SCOTLAND’S stunning new North Coast 500 route in the Highlands has made it on to an exclusive list of 101 things tourists should see and do in the world.
International magazine National Geographic Traveller has included two Scottish entries in their latest compilation of 101 Reasons to Travel Now for its October issue.
North Coast 500 – Scotland’s answer to America's Route 66 – features in the Transportation category.
A visit to see a portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, part of a collection at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, makes the list under Cultural Gems. The official North Coast 500 route, launched in 2014, begins and ends at Inverness Castle, with just over 500 miles of stunning scenery around the coastal edges of the North Highlands. It takes in its villages and towns including Ullapool, Durness, John O’Groats, Dornoch and Inverness.
Record-breaking long distance cyclist Mark Beaumont completed the route earlier this month.
The portrait, of Lady Agnew, painted by American artist John Singer Sargent, was acquired by the National Gallery in 1925. She was Gertrude Vernon, young wife of barrister Andrew Noel Agnew, and the portrait established Lady Agnew as a society beauty.
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