sylvia

I'll be travelling to Scotland late June and would like to fine tune my plans. Can anyone advise about the following. <BR>1. Say I want to take the 0420 train to Inverness can I catch a bus near Joppa Turrets at that hour to get to the train station? <BR>2. I have two days in Edinburgh and two days elsewhere, I would like to have a location where I could take day trips. Question where is a good place, so many choices. <BR>Oban? Fort William? Mallaig? Kyle of Lochalsh

Sylvia

Sylvia <BR> <BR>I do not have a definitive answer for your query about buses; but my educated guess is that if there are buses running at that time in the morning they will be halfhourly at best, and more likely hourly. <BR> <BR>I would suggest a taxi would be much safer. <BR> <BR>2.By day trips, can I assume you mean some form of organised trip? If so, then you will find these a bit difficult to track down outside Edinburgh and Glasgow. <BR> <BR>From Oban you will get a boat ride to Iona which is a joy. There are bus trips on sundays to a range of different places, and you can do bus and ferry trips to Mull. <BR> <BR>In Mallaig, I can only find the dolphin and whale watching trips. Fort William does half and full day tours round Lochaber and Glencoe and boat trips on the loch. I can't find anything in Kyle. <BR> <BR>If you will have a car, I'm inclined to suggest somewhere in the Central highlands like Dalamally, Tyndrum or Killin which would widen your options. Please feel free to come back for more information if you think I might be able to help.

Sylvia

Thanks for the prompt response. I'll take the taxi! <BR>My thoughts initially were to travel a <BR>loop, including Skye and Oban. We are relying on public transport, the schedule seem to be prohibitive so I tried to get creative. <BR>Came up with idea of researching the possibility of Ft. William, going to Oban by bus, taking the ferry out to Mull and Iona and back to Oban then return to Ft William. Renting a car for day two, go to Mallaig, ferry to Skye, tour Skye, Kyle of Lochalsh, Inverness, Glencoe and back to Ft William. That sounds exhausting! <BR>This may sound silly, if you don't have a central point, what do you do with your luggage, albeit it will be modest <BR>but not small enough to drag around on tour. <BR>I looked at Central Highland on a map, what type of touring would the area offer. Probably rest and relaxation! I've just have heard the Western Isle are breathtaking, as is so much of Scotland.

Sylvia

Sheila, I have previewed several of your past posting to others. One in particular, the local ferries between Skye and Oban. Where does the ferry at Corran go, Oban? How late does it run? <BR>One of my dilemmas was getting to the Oban on a tight time schedule. For example, I was considering ferry to Mallaig, train to Ft William and bus to Oban. I would perfer as you suggested to another traveler to get the last ferry from Armadale to Mallaig, tour the area and make my way(is there a way?)to Corran Ferry. Do you know of any sites where I could get information about other ferries in the area? Cal-mac info is readily available, do they service the routes from Cullan to Oban? <BR>What to do with luggage without a car, any ideas? <BR>I'm encouraging my fellow travellers, 2 others, to give another day and tour into killin area. <BR>Thanks so much for your attention to details. <BR>

Sheila

Sylvia; I'm slightly baffled. Do I understand that you have 2 days (maybe three if you persuade your pals) outside Edinburgh, and you want to do as much of the west coast as you can by public transport? <BR> <BR>Before I get into the specifics of your questions get back to me and I will try to give you a suggested course of action. ( PS Where's Cullan? The misspelling is confusing me)

sylvia

It was Corran, sorry for the confusion. <BR>And yes, you have the right idea about our schedule. By day trips I was really referring to staying overnite in the same place. Basically it's about toting the luggage. A car for the day may be the way to go. <BR>Any plans I tried to schedule for the Oban, Ft.W, Mallaig, Armadale route there was a 5-6hr layover in Ft.W. <BR>It looked like the most direct <BR>passage between the Oban and Skye. <BR> <BR>Thanks again. Your post have been helpful. <BR> <BR>

Sheila

Sylvia <BR> <BR>Right off the bat, I would have to say that I would recommend one of two alternative approaches (with a subset of one)rather than try this by public transprt without a safety net. However if you want to do this without death and destruction I think I recommend the following:- <BR> <BR>1. train to Glasgow. (1st principle- trains are more expensive nut faster and more pleasant than buses) <BR> <BR>2.train from Glasgow to Oban. <BR> <BR>3.bus trip to Mull. persuade bus company to care for your luggage whilst you do the trip. (You might manage Iona a well depending on how early you get to Oban and the availability of trips). Return to Oban- bus or train to Fort William. <BR>Stay the night. <BR> <BR>4.Train to Mallaig <BR> <BR>5.Ferry to Armadale- bus to Portree (frank of this parish assures me it can be done- I'm sceptical) or as far as you can get allowing yourselves time to get back to Kyle of Lochalsh by bus in time to catch either the last train to Inverness or the last train to Inveness which will get you a connection to Edinburgh (Tote dem bales!) <BR> <BR>6. Stay in Inveness or Edinburgh <BR> <BR>Alternatives:- <BR>1. Hire a car and do it the easy way. You are still trying to cover an awfula lot of Scotland in a very short period of time, but at least you do not have to worry about timetables (except ferries) and the luggage problem goes away. <BR> <BR>2.Take one of the 2 day organised minibus tours out of Edinburgh which is going where you want. The subset is you hire a driver/company that does this sort of thing and tailor it to your own specific requirements. <BR> <BR>What's the guiding principle here? Budget? Hassle free? Come back to me and I'll try to find out more for you <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>3

sylvia

Sheila, <BR>Budget and minimized hassle. I've look for Rabbitours(spelling?) on the net to compare. I have not located them yet. <BR>And it maybe that we just go to Oban for two days and be leisurely about it. <BR>Or could you say Skye would be a better choice for those two days. <BR>I'd love flying out to the outer isles, but I'm sure this would not appeal to my fellow travelers. An excursion you and frank have referrenced on previous enquiries. <BR> <BR>

sylvia

Sheila. <BR>Could you advise? <BR>Is the route from Kyle to Invergarry scenic, timely, enjoyable? <BR>Onward to Ft. W. for the night. <BR>Does a ferry exist in Corran? <BR>The mini tour bus I would certainly be game for, they were limited to three day tours. <BR>Thanks.

Sheila

I'm posting from work and my references are at home and your Rabbitours ( which is wrong has put the right name out of my head. I'll come back with it later. LRT (Lothian Regional Transport- Edinburgh) also do tours. Email me with the exact dates and I'll check availability by phone; also give your ages and driving experience and I'll cost car hire- with 3 of you I think you might be as cheap. <BR> <BR>For a one centre stop Oban will give you more options because there is a bigger cross section nearby. <BR> <BR>OUter Hebrides for 2 days- you're nuts! ( or, since you're not doing it, not!) <BR> <BR>Kyle to Invergarry is short and fairly scenic but not stunning. Fort William is Ok but would not be my base of choice. Corran Ferry goes across Loch Linnhe from Corran to Ardgour, and services the Morvern and Ardnamurchan peninsulas...for the purposes of this discussion a cul-de-sac both literally and metaphorically.

Dave

I think you're referring to Rabbie's Trail Burners <BR> <BR>http://www.rabbies.com/ <BR> <BR>

frank

Best to go to Oban, the journey is lovely, & pick from a large variety of trips to the small isles nearby. <BR>There is no boat from Oban or nearby to Skye. <BR>You could drive to Skye instead,there is now a bridge at Kyle so no ferry delays, <BR>leave Glasgow or Edinburgh early & be there mid afternoon. <BR>Its also possible to get to Kyle by in a day by train via Inverness, or by bus via Fort William. <BR>Fort William is not a must-see, neither is Inverness, the journey is pleasant, but do you want to spend most of your time in a vehicle? <BR>The shortest boat trip to the outer isles from the mainland is 5.5 hours <BR>(Oban to Barra or S.Uist) or you can go in half that time from Uig in Skye. <BR> <BR>Go to Oban, or if you want to be more off the tourist route, fly to Barra (from Glasgow)(plane lands on the beach) & stay in Castlebay, hire bicycles!

sylvia

I'm looking forward to my travels. Thanks so much for imput. You have been such a valuable resource.