.

Sources

• Scottish Outdoor Access Code — NatureScot
• Mountain Bothies Association — MBA bothy network + maintenance
• Highland Council — Motorhome and camping — local authority guidance and aire locations
• Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 — primary legislation