Inverness is where the North Coast 500 starts and ends, the circuit that has turned the top of Scotland into a bucket-list road, and the sensible traveller treats the city as a place to arrive, wash, shop and sleep before heading out. It sits where the River Ness meets the Moray Firth, and for centuries it was the capital of the Highlands in practice, a market town at the junction of roads running north, west and south. The population of about forty-seven thousand makes it by far the largest settlement for a hundred miles in any direction, and that means all the fuel, tyres, spares and supermarkets you could want.
Before you leave, the city is worth a walk along the river, where the Ness Islands carry Victorian footbridges and tall trees, and the castle, a nineteenth-century building, looks over the water. Inverness is not ancient in appearance, because most of the old town was lost to fires and war, but it has a lively centre, a cathedral on the river bank and a big market. Culloden Moor, where the Jacobite army was destroyed in 1746, lies about ten minutes east, and it is a moving and quiet place; the visitor centre is a good short stop. Loch Ness, nearly twenty-three miles long, begins just to the south-west, and the Caledonian Canal that links it to the sea passes through the city.
The road north crosses the Kessock Bridge onto the Black Isle, and from the top you can often see dolphins in the firth below, which is a good omen. The A9 is fast and busy for the first stretch, but once you leave it the roads narrow, and the single-track sections in the north and west need patience, passing places and a willingness to wave at campervans. Summer brings heavy traffic, midges and long light, with dusk past eleven in June, so book accommodation well ahead. Spring and September are quieter and often dry on the east side.
On the morning you set off, top up the tank and think about the distances, because the next large supply is some way on, and many stations in the north close early or on Sundays. Buy midge repellent, check your tyres and carry waterproofs, as Highland weather changes between two bends. Cullen skink or a fish supper makes a respectable first dinner, and the smoked salmon here is good.