Having ferried across the Northsea from Bergen, the Scottish route starts in the Shetlands with their dramatic landscape of cliffs and rocky inlets. Then another 8-hour ferry crossing to the Orkneys after which a short ferry trip across the Penland Firth, where the Atlantic and North Sea meet.

Lots of water, which also means extra resting time on these boats! The route is now on the mainland and leads past the seacliffs of Caithness into Sutherland where the Gaelic language is still in use. The stretch of the route before Lairg on the edge of Loch Shin is one of the most remote in Scotland. From there the cycle route follows through wooded glens, by rivers and waterfalls to Tain. Cycling will take us on to open vistas, rural villages and historic castles of Aberdeenshire before we actually reach that oil capital of the North. We will go past ruins, cross the Firth of Tay, enter the Kingdom of Fife, follow the Kingdom Route through Tentsmuir forest and on to the historic City of St. Andrews - home of golf.

The NSCR route will continue across the Forth Bridge on to Edinburgh, then disused railway paths leading over the Moorfoot hills on to the Scottish border and than back on the English soil.

Cycling maps:

NCN Aberdeen to John O'Groats Cycle Route
NCN Edinburgh - Aberdeen Cycle Route
NCN Coast and Castles Cycle Route (Newcastle-Edinburgh)
All maps in English. Scale 1:250.000, some sections 1:80.000