Just back from a short visit to Scotland and thought some details of travel times and costs might be helpful to colleagues. Sad (?) to say, have to admit to having a Senior Railcard!!
We live in North Wales, so journeyed first to Warrington Bank Quay.
Monday: 10.27 Pendolino departure arriving Glasgow Central at 13.17
Why this train? Well, we were able to buy First class tickets at £25.40 and free breakfast served to table as we glided up Shap was quite tolerable! Standard class tickets were also very cheap on this train but if you do like us, don't forget the First Class coaches are at the rear going north.
Have to say the experience was heightened by there being only a few fellow travellers in our coach.
We'd planned to stay overnight in Glasgow, so on arrival we had a ten minute walk to our hotel which was very close to the next day's departure point.
I won't say anything about accommodation or eating out in this piece since everyone has their own preferences.
Tuesday: 08.21 departure from Glasgow Queen Street arriving Fort William at 12.08
Yes, a bit of an early start, but the next train was much later and we had decided to maximise the time to be spent further north. Cost was £8.80
Got to the station in good time as I'd heard these trains could get quite busy and space in a Class 156 is maybe not too great. Luckily though, passengers were in short supply which meant uninterrupted views both sides.
Crossing Rannoch Moor is something else – and people even got off there and at Corrour further along!!!
Tuesday pm: Car Hire at Fort William
We were met on arrival at the station and were on our way within 15 minutes. First stop, for a bit of lunch, was the flight of canal locks at Banavie. Then journeyed on to Mallaig, which took a bit more than an hour and allowed us to see 62005 steaming along.
The train itself seemed pretty popular as all carriage windows displayed faces!
Alternatively, a return fare on the Scotrail DMU only costs £9.00, but there are one or two complications eg there's maybe not a lot to do in Mallaig whilst waiting for a train back! Interesting small working port though
Wednesday: Used the car to visit Ardnamurchan Point and Lighthouse (most westerly place in mainland Britain I'm told). The return journey started with the Corran Ferry (about 15 minutes drive south of Fort William – cost £8) and took all day and if I'm honest was a bit of an epic. The distances involved aren't especially great, but they are quite "demanding" – back at the hotel I found my leg ached from repeated clutch use; my hands ached from gripping the steering wheel rather firmly and my eyes ached from 110% concentration on the road. Single track plus blind crest plus bend equals tension in my book – and it happens quite a few times on that journey.
Was it worth it – resounding "Yes"
The car hire, by the way, was £32 day (plus fuel) – but you could of course do some serious walking round Fort William!
Thursday: Travelling to Oban by bus
As instructed, we parked the car on Morrisons car park which is next to the station in Fort William and handed the keys into the booking office there. Seemed to be standard procedure.
The road between the station and Morrisons is where the local buses pick up (they call them "stances" incidentally, rather than "stops".
Walk to the end of the line (ie towards the rear of Morrisons) and there will be a bus there for Oban. The bus has come up from Oban earlier and the driver has locked up and gone for his break.
Departure is at 11.00 and I guess with luggage stowed underneath and soft seats, I should really be calling the transport a coach! Anyway, the 918 service is run by West Coast Motors and the very interesting and restful(!) journey took about 1 ½ hrs and cost £9.40.
We arrived in Oban about 12.30 and did the usual things for the rest of the day............
Friday: Calmac Ferry to Mull and Iona
Okay, who hadn't realised this was the weekend of the Mull Car Rally!! Luckily it had no real impact on the journey or day and we found the visit to Iona very worthwhile. Won't write about all that, but it was a good day and worth doing if it's something you fancy.
Costs? Well, individually the Oban-Mull Ferry is about £11 return; the 96 West Coast Motors bus goes to Fionnphort once or twice a day and costs about £14 return (nb only coincides with one morning ferry); the ferry to Iona costs just over £5 return.
However, we got a package that meant getting the 09.45 sailing from Oban, but then were met by a special coach that took us onwards, all the way accompanied by an impromptu (?) commentary from the driver. The cost of that was £40 – so about £10 extra for what we got.
Good day? Yes, very much – though the beautiful weather helped – shirt sleeves in October in the Highlands – fantastic!
Saturday: Travelling south
The train, another class 156, departs Oban at 08.57 and arrives in Glasgow at 12.02. Have to say, at just £6.45 for three hours travel through some great scenery, this route (like the Fort William one) has to be a bargain.
Couple of tips – get to the station early and board quickly. You may have reserved seats, but they won't necessarily be empty for long (and that can get tricky) and worst of all, storage space for bags is at a premium. One other thing, on these DMU there is only one toilet and it is very well frequented, sometimes repeatedly!!!
Arriving in Queen Street, there's a very pleasant stroll down the main shopping street of Glasgow (Buchanan street) until you arrive back at Central.
We had opted to repeat the First Class experience, so made for the lounge at the station where there is plenty of free coffee and snacks to be had. The time passed very easily until departure but watch out for the toilets – unlike the set-up at Euston, there are no toilets in the First Class lounge area and those on the main concourse cost 40p!! Can you wait until you board? How many cups of coffee did you just consume?
Boarded the 14.00 departure from platform 1 (don't forget to walk to the front, all ten or eleven coaches of it, if you're in First Class) and arrived back in Warrington at 16.39. Cost was the same, that's just £25.40, but on Saturdays Virgin ontrain service is a bit minimal (which means a cardboard box of snack items). Still the seat was very good and the coach was quiet.
Dunno if you made it through that long ramble but if you did I hope you found it helpful.
If I've bored you, you won't have read this far anyway!
I'm sure I've missed things out but if you've a Qs please send me a message and I'll try to address it.
Regards
Adrian
Glad you enjoyed your trip, in midsummer the trains to F William are very busy,
I once stood all the way to Corrour , mostly in the vestibule. £8 from Queen St
to FW is quite a bargain !
Very interesting, Adrian, and thanks for those travel tips :thumbsup:
many thanks Adrian.
a few years ago SWMBO and I were up in Inverness and managed the IS - Perth run and IS - Wick / Thurso run, both most enjoyable.
we didn't find time for the Kyle run, much as I would have liked to, but I had to trade it off against her wishes.
did however manage a couple of distilleries :beers:
alan
Many thanks Adrian for recounting your break in the West Highlands. My wife and I had two weeks self-catering in the Ardnamurchan area in late June this year. We were fortunate to see red deer and otters and got in a trip on The Jacobite. It is (in my view) a stunningly beautiful place, with some lovely uncrowded beaches and despite the midges, we would go definitely go back again.
Graham
Thanks for the update Adrian - very glad you had a good time.
A couple of years back Mrs PP and I travelled up to Inverness by plane then did the run up to Wick/Thurso and back and also across to Kyle of Lochalsh. Brilliant scenery.
Hi
For a what to do in Mallaig
We went to Mallaig this summer starting late morning at Fort William. Bought a return ticket on the Scotrail service and aimed to get the early evening service back. The views are better from the DMU than from the always crowded Jacobite steamer. This gave us time for a coffee in Mallaig, then a stroll around and a trip on the Ferry to Inverie on the Knoydart peninsula where you cannot get to overland unless you walk for several hours. The (extended) ferry trip cost £20 and if you do not want to land at the settlement you can extend the sail to take in more scenery by sailing along Loch Nevis to view some very remote land. This still gives time for a pint and or some fish and chips before getting the train back from Mallaig to Fort William. If you want to inspect the Jacobite steam engine best do it at Fort Willam in the morning as the engine is beyond the end of the platform at Mallaig. The Scotrail driver usually slows to a crawl on the return journey when rcossing the Glenfinnan Viaduct so make sure you are on the south side of the rain for that curving snap.
Cheers
Mac :beers:
Excellent stuff, Adrian. How about a few piccies?
Interesting your foot was getting tired from the clutch... I wouldn't think about hiring a manual car - especially in a strange land which is essentially the whole of the UK to me these days!! :thumbsup:
Thanks again for a great post. :photospleasesign:
Yes Adrian, a truly spectacular land up there
We have been all over, but the memorable bits are the trip over Rannoch moor either my car or train and the station at Kyle. You can still visualise as it was in it's days of steam, fishing and ferries
Staying at Roybridge, it always seems like a time warp to see the Sleeper train roll through morning and night. To me it is always fascinating to think that this Victorian service is still running