NC500 - Photographer drives 10,000 miles to capture beauty on the route

A photographer has travelled 10,000 miles on the North Coast 500 to produce a stunning visual document of the driving route.

Steve Campbell, 51, who lives near Inverness, has driven the route 17 times to capture the lochs, mountains, castles and coastlines which define the north and north west Highlands.

The photographer has long been acquainted with the area, having visited it many times as a child while on holiday.

But after returning to Scotland after a period living abroad, his lens then started capturing a different sense of the natural environment which surrounds the 516-mile driving route, which attracts tens of thousands of tourists a year.

Mr Campbell said he probably spent 2,000 hours on the road for his book project, and completed one full turn of the 516-mile loop in one day.

He said: “I have made the North Coast 500 my life’s passion. Although I have been so many times, no two trips are the same.”

The photographer said Torridon Valley remained his favourite area in the whole of Scotland, with the landscape captured handsomely in his new book.

He said: “Torridon Valley is still my favourite area in the whole of Scotland. It’s so romantic, and is incredibly atmospheric to drive through.

“It is probably as close as you can get to the Rocky Mountains. The scale of the mountains as you pass along the bottom of them is so immense. You have to be there driving through it to really appreciate it.

“The scenery looks great in photos but as you’re driving through it’s just stunning. Sometimes when the light comes through the clouds there, it is like a postcard.”

- The Ultimate North Coast 500, by Steve Campbell, is available now.