The NC500

2025 was flying by as we carried on planning our NC500 adventure. We’d bought Robbie Roams NC500, and honestly, it was money well spent—I’d absolutely recommend it. It gave us loads of ideas on places to stay, things to do and where to eat. With all this new inspiration, we tweaked our route to include a detour to Orkney and went ahead and booked our campsites.

Then in July, life threw us yet another curveball.

In an effort to get fitter and healthier, we’d decided to tackle Couch to 5K. I’d always enjoyed running, but after the myeloma caused a plasmacytoma on my spine, it just hadn’t been possible. Still, I was eager to try again, and after chatting with my haematologist, she gave me the go-ahead to see how it felt. Things were going well—I’d completed the programme—but I was starting to feel a bit of discomfort. So I took myself right back to Week 1, thinking a slower build might be better… and persuaded Simon to join me (despite him absolutely hating running!).

One particular day, I dragged him along to the woods. To cut a long story short, he slipped—badly. It turned out he’d completely ruptured his quadricep tendon. He needed surgery to repair it, and we were warned the recovery would be long. Once the shock wore off—and we realised just how painful it was—we began wondering whether our Scotland trip was even possible.

We contacted the hire company, Motorhome Escapes in Edinburgh, to see if they had an automatic motorhome available. The only option was a campervan: a WildAx Pulsar. It was completely different to anything we’d looked at so far. But it was either give it a try… or cancel the whole holiday. So we went for it.

On 5th September, we packed up the car and drove from our home in Lincolnshire to Edinburgh to collect the campervan. We were shown around and had the basics explained—fairly straightforward thanks to our old caravan experience, as most things are similar. We’d booked a campsite just half an hour away so we could test everything out before committing to the long drive north. We stayed at Linwater Caravan Park, which turned out to be fantastic: a little shop, lovely staff and spotless facilities.

Perfect, we thought. Fill up with water, park up, plug in and relax.

It was a beautiful evening, and we sat outside with a drink chatting to our neighbours, who had just completed the NC500. They gave us brilliant tips on must-see places and good food stops, which we eagerly noted down.

Feeling organised, we headed inside to sort out the bed. The front seats swivelled around and, using the seats behind, could be made into either a double or two singles. Simon’s leg was still sore, so singles made the most sense—easier for him to get in and out during the night.

That’s when we realised the cushions were missing.

As if that wasn’t enough, in the middle of the night the control system started beeping to say the leisure battery was low… and the fridge had switched itself off. We had a very uncomfortable night trying to sleep on half a bed, with alarms going off every so often.

Thank goodness we’d chosen to stay close to the hire company—we needed to head straight back in the morning!

After a bit of head-scratching, rummaging and a few “we’re not quite sure…” moments, we finally left with the missing cushions and what we hoped was a fixed fridge. With that, we pointed the van north and officially set off to begin the NC500.