To some, they are the best way to travel as you basically just pack all your stuff in the back and head off into the day, only stopping when you’ve found a decent spot to pitch for the night.

Certainly across the Atlantic, campervans have always been fairly popular but being the good old US of A, the vans are getting larger and many now resemble medium-sized aircraft carriers with the handling to match.

Cross the Rockies from Calgary to Vancouver in Canada and the roads and campsites are absolutely full of them, mainly driven by overseas tourists with all the time in the world on their hands.

Over there, they are very much welcomed, although there will undoubtedly be some grumbles from locals who are constantly stuck behind them,

To be fair, the main road through the Rockies is pretty decent and there are plenty of places to overtake.

But it is a very different situation in Scotland where campervans are treated as public enemy number one, particularly by people who live along the NC500.

It is easy to understand why they are so controversial.

For a start, the NC500 is not equipped to deal with campervans, particularly the famed Bealach na Ba from Lochcarron to the Applecross peninsula.

It is a nerve-wracking series of hairpin bends straight up the hill and it is scary enough when you only have cars coming the other way to worry about.

But despite signs at the bottom that state clearly the road is not suitable, many campervan drivers take the risk which is as stupid as it is selfish.

It is not just the Bealach na Ba, though, where campervans are causing misery for locals, it is along the entire route - one which just isn’t set up for such mass tourism with its sharp bends and single lanes.

Glorious it may be but driving it comes with........

© Herald Scotland