Jack Thurston and his friend Ben embarked on a cycling journey through Sutherland, Scotland's most sparsely populated region, focusing on lost lanes and forgotten hill tracks rather than the popular North Coast 500. Their adventure began in Lairg, the traditional "crossroads of the north" with a population of about 800, making it the largest inland settlement in one of Europe's most remote areas.
A Breakfast Stop at an Ancient Broch
On their first morning, they pulled over to cook breakfast by the ruins of Dun Dornaigil, an Iron Age broch over 2,000 years old. While Ben got the stove going, Thurston explored the ancient roundhouse. Above them, low cloud drifted across the dark cliffs of Ben Hope. They finished their meal without seeing a single car, highlighting the solitude of the region.
Avoiding the Instagram Highway
The North Coast 500, a 516-mile (830km) circuit, has been dubbed the "Instagram highway" and has doubled traffic on its roads over the past decade. Thurston and Ben chose to avoid this route, instead heading west from Lairg into Glen Cassley. A dead-end lane on the map, it dwindles to a rough 4x4 track before revealing a smooth tarmac service road for a dam and hydroelectric generator, leading them up a steep climb over the top to Loch Shin.
Crossing the Thief's Pass
From Loch Shin, they tackled the Bealach nam Meirleach, or Thief's Pass, an old drovers' road named after cattle rustlers. Thanks to Scotland's enlightened access laws, they were free to attempt the 8-mile ride over remote hill country, passing lochans and glacier-scoured cliffs. Descending into Strathmore, they found a perfect wild-camp spot by the river until midges forced them to don nylon head nets.
From Altnaharra to the Coast
After their roadside breakfast, they continued to the hamlet of Altnaharra, known for its weather station that jointly holds the record for Britain's coldest temperature: –27.2C in December 1995. A small hotel, originally a 17th-century drovers' inn, is open from March to October. Downstream, a three-arch stone bridge built by Thomas Telford, the Scottish "colossus of roads," led them to the coast across the Flow Country, an expanse of blanket bog. Walter Scott described this area as the "immeasurable wilds." Thurston noted the roadside microcosm: delicate flowers, mosses, lichens, and dark pools ringed with reeds and cotton grass.
Arrival at Tongue and a Sea Eagle Encounter
Reaching the village of Tongue, they freewheeled down the hill as a sea eagle glided overhead, matching their speed. They stopped for lunch at the Tongue hotel, a former hunting lodge with Highland decor. Tongue overlooks a sea loch where whales, dolphins, seals, and otters are regularly spotted. A causeway built in the 1970s replaced a ferry, leaving the narrow old road around the loch almost traffic-free—a genuine lost lane with views of Ben Loyal.
Crossing the Moine and the Hope Lodge
To cross the Moine, a vast blanket bog, they had to join the A838 (part of the North Coast 500) but discovered fragments of the original abandoned road. They stopped at a roofless ruin where travellers once took refuge. At the northern tip of Loch Hope, they passed Hope Lodge, a luxury hotel opened by Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, with rooms upward of £1,550 a night. Povlsen, Scotland's biggest private landowner, made his fortune from fast fashion but has committed to nature conservation and rewilding through his company WildLand.
A Gem of a Lane and the Sutherland Clearances
They cycled a narrow lane along Loch Hope, with a thick sward of grass up the middle, winding past heather and bog myrtle. Stopping in a ravine, they drank cool, peaty water from a cascade. On this 20-mile stretch, they passed just two farmsteads. Thurston noted that the emptiness of Strathmore is a legacy of the early 18th-century Sutherland clearances, where thousands of farming families were evicted for commercial sheep grazing.
Return to Altnaharra and the Crask Inn
Returning to Altnaharra, they turned south towards Lairg and stopped at the Crask Inn, a historic drovers' haunt that offers cyclists free camping in the garden. They pitched next to a German cyclist nearing John o'Groats after starting at Land's End two weeks earlier. Their three-day tour covered 130 miles, travelling along lonesome highways, forgotten byways, and remote hill tracks. Thurston concluded, "In setting out to avoid the North Coast 500, we had ended up riding where no campervan could go."
Jack Thurston's new book, Lost Lanes Scotland, is out now (Wild Things Publishing, £18.99). This tour combines two rides from the book.
