NORTH COAST 500 VLOG ◆ Exploring Beauly, Tain, & Dornoch ◆ Scotland NC500 Road Trip [DAY 1]

[@MeansToTravel]

Be sure to hit the like button on this video! We're so grateful for your likes, subscriptions, and shares! 👍🙏 Do you have any additional tips for visiting Dornoch, Tain, and Beauly, or for driving the NC500 in Scotland? Feel free to share them in a comment below!!! 😀👇

[@TravelAdventureswithEricB]

Beautiful area,love the waterfalls.I would perfectly be OK dealing with the rain for that .

[@MeansToTravel]

Thanks Eric! Yeah the off-and-on rain is just something we had to power through in Scotland. I suppose that's what makes it so green and beautiful! 😀

[@drewbewho]

Thats my bedroom window at 14:17. Well, used to be. Mums spare room now. KZbin is sneakily suggesting videos to me that it somehow knows would interest me. 😊

[@MeansToTravel]

That’s so fun we were able to capture your childhood house!

[@jacquelinemcmillan2793]

So you lived in dornoch? I may be leaving Glasgow with my 11 year old daughter and moving here. Just worried as I don't drive is it possible to live here and use only public transport or would we be isolated? Like is there supermarkets doctors etc we could get to without being on a bus for over an hour? Lol

[@drewbewho]

@@jacquelinemcmillan2793 yes, it's no problem. Or rather, it's possible. You have everything you need if you're in Dornoch or Tain or similar sized towns. Tain has a large new health center, and two large supermarkets for example. My sister at 42 doesn't drive and has gotten by fine, for commuting etc. But indeed it would be easier with a car. Its possibly easier to make close friends up north. I've lived in glasgow too, but when you make friends in smaller places like that, they tend to end up being closer friends. I just hope it's still like that (not lived there for 24 years) so its possible social media has meant people dont go out to pubs etc as much. For your daughter, its a much safer/healthier place to grow up than glasgow area in my opinion.

[@costasworldofmusicmemories5792]

Hello Eliz and Derek, it's so nice to see you guys. Harriet and I have been as far north as Inverness. We have not been to Tain or Dornoch. They look like lovely towns straight out of a TV British Mystery. Our next road trip to Scotland will take us there. Beautifully done video ! How is your family doing ? Hope you and your family are doing ok. Sending you so much Love and Affection Dear Friends ! Harriet, Jim and Yuki. Richmond, Va.

[@MeansToTravel]

Hey guys! Hope you had a nice holiday weekend! Thanks so much for tagging along and watching our drive! Haha yes, Tain and Dornoch should definitely be settings on a British TV show - you totally called that right. Hope you get to visit on your next Scotland trip soon! Our families overall and are doing okay and hanging in there. We had a nice family-focused weekend celebrating Easter yesterday. 😊

[@annaburch3200]

Such a fun adventure. I'm still enjoying tagging along. I really hope to visit Scotland someday. All your videos are inspiring. 😊

[@MeansToTravel]

Thanks so much Anna! We’re so glad to keep being able to share this trip! I really hope you can make it to Scotland someday!

[@theresabigwideworld2632]

You went through a lot of nice places and all very quiet too. I've read a few people say don't do the NC500 in summer as the roads are narrow and the traffic is horrific!

[@MeansToTravel]

Yes! I've heard that, too, about driving it in the summertime! I think there are just lot's of trade-offs to consider. We went in November when the roads were fairly empty but a lot of hotels and restaurants were closed for the season. The sun would also set around 3:30pm, which made our days extremely short. I can see why going in the summer would be better in those ways. But summer would also bring crowds and midges, so you just have to know what feels best! Such a beautiful drive regardless of the seasons, I think! Thanks so much for watching and following along! 😀

[@jennyoshea1958]

Great video. Love Dornoch 🙌😊

[@MeansToTravel]

Thanks Jenny! Have you visited Dornoch before? If so, did you enjoy it? I wish we had gone to the beach!

[@jennyoshea1958]

@@MeansToTravel Yes, the beach is very sandy with mountains in the distance. I was there mid May in 2018 and it was delightful as hardly anyone around. Dornock is one of my favourite places in Scotland besides the Isle of Mull. So grateful for your videos. 🌷🌻✨🌼

[@MeansToTravel]

@@jennyoshea1958 I hope that we'll get to visit hte Isle of Mull someday! I've heard SUCH great things!

[@jennyoshea1958]

@@MeansToTravel I think you both would love it. It's very enchanting 🙂🕊️🌻

[@maryellendillon4469]

I saw #4 posted and had to back and watch the earlier NC500 vlogs again! Another country for me to visit!

[@MeansToTravel]

Thanks for watching them all!!!! 😁😁

[@hendarjerm]

Oh lovely I'm going there in August can't wait ❤

[@MeansToTravel]

That’s the perfect time of year to go for nicer weather! Hope you have a fabulous trip!!

[@NewCastleIndiana]

I still remember your video from this trip. Especially being a car guy. And guess what, I am wheels down tomorrow morning not too far from there. Cheers!!!!!

[@MeansToTravel]

So jealous that you’ll be across the pond!!! Have a great trip! 😀

[@NewCastleIndiana]

I’d love to have either of you join me in my car stuff travels. All alone and tomorrow is my birthday. I’m going to goodwood again July and September, having missed the last few years. Hoping it will be fun.

[@neilmorrison7356]

The golf Course in Dornoch is called Royal Dornoch and is the third oldest in the world. Many course in USA were modeled on it by Donald Ross who was born in St Gilbert Street, Dornoch in 1872 and became America's best known golf course architect. My cousin David Bell is the current Captain

[@MeansToTravel]

So cool that you’re related to the captain! Yeah when we posted on Instagram that we were in Dornoch, our friend who is a golf pro told us that he’s always wanted to go! Little did we know how famous and old it was, haha! Now we know, though! 😊 That’s neat that a lot of American courses were modeled after Dornoch! ⛳️

[@neilmorrison7356]

Guys you are really hitting my favorite places. We were in Beauly last Saturday and Dornoch I my home town! BTW I got the packing cubes you recomended they were great used them when we went to Australia for my Brother in laws wedding in March

[@MeansToTravel]

That's awesome you were in both places so recently! How did you like growing up in Dornoch? I'm dying to know if the Dornoch bookstore has been there a long time! Great to hear about the packing cubes - I'm so glad you liked them!!! Sounds like a fun trip all the way to Australia!

[@neilmorrison7356]

@@MeansToTravel in hindsight it w as great but you tend to not realise how lucky you are at the time. No one locked their doors. We went to the beach almost everyday in the summer had great snow in the winter. Was a bit of a shock going to Edinburgh for University. The bookshop must be about 40 years old.

[@annaburch3200]

Finally getting around to watching the videos and found you, Neil! 😊😉 What a beautiful place you grew up.

[@neilmorrison7356]

@@annaburch3200 I did suggest it as one of my places to visit in Scotland! I hope you get a chance to visit someday. The Castle is actually the old Bishops Palace.

[@markhardie4887]

Thank you enjoyed the vlog.

[@MeansToTravel]

So glad you enjoyed it! They're a true labor of love. 😊

[@dcanmore]

the stone is blonde sandstone and decades or hundreds of years of weathering will bring out the colours of the strata within the stone.

[@MeansToTravel]

That's so cool to know! Thanks for the extra info! 😀🙏

[@neilmorrison7356]

I use a bowl from Tain Pottery for my porridge.

[@neilmorrison7356]

It has dolphins on it but an older pattern

[@MeansToTravel]

That's awesome! I adore artisan handmade crafts. I think they make the best home goods and souvenirs! Later on this road trip, I finally purchased a mug to bring home that was handmade by a local artist, but I wish I had picked something up at Tain Pottery, too!

[@jacquelinemcmillan2793]

Great video i currently live in glasgow but have chance to move here. However i dont drive so im worried would i be cut off? Or does Darnoch have a doctors schools supermarket etc without having to travel into inverness?

[@neilmorrison7356]

The name Beauly as you say comes from beautiful but also the French for field

[@MeansToTravel]

Oh interesting!!! That word hadn't come up on my French duolingo lessons (yet), haha!

[@neilmorrison7356]

Oops got it wrong it is place not field field is champ

[@stuartmarshall2418]

Enjoy your videos glad you enjoyed my country some of your place name pronunciations are a bit off , but you have taken an interest in the places you visit which gets you a pass.

[@MeansToTravel]

So sorry about the place names if we pronounced them wrong! Thanks so much for watching!!!

[@rutharmstrong9152]

Loved the "Old School" shop in Beauly. Viewers: see if you can spot, sitting on a display table "The Beautiful Poems of Donald Trump." What a grifter! I understand that his mother was Scottish, so maybe that's the reason it's there? I suspect the reason that there's lots of orange in the exterior stonework around Dornoch is because of iron deposits in the area. I checked on Dornoch in Wikipedia, and sure enough, there's archeological evidence of iron works around Dornoch from the Iron Age.

[@MeansToTravel]

The Old School Beauly shop was great, I'm so glad we went! The book in question is a work of satire. And good to know about the iron in the stone!

[@kenrundle4225]

I hope you found out that Madonna was married Guy Ritchie in Dornoch Cathedral. They were staying at a nearby Skibo Castle, now a very grand hotel which was the final UK home of Andrew Carnegie ( Carnegie Hall etc) the Scot who emigrated to the USA and built a steel making empire by exploiting his labour force, as so many in the USA do to this day. He then spent the rest of his life spending his money on charitable works like libraries. I really enjoy your quality videos and enthusiasm but its a shame you make so little effort to get pronounciations right. For instance a Lock is used in a canal to help boats climb up or down slopes. Lakes in Scotland are called Lochs , the CH signifies a softer sound. As in Dornoch. Many folk will learn a lot from your efforts so its a shame if they learn the wrong pronounciations from them as well.

[@MeansToTravel]

Good to know! We saw an Andrew Carnegie library in Cromarty in our last video, so that makes sense. And for loch, we actually pronounce it like all Americans pronounce that word since we have lochs in America, too. If you Google "how to pronounce loch" and "how to pronounce lock," you'll notice that the American way is the same for both words (laak). You're the second Brit to tell us that we're pronouncing the word wrong, which in all honesty I find to be outrageously silly, since Derek and I are both native English speakers. We just have a different dialect. However, I FULLY admit that we'll likely mispronounce every single Gaelic word in this series given that we didn't have a guide and we had very little cell service in most spots, so fair warning LOL!!! All of those mispronunciations will not be intentional, just circumstantial. 😆

[@rutharmstrong9152]

I, too, think it's "best practice" to learn how to pronounce words as the locals do. Even in the US, it sometimes grates my ears to hear how "the locals" pronounce legacy words and phrases, but that's just part of traveling. (This is equally true when I hear people making no effort to pronounce MY family surname correctly (it's Dutch), even when I help them, as politely as possible. Oh well......)

[@kenrundle4225]

@@MeansToTravel. We're talking Scots here not English. However I do see the light. All that wasted time revising my pronounciation for my school French oral exam and since then my attempts, as a foreigner, to try to get my pronounciation right in Germany, Austria,Spain, Portugal, Italy and New Zealand etc when I should have gone the N American route and make no effort to engage with cultures outside the USA. But surely, as a native English speaker, you must have had a problem, after emigrating to adjust to American English?

[@MeansToTravel]

​@@kenrundle4225 I don't think there's anything I will say here that will feel satisfactory. To me, the loch thing feels like "scone" vs. "scone." Loch is a common word in American English and we pronounce it like lock, even though the origin of the word is Scottish. I typically don't change the way I pronounce words when I go to Britain, because I've been told many times that British people strongly do not like when Americans try to imitate their accents (since most of the time it's not done correctly). I also think it would be odd and unnecessary if British people visit America and correspondingly change the way they say things like garage, tomato, schedule, etc. I personally enjoy hearing how people with other dialects pronounce things. I'm sure you yourself have a lovely accent, and that you pronounce many other words differently from me. I don't think there's anything I can do other than admitting again that our pronunciations will not be perfect. These videos were not heavily produced in advance - we just showed up at most places, as you can tell, and the proper pronunciations aren't posted on the signs. The Gaelic words in our videos will definitely have a likelihood of being mispronounced due to the spellings and unique sounds. This would happen to us in places like Llandudno, too, since my mouth physically can't say the guttural double l's like Welsh people do. We do our best, but we admit we are imperfect humans. But I'll still post the videos we filmed, rather than scrap them. Definitely feel free to watch another channel if our mispronunciations deeply upset you to the point that our videos do not bring you joy!

[@MeansToTravel]

​@@rutharmstrong9152 Hi Mom. Just to clarify for anyone reading, you don't typically correct Dutch people on how to say the surname. Instead, you correct non-Dutch speakers on how to pronounce it. Yes, I of course agree that it's best practice to try to pronounce things correctly and try your best! But, I think Derek and I have just learned to shrug things off sometimes. Literally no one in the UK or America ever pronounces Zacarias correctly...to the point where Derek's whole family (including us) just automatically tell people that it's pronounced differently than it actually is. Only in Spanish-speaking counties do we say it correctly during introductions. I think we just take that stance so people overall feel comfortable saying our name, and hopefully as result, feel comfortable being around us. And when it comes to my first name, as long as people attempt to say Eliz instead of Liz, I'll be happy however they pronounce it. Haha!

[@Ann-Vorol]

Door knock???? Even google has got the wrong pronunciation!! you say it using the back of your throat! Dorno (use your throat to make the sound)ch, DO NOT pronounce like a k. Next, this is the Spelling of Alness, one L not two, this is how Burgh is spelled and pronounced BURRA NOT borrow!! Disappointing you didn't show the inside of the Cathedral as it's stunning!! Did you know that Maddona was married here!! Not the best time of year to visit these parts as everything is almost at a shutdown especially high up in the Highlands!!

[@MeansToTravel]

Yep so many things were shut down but at least we still had fun! Glad we can at least learn the proper pronunciations of the places we stumbled across now (after the fact) when locals tell us. And haha oops to using your throat to say words - I’m not sure I even know how to do that!!! Definitely not a natural sound for us. That would certainly require a lot of practice, without a doubt! Hopefully I could learn it faster than I’ve ever been able to learn how to roll my r’s. 😆

[@drewbewho]

Madonna, not Maddona. One d, two n's😬.

[@novasco9684]

Please learn to pronounce local words and towns it does my head in 🙄

[@MeansToTravel]

Sorry! Gosh, it would be so helpful if the local signs along the NC500 had the phonetic pronunciations on them, since the cell phone service was so bad! (We used 3 as our carrier.) That would make it far more likely to please.