Ferry details

To really catch the flavor of Scotland, it’s good to take a boat or two during your travels. The high season sees augmented schedules on many routes, as well as one or two unusual ferry links that only run in the peak season. Here’s the gen on five fine Scottish ferry trips for this summer.

Bicycles are carried for free on all five routes mentioned here. Cyclists should always mention the need for bike space when making a booking. For foot passengers advance booking is possible, but by no means essential on most of the routes mentioned below. The one notable exception is Route 5 (to Jura) where seats must always be booked in advance.

1. A Viking voyage: Shetland to Orkney

We were blessed with good weather when we sailed from Lerwick in the Shetland Islands to Orkney. It is a perfect journey for a mid-summer evening, when you can expect superb views of Fair Isle. It is a route that runs year-round, but during the high season the frequency rises from twice to thrice weekly. Departures this summer are at 5.30 PM on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from Lerwick.

Single fare: £17.10
Crossing time: 5 hrs 30 mins
Cars carried: YES
Operator: NorthLink Ferries

The Caledonian MacBrayne ferry cruising through Oban Bay. Photo: Ian Britton

2. Island hopping: Kennacraig to Oban

The bus journey from Kennacraig (a small port towards the northern end of the Mull of Kintyre) takes less than three hours and is a very fine ride through stunning Highland scenery. But there is another option. During the high season, there is a twice-weekly ferry from Kennacraig to Oban. It stops at the islands of Islay and Colonsay, affording along the way very fine views of Jura. The service operates until late October.

Single fare: £15.45
Crossing time: 6 hrs 25 mins
Cars carried: YES
Operator: Caledonian MacBrayne

3. Away from Kintyre: Campbeltown to Ardrossan

As last year, Caledonian MacBrayne are running an occasional service from Campeltown (at the southern end of the Mull of Kintyre) to Ardrossan (on the mainland south-west of Glasgow) until late September 2014. The Saturday sailing from Campbeltown is really one for early birds (it leaves at 7am), but in good weather it’s a fine way to see the Firth of Clyde. It skirts the south coast of Arran, making a stop at Brodick.

Single fare: £9.80
Crossing time: 3 hrs 40 mins
Cars carried: YES
Operator: Caledonian MacBrayne

4. Out to the Outer Hebrides: Oban to Castlebay

There are plenty of boats to the Outer Hebrides, with Caledonian MacBrayne offering a good range of services from Oban and Ullapool (both on the mainland) as well as from the port of Uig on the Isle of Skye. But there is one sailing in particular in the current schedules which warrants attention this summer. The Thursday morning sailing from Oban to Castlebay (on the island of Barra) takes an unusual routing via the islands of Coll and Tiree.

Single fare: £14.25
Crossing time: 6 hrs 45 mins
Cars carried: YES
Operator: Caledonian MacBrayne

The view from the Jura Passenger Ferry. Photo: bazzarrgh

5. The back route to Jura

There was a time when the only way to Jura was via the island of Islay. But nowadays there is a seasonal direct service to Craighouse on Jura from Tayvallich on the mainland. It’s not cheap, but this community-run venture gives fast access from the Scottish mainland to one of the remotest parts of the Inner Hebrides. The service runs twice daily from Mondays to Saturdays except Wednesdays. There is also one run on a Sunday. The route operates until the end of September.

Single fare: £20
Crossing time: 1 hr
Cars carried: NO
Operator: Jura Passenger Ferry

The post Island hopping in the summer: 5 memorable Scottish ferry journeys appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Scottish lions

The truth of course is that, like many tourists to Scotland, the couple on the train had barely scratched the surface of the country. Victorian travellers described the “must-see” sights in any region as the “lions” and the standard list of Scottish lions has barely changed in 150 years. The railway viaduct at Glenfinnan, opened only in 1898, is the newcomer to the list.

The “Western Isles” arrives at the Knoydart’s remote pier. Photo © hidden europe

Over recent decades, great tracts of the Scottish Highlands, which were once so difficult to reach, have become very much more accessible. Distance has been diminished by better roads, improved ferry connections and faster trains. The most frequently visited Scottish island — Skye — is now hardly an island at all. Since 1995, it has been connected by a road bridge to the mainland.

Routes less taken

Move away from Scotland’s principal cities and for many decades the defining characteristic of Scottish rural landscapes was their remoteness. In many cases, there is still a genuine sense of isolation and distance from civilisation. The Shetland capital at Lerwick is still more than twelve hours on the fastest boat from the mainland port of Aberdeen. If, having sailed from Aberdeen to Lerwick, you want to continue on the direct boat from Lerwick to tiny Fair Isle (which runs only on alternate Thursdays), then you are in for another longish voyage — five hours.

Even on the mainland, distances are challenging. The sole daily rail connection from Wick (in the north-east) to Stranraer (in the south-west) takes over twelve hours. Few visitors to Scotland have the appetite for such long hauls. Impatience with travel, lust to be at a destination, means that most visitors focus on easy trips to places that are quick pickings.

Five hidden gems

So you think you know Scotland? Here’s our checklist of five remote spots that well repay the effort of a strenuous journey. None of them are in the canon of accepted tourist “sights.” But each offers a taste of really rural Scotland:

1. The island of North Ronaldsay in the Orkneys, reached by twice weekly ferry from Kirkwall. Travel time 2hrs 40mins to 3hrs 35mins from Kirkwall.

2. The island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, reached by ferry from Oban. Sailings most day, with a passage time of 5 to 7 hours.

3. The Knoydart Peninsula on the mainland. A half-hour hop on the ferry from Mallaig.

4. Kinloch Hourn — one of the remotest spots on the mainland that can be reached by car. But take time, for access is by a fragile ribbon of tarmac: a single-track road that seems to go on for ever.

5. The summit of Merrick in the Galloway Forest Park. No lofty mountain, but a chance to engage with the hills and forests of Scotland’s oft-overlooked south-west corner.

The post Exploring Europe: Really Rural Scotland appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.