Option B - by train and bus through the wilds of Caithness, Suttherland and Wester Ross

You come off Orkney by the 1645 hrs ferry (Stromness-Scrabster) and stay the night in Thurso. ( Scrabster-Thurso is about 2km and a delightful coastal walk on a dry evening, if you don't have too much luggage to schlepp.) See above for taxi phone numbers.You get the train the next morning at 0838 and leave the train at Lairg in the interior of Sutherland at 1038.

Thurso is the black dot/"radio button" at extreme right edge of map above, near top. Lairg is at the green flag saying "Main Street" in the map above. Durness is named, Ullapool has the blue flag and Inverness the red flag.

At 1225 you catch a bus from Lairg to Durness (see below), evidently arriving there at 1445 hrs. Looking at Tim Dearman's timetable it is apparently possible to catch his service at 1500 hrs and be in Ullapool by 1800 hrs or Inverness by 1944 hrs. If you stopped at Ullapool you could get a ferry to Stornoway, in Lewis, the next morning.

At Durness you have 3 main options:
  • Stay a night and visit Cape Wrath using the ferry/minibus service. Cape Wrath is the most north-westerly corner of Scotland and has dramatic cliffs. You catch a small ferry across the Kyle of Durness and then get the minibus to Cape Wrath. First ferry leaves at 0930 June-mid-September (1100 hrs in May and the 2nd half of September), bus connects with ferry on west side of Kyle of Durness. Ferry operator: 01971 511376. Bus operator (Mrs I P MacKay): 01971 511287 & 511343.
  • Ride back to Inverness the same day. The Tim Dearman coach leaves Smoo Cave at 1505hrs, Durness TIC at 1510hrs and gets back to Inverness at 1937hrs.
  • Leave the Dearman coach at Ullapool at 1755hrs. Continue to Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides by Caledonian MacBrayne ferry, a 2¾-hour crossing. (Usually this means staying overnight in Ullapool and catching a ferry the next morning. However Wednesdays and Fridays July and August you can get a ferry from Ullapool at 2200hrs, getting you into Stornoway at 0045hrs the next day.)

    *Check all bus times before travel*