Tuesday 21st July 2026
It was many years ago when, knowing my love of scenic bus routes as well as the West Highlands of Scotland, blog reader ‘Tarkaman AC120’ recommended I take a ride on Sheil Buses route 506 between Fort William and Kilchoan.
It’s been on my to do list ever since, not least because the route comprises just one return journey a day along an amazingly scenic route as well as involving a ferry crossing over the Corran Narrows.
The timetable has just an outward journey from Kalchoan at 07:50, arriving into Fort William at 10:22 with a return leaving Fort William at 13:50 reaching Kilchoan at 16:24.
The logistics of either getting to Kilchoan for 07:50 for the inward morning journey or leaving after arrival at 16:24 on the afternoon return journey had proved quite challenging and one reason I’ve put off doing the trip, but this summer I was determined to tick it off and after researching the possibilities, found a hotel in Kilchoan albeit, quite pricey, and noticed CalMac run a ferry between Kilchoan and Tobermory which particularly appealed as West Coast Motors route 95 between Tobermory and Craignure on the Isle of Mull is another route that’s always eluded me, and knowing it’s a double deck operated route through some wonderful Mull scenery made for a compelling opportunity not to be missed.
After further research to try and find a day when the Kilchoan Hotel wasn’t charging eye watering amounts for its rooms and seeking to avoid an overnight stay in either Oban or Fort William where the towns’ Premier Inns charge even more (typically in excess of £200 per room in the summer) I finalised a scheduled for a Tuesday to Thursday adventure at the end of last month, involving a train, a plane, a coach, a ferry, a bus (route 95) and a ferry followed by an overnight stay in Kilchoan and a bus (route 506), a train, a coach (another overnight stay – this time in Edinburgh) and finally two trains home enjoying a first class treat on the East Coast Main Line with LNER.
Everything was pre-booked in early June, even including the two ferries.
Here’s out it panned out….
An early morning Gatwick Express took me from Hassocks to Gatwick Airport at 06:17. It was only four coaches (and branded as Southern) so good luck with that on a later busy journey. It cost £9.60 single.
It was unusual to find Gatwick Airport’s rail station departure area so quiet.
I allowed plenty of time to pass through the Airport so, as always happens in such circumstances, there were no delays going through security with the easyJet flight to Glasgow due to leave at 08:40. This cost £32.49. (I know; crazy isn’t it?)
EasyJet’s ground handlers (ABM Aviation) once again showed their complete indifference to customer comfort by loading us on to three airport transfer buses taking us for what seemed like miles to a far flung part of the airport where we were kept waiting, alongside the aircraft, crammed together in already hot conditions with everyone having to stand as the buses have no seats. I didn’t time it precisely but I reckon it was around 10 minutes in what were very uncomfortable conditions. It seemed much longer.
Take off was delayed for 15 minutes but I wasn’t concerned as I had plenty of time in Glasgow Airport between the flight arrival at 10:10 and the ember coach on route E16 I’d booked for the next leg of my journey to Oban at 11:21.
After some refreshments in the airport I made my way outside to find stance 8 and wait for the ember coach.
There’s a lack of directional signs to tell you where each numbered stance is located and then it’s not helped by exploring either end of the long line of stances and not seeing the signage that’s there…
… because it faces the wrong way. It needs turning through 90 degrees.
There was nothing at stance 8 to confirm ember picked up there – I have reported this, as requested by the notice that is there, to SPT.
The ember coach was tracking on its website on which I watched it leave Buchanan Bus Station and approach the Airport via Paisley. It was showing as being on the perimeter of the airport at 11:18 when it spent the next six minutes moving round in circles so I guessed the driver may have missed the access road to the bus stances.
It eventually arrived at 11:24 and I was surprised to see four passengers alight indicating ember are also serving the Glasgow city centre to airport market, although it might be they’d connected from another ember coach into Glasgow.
Three passengers travelling together also boarded and all told there was an impressive 27 passengers on board. The journey to Oban cost me £14.35.
It’s a lovely ride offering wonderful scenery with different aspects to that which you enjoy using ScotRail.
For example, taking the A82 means you get right up close to Loch Lomond…
… but the road needs very careful driving as the width is quite restricted in places with some blind bends too.
Closer to Oban there are wonderful mountain views…
… and for a while the road runs parallel with the railway track.
.. before running alongside Loch Awe on the nearside…
… followed by Loch Etive on the offside including the famous road bridge at Connel…
… which is an amazing sight, close up.
The journey proved to be quite a busy one with 11 stops for alighting and boarding passengers and we pulled into a sunny lunch time in Oban at 14:00, 11 minutes late…
… with eight passengers alighting.
Oban was busy with holidaymakers as well as day trippers who’d taken advantage of the Midland Pullman from Preston visiting the town.
I see it had been due to leave Preston at 05:12 but had been delayed until 07:00 arriving into Oban at 13:54 instead of 13:18…
… and would leave to go back at 15:37 (actual 15:52) arriving back in Preston at 23:34. These rail tours certainly make for long days.
I’m not sure I’d be up for that, and in any event I was checking out Caledonian MacBrayne’s ferry to take me over to Craignure on the Isle of Mull.
The ferry crossing cost me £4.90 and proved to be a busy journey. We left impressively spot on time at 15:55 for the 50 minute crossing over the Firth of Lorn to Craignure which we reached at 16:48.
Unfortunately there was a problem with the gangway for foot passengers so we all had to wait for the vehicles to be unloaded before we were allowed to alight…
… but I had reassuringly noticed the West Coast Motors’ buses already waiting and was confident the bus for Tobermory due to leave at 17:00 wouldn’t go without us.
At 16:58 we were finally allowed off the ship and eight of us made our way to the double deck on route 95…
… for Tobermory.
It can be a very busy route in the tourist season but most of those on this journey were locals returning from a day in Oban. The journey to Tobermory cost me £2, being part of Transport Scotland’s year long £2 fare cap for the Highlands and Islands.
One of the passengers boarding with me was concerned whether we’d make it to the ferry at Fishnish for Lochaline as the time was now 17:05 and that was due to leave Fishnish at 17:20, six miles away from Criagnure. The driver reassured her he’d do his best (she made it)…
… and for me I was confident about meeting my ferry in Tobermory due to leave at 18:00 as the bus was due to arrive at 17:45 giving 15 minutes for what Google Maps told me was a nine minute walk from the bus terminus to the ferry jetty.
The Plaxton Panorama bus certainly gives a feeling of luxury travel for what is a splendid journey along the Isle of Mull’s north eastern coastline.
I estimate around half of the 21 mile route between Criagnure and Tobermory is on single track road…
… with passing places that take some skill to make progress and be ready to give way to approaching traffic that’s already passed its nearest passing place.
Our driver was obviously well used to it but nevertheless progress was slow at times simply to let other traffic pass and we didn’t reach the terminus in Tobermory until 17:53, 10 minutes later than scheduled.
I realised I needed to make a smart getaway to reach the ferry at 18:00 and rushed as quickly as I could around the bay…
… only to arrive at the jetty at the end of the road and to my horror see the ferry had already set sail and was on its way.
It was 17:58.
It had left two minutes early.
I’ll acknowledge the CalMac timetable for the ferry highlights the 18:00 departure “will wait for passengers arriving by bus from Craignure, if Craignure port office is advised of this no later than 16:00 on the day of travel”. Although I’d read that before setting off, it hadn’t truly sunk in that applied to the very journey I was making as I had wrongly assumed a 15 minute connectional time for what turned out to be a five minute dash, was sufficient.
I was wrong.
Furthermore, when reading further information below the timetable I saw “Check-in: 10 minutes prior to departure for vehicles and foot passengers. Late check-in may result in your vehicle being refused carriage.” I’d wrongly assumed it was just like turning up for a bus or train without a formal “check-in” especially as the single ticket (which I’d bought online) had only cost me just £3.85.
I emailed CalMac’s Customer Service complaining about the early departure enclosing photographic evidence…
… but exactly three weeks later (as promised in the acknowledgment email reply) I received a well worded explanation basically confirming “after the crew has completed all safety checks and procedures, and all passengers who arrived on time for check-in are onboard, the Master is permitted to depart prior to the scheduled departure time. In this case and from the photograph you attached, the vessel departed a few minutes earlier. the ferry left once all were on board after the 10 minute check-in time had passed.”
I’d messed up. I should have rung before leaving Oban and let them know I was on my way.
Lesson learned (the hard way).
But now I was stranded in Tobermory with no chance of getting over to Kilchoan that evening as that was the last ferry departure of the day. My 12 hour journey from Sussex had been for nothing.
My hotel booking in Kilchoan wasted.
More pertinently what was I going to do now, in Tobermory? A quick enquiry at the Tobermory Hotel, as I wandered back around the bay, wondering what to do, indicated it was full with no rooms available.
It didn’t look very promising
This tale continues in part 2 in Thursday’s blog,
Roger French
Summer blogging timetable: 06:00 TThSSu
BusAndTrainUser 
Three of my London area blunders spring to mind.
The first two are from my Go As You Please era:
“Doing” the extension of Route 295 to Ladbroke Grove – I stood at Ladbroke Grove for nearly two hours for my treat.
“Doing” the Yardley Lane Estate end of Route 195 – I got there but waited so long for a return service that I needed to walk back to Kingshill Avenue for a Route 90B to start my journey home.
The above were at night – it is a miracle that I found my way back to Kingshill Avenue as this was a first time visit to the area.
A summer Sunday drink in Knockholt Pound [1987] cost me a very long walk. I got there on a Boroline Maidstone Route 22 but my return bus did not turn up (I was told that it had gone the wrong way through another road). I was tight on time for my last train from Waterloo to Hersham so walked all the way to Orpington War Memorial and only had my final bus of the day for the hill climb. Gladly I was then an active and fit football referee so had the energy required, a walk of that length now would be intolerable!
JMG/12,KT12 3EZ.
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Not quite on par with travelling from one end of the British Isles to the other, but I get your drift.
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spelling check:
“alluded” should be “eluded”
A very ambitious bit of journey planning Roger!
I normally work on the rule of thumb that more than 2 transfers brings a timetable into jeopardy.
I think that an overnight stop on that outward journey would have added some useful resilience, say at Oban.
I try hard not to fly for leisure if there’s a viable rail alternative, but that Ember connection from Glasgow airport to Oban sounds very handy indeed.
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“Ambitious” is certainly the word! I would definitely have wanted to build in more leeway than that in such a complex schedule.
But also, what a failure of integrated transport planning. To have such a tight allowance between the bus and ferry, and to require people to phone 2 hours beforehand, is ridiculous. Why could you not phone the actual port you are traveling from, rather than a different port, say 20 minutes before departure, ie once you’re on the bus and know if it’s running late or not.
It’s a shame that the bus can’t run closer to the ferry terminal, but looking at the roads I would guess it might struggle to even get there, but turning round would be pretty much impossible.
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I’d add that the first ferry of the morning arrives in Kilchoan at 7:55 while the ONLY bus on route 506 from Kilchoan to Fort William leaves at 7:50 to the list integrated transport planning failures!
I’m waiting on tenterhooks for part 2 of this story!
Jay
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That is indeed shocking, but I suspect that in practice (maybe with a phone call) the bus will wait at Kilchoan. But that uncertainty and hassle shouldn’t be there of course.
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Ah, we both owe Shiel Buses an apology. The 0750 time as from the first stop in Kilchoan village. It also stops at Kilchoan slipway (which is a double run off the route) at 0756 and the Shiel Buses timetable has a footnote indicating that it connects with the ferry due in at 0755. Most reassuring!
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Yes I do owe Shiel Buses an apology! Thanks checking this and for correcting me!
Jay
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Many thanks for spotting the typo. Now corrected.
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I’d have done it the other way around as you have more room for error by going through Fort William first & catching the 506 at 13.50 from there, rather than relying on the last ferry of the day from Tobermory & hoping to make the connection.
The issue is getting to Fort William for 13.50, although there is a Scottish Citylink 915 service at 10.42 from Glasgow Airport to Fort William which arrives in Fort William at 13.36.
SM
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Perhaps the most gripping blog yet, I was on the edge of my chair until the last moment! On a serious note though, this is a classic example of pushing the responsibility on to the customer when it should rest with the provider/operator(s). To quote Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) in Good Will Hunting: “It’s not your fault”. RC
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I’m fascinated by your cliffhanger. I got similarly stranded in Barra in 1978. I had travelled all around the north of Scotland and through all of the Outer Hebrides on a “Highlands and Islands Travelpass”, Turning up and booking a night’s accommodation had not been problem but in Barra a film crew had taken over the hotel and all the B&Bs were full. In desperation I tried a “full” B&B anyway and the landlady took pity on a stranded 29 year old and she slept on her settee and let me have her bed. True Scottish hospitality with an evening meal included and a good night’s sleep before the four hour ferry journey to Oban. I await your outcome with great interest!
Paul from Leicester
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I rode the 506 many years ago Roger, the other way round! I was in Mallaig and decided to head for Mull so found out that I could get a Shiel Buses route to Lochailort, change for another one to Acharacle, and change again for the 506 to Kilchoan, where I could get the last ferry to Tobermory for the night. I remember having to change vehicles at one point (I think at Shiel Buses garage) but I’m not sure whether it was a change of route or a mid-route vehicle change. I think at the time the evening journey was by request only west of a certain point, and being the only passenger it was like having a personal minibus taxi for about 30 miles into the wilds of the Ardbamurchan Peninsula. Anyway, everything worked perfectly (there was quite a wait for the ferry I think).
Stephen H
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Why would anyone expect to allow ‘check-in’ time for a domestic surface travel trip? What exactly are they checking in?
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CLIFFHANGER! Looking forward to part 2.
Pete
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Can’t wait for the second episode. I do hope there’s a happy ending!
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That was some journey Roger with quite tight timings at various stages. The fact you made the Isle of Mull was good going so, like others here, I would’ve expected you to stay overnight before attempting the ferry over to Kilchoan. Still, hindsight is a wonderful thing. I too look forward to reading part 2 of your journey.
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If a seasoned much-travelled transport professional with more bus/ferry/train miles to obscure places under his belt than 99.9% of the population gets caught out, what chance does the average Joe have???
Eagerly awaiting the next part of this cliffhanger….
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And I thought I planned very ambitious schedules! Mixing modes of travel is always a risky affair especially if flights are included.
Many years ago I stayed in the youth hostel in Tobermory – does it still exist? I did a number of bus/walking trips around Mull. One day I took the ferry to Kilchoan for a walk over on the peninsula. In those days it was a small boat rather than the car ferry of today.
Glad we have not got to wait a week for part 2!
Richard Warwick
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I would still complain further to CalMac. The ferry onto the island left on time and wasnt late to phone TWO HOURS in advance . The bus left five mins late and lost another 4 mins on the road. Real time tracking really should be used by the ferry company to notice this , and you were BOOKED to travel thus should have been seen from the manifest. IF 10min check in for foot passengers is needed then a 1745 scheduled bus arrival plus nine min walk is impossible to make the connection ( noted actual walk is closer to five mins but still that leaves nil time for other delays. Clearly the ferry departure needs timing to allow additional 10mins of delays thus 1800 check in 1810 scheduled sailing which would be better
JBC Prestatyn
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CalMac may have had the OP’s ferry bookings on record, but were they registered on the system as a single itinerary (does the option to book two ferries under one itinerary even exist in CalMac’s booking system?), and does CalMac know how the OP is getting between the two ferries? Admittedly, the fact that the OP was booked as a foot passenger would suggest that the bus is a likely candidate, but the OP might have had a car, bicycle, or a lift/taxi/minicab. I read the advisory as suggesting that one should notify CalMac that one is intending to make the bus-ferry connection irrespective of whether there is any delay.
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An epic journey ( a Trains, Planes and Everything type challenge!) and look forward to part two.Barry
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I think in desperation I would have asked around the harbour to see if someone would take me across to Kilchoan for a price. A long shot I know, but worth a go.
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There’s an 18.10 departure on the 95 back to Craignure arriving 18.53 and connecting onto the 19.16 ferry back to.Oban. I wonder if that figures in Part 2?!?
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I reckon Fishnish but we won’t have long to wait and see!
Jay
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I suspect that you have now got many of your followers thinking “I’d love a go at that journey”. Threading public transport together for Highland trips is great fun and leaves a real sense of achievement when completed.
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I agree with JBC Prestatyn, the schedule to make the 1800 ferry is far too tight, and Roger’s journey was in good weather, let alone in stormy weather not unknown in those parts. As the roads and ferry terminal are impossible for a coach to turn around offer a taxi to the ferry, less firm people may not realise the walk involved. Nought out of ten for Calmac and whoever plans the lack of integrated transport.
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I would have been confident of making that journey considering the amount of connection time you allowed for at both airports and in Oban, which I would have regarded as the riskiest parts of the itinerary. I don’t think I would have even been concerned about the timekeeping of the 95 bus itself beforehand until the realisation of the consequences of the single track road gradually dawned. A quick scan of the Caledonian MacBrayne timetable shows that a 10 minute check-in for passengers is fairly standard on all routes. Luckily for the lady catching the ferry at Fishnish it seemed to be disregarded! Perhaps as a local the crew were expecting her?
Steven Saunders
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Oooh a cliffhanger! Love it!
I find transport in Scotland to be pleasingly well connected, but does often need you to notify someone of your intentions, which can be difficult with poor phone signal in many parts. I’ve never seen a bus driver not check whether a ferry has arrived and fully emptied before departing, but it seems in this case it doesn’t always happen the other way round.
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Many years ago (1975, I think) I was touring Scotland using the old Highlands and Islands Travelpass. I had an evening in Oban and found you could travel by ferry to Craignure, Highland bus to Fishnish, by ferry to Lochaline and then return to Oban on the Outer Isles steamer (as it was still known) which called at Lochaline inward bound to Oban. It worked fine to Fishnish where I discovered that due to a local holiday in Tobermory the ferry had finished for the day at 1300. I was lucky that I was able to hitch a lift in a Forestry Commision landrover back to Craignure in time to catch the last ferry of the day to Oban. When I mentioned the problem to the purser his response was ‘well everybody knows this happens’.
I first reached Kilchoan on an ex MacBrayne Bedford VAS still painted Red, Cream and Green in 1980. Great days.
Alan S
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2 hours per connection, that’s how much time you should have allowed even if that means an xtra stay somewhere.
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Having a 2 hours connection time is way too excessive, Roger should have done it the other way with an overnight stay on Oban, as Roger would have had more room for error like.
506, 13.50 Fort William to Kilchoan, arrive in Kilchoan at 16.14
Ferry, 16.45 Kilchoan to Tobermory arrive in Tobermory at 17.20
95, 18.10 Tobermory to Craignure arrive in Craignure at 18.53
Ferry, 1925 Craignure to Oban arrive in Oban at 2015
Then overnight stop at Oban, that would leave more room for error although the last 95 is the 1810 from Tobermory, Roger would have a good 50 minutes to make the connection, & if Roger missed the last 95, then at worst he’d have the option of hiring a taxi to Craignure, with the last ferry from Craignure being at 21.10 to Oban
Also if Roger missed the 16.45 ferry, the last ferry from Kilchoan is at 18.40 which arrives at Tobermory at 19.15, although Roger would have to get a taxi to Craignure, he’d still make the 21.10 ferry from Craignure to Oban
SM
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Whilst there is a 21.10 ferry Craignure to Oban but that only runs on a Tuesday, but the timetable is weird there is a later service on some days of the week, but the 19.25 operates Monday to Saturday & at 19.30 on Sundays
SM
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A few years back, I took a bus on South Uist down to catch the ferry cross to Barra, an advertised connection. But the morning dawned as an icy, cold one and the roads were treacherous. The drive was leisurely, perhaps being a bit cautious and a change of driver and bus was required half way.
The drivers had a lovely relaxed catch up and we left for the final leg. I asked the driver if we would make the (CalMac) ferry, and was told she did not know. More leisurely driving ensued. But, amazing.y, we broached the top of the hill looking down on the ferry terminal, only to see the ferry leave five minutes early. And we had tickets for it.
I approached the council who paid for the bus recounting the tale. The councillor who got back to me understood the frustration but said he had little power to fix the problem – integrated transport advertised but not delivered.
We had a cold wait for a few hours for the next ferry.
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Your story reminds me of a visit to the Isle of Wight some years ago using the ferry, bus & train to get to Shanklin. My wife & I walked down from the station to the beach but decided to use the bus to get back to the station due to the hilly terrain . The lady driver stopped the bus at a supermarket just before the station & turned off the engine so she could speak with another woman for what seemed ages. She eventually started up the bus & dropped us off at the station only to find we had just missed the train. On enquiry at the ticket office I was politely told ‘Don’t worry, there will be another train in an hour’!
Your driver should’ve been reprimanded knowing full well the bus connected with the ferry.
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Roger, glad to see you try out our local bus route.
As you say, it runs once a day, and on the evenings on request will divert to our village (Kilmory) to drop people off from Fort William, just before heading to the terminus at Kilchoan.
But sadly this is not available in the morning, requiring either a drive to the bus stop to catch it (which means no evening diversion would be necessary) or a nearly three mile walk, with an early start. In the winter or inclement weather (quite common even in the “summer”), it is untenable, never mind for the infirm and elderly. And it is mostly all uphill.
So the evening diversion is of little value to anyone and I doubt it is ever asked for, which is a shame as it would be of enormous value to both young and old alike. It all seems to be totally disjointed and is a shame.
Incidentally, I was on the late afternoon ferry from Tobermory recently, which the evening bus is allowed to wait for it. As the ferry got to within 100 metres of the harbour, the bus arrived, did a three point turn and left very promptly (and it was early to boot). Another example of a great idea to increase use of a limited public transport resource simply not delivered.
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That bridge at Connell features in the great film ‘Eye of the Needle’ starring Donald Sutherland. He’s a Nazi spy in it and I can thoroughly recommend it.
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The Connell bridge was fairly unique.It was built for the branch railway to Ballachulish which opened in 1903 to serve the slate quarries there. It also acted as a road bridge from the start with the roadway and train tracks sharing the same space. Of course it is now just a road bridge. It replaced a ferry over the entrance to Loch Etive, known for the Falls of Lora, a fierce tidal race in the same location.
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This was not your blunder, but a massive blunder by the public transport operators. A couple of simple facts:
1 – during either the bus or ferry journeys (assuming a 21st century mobile phone connectivity) you -or any passenger -could have had a conversation with anyone, anywhere.
2 – I’ve just watched a video of the Kingsferry bridge (in Kent) lifting for a large boat to pass under, which must have involved ‘bridge-control to boat-bridge’ direct communication.
So why is it not standard practice for the Cal-Mac captain to give a quick call to the bus-driver ‘got anyone for this ferry on your bus?’
!!!
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Putting the onus on the passenger to notify CalMac in advance that he/she intends to avail himself/herself of the connection poses three advantages:
Of course, it is open to CalMac to recommend/require advance notification of this kind AND ask bus drivers to check whether they have any passengers making a given connection (although this might require the driver to pose the question each time a new passenger boards, just in case…)… “belt and braces”.
Another argument in favour of requesting advance notification is that CalMac’s willingness to hold a ferry is sometimes dependent on the weather and the tidal conditions, and advance notification would allow them to forewarn the passenger what to expect… then again, CalMac can be annoyingly vague about such things, even when presented with a very specific query. On one occasion in 2022 when I enquired what would happen if the earliest available train arriving at Mallaig were delayed and I wanted to make the 12-minute connection to the once-per-day ferry from Mallaig to Lochboisdale on a specific day, I was given a very vague answer saying that they would try, but there were no guarantees. I then looked at recenttraintimes.co.uk and sent a follow-up enquiry asking what had actually happened on four specific days in the recent past with specific amounts of train delay, and did not get any reply… so I decided to get a coach and a Shiel bus (Shiel gave me a more helpful reply concerning what would happen if my coach were late and my connection to the Shiel bus would be at risk… then again, I suppose Shiel do not need to consider the tide and weather quite as much as CalMac?) that got me to Mallaig a couple of hours before the ferry.
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