Hay's Way: It's August 2024 and Katharine finds herself in the company of some cattle on the NC500

Transcript

00:00Hello, so I've made it to the North Coast 500 route up in the Highlands.

00:24I'm planning to walk this popular tourist route just to see firsthand some of the benefits

00:31but also some of the complaints that the route is bringing for local communities.

00:37It was established about a decade ago and quite a lot of comments I've been hearing

00:41is that it's really become a victim of its own success because people didn't really expect

00:45it to explode like it has done.

00:47Just the incoming head of the NC500 Limited said earlier this month that they weren't

00:52quite expecting the surge in caravans and motorhomes that they've had but I mean they're

00:58an easy target.

00:59It's just sort of over tourism in general like we've seen on places like Skye.

01:03So yeah, I'm just kind of planning to walk some of the route on my walk up towards the

01:09north to see and interview people to see how they're affected.

01:14So far in Tain and Golsby and Brouwer where I am now, businesses have said that they do

01:22appreciate the income of tourists because it helps keep their businesses going and helps

01:28them sort of see them through the winter but one man who ran a shop in Tain said that there

01:37is a fear that the route is becoming a bit exclusive, it's sort of quite expensive to

01:41stay in accommodation around the NC500 now, that it's just going to be for a certain market

01:47which excludes travellers but something I'm also picking up on whilst walking is obviously

01:53walking myself.

01:54I meet some people who are into slow tourism in the Highlands and there's certainly a movement

01:59as well behind that trying to kind of counter this over tourism and the motorhome surge

02:05which is really interesting and I'll be writing a piece about it on the Scotsman soon so you

02:08can look out for that.

02:10Just a reminder, anything that I cover on Hayes Way whilst also covering the Rural Affairs

02:15Beat you can find it on the Scotsman website under a section called Hayes Way and you can

02:20also follow my Instagram page which is Rural underscore Kat with a K.

02:26Just also wanted to take a video here because there are some Highland cows enjoying kind

02:32of grazing right next to a golf course, just seen quite a lot of golfers taking selfies

02:39with them.

02:40Normally I'm told that you shouldn't really get in between a Highland cow and her calf

02:45but they're just kind of roaming here and there's a mum here with two calves so I'm

02:54just going to walk alongside them but yes, Hayes Way continues.