In July we travelled to Ullapool by train and bus with our backpacks, ready to walk the local hills and do some sightseeing. There are numerous bus+walk combos, but some are difficult to discover until already there. The local tourist info is most useful, but loitering by the ferry pier helped even more, as we spotted a few other bus companies which certainly expand the range. These include Ewens of Ullapool (they run scheduled services and private hire) and D & E Coaches. Their services include the 804 with a cycle trailer and runs to/from Inverness via Ullapool to Durness and Smoo Cave in the north – filling in the black hole left by the retirement of Tim Dearman, whose bike bus was invaluable for Lands’ End-John O’Groats (LEJOG) riders. You have to book a bike on at least 24 hours in advance, and possibly you have to book a seat if travelling without a bike. The bus left Ullapool at 10ish and return at 6ish, so this service could be useful for a walk northwards of the town.

The Inverness-Ullapool CitiLink/Stagecoach are express services and show only a few intermediate stops on their timetables, so not much scope for hopping on or off along the route. However, Ewen’s Inverness-Ullapool service 813 on Mon/Wed/Sat does call at villages in between, and also most usefully is timed to stop at Braemore Junction to connect with Westerbus’ service to/from Gairloch (it will wait for the connection too so no danger of being stranded). Westerbus doesn’t have a website, so you’ll need to phone 01445 71225 for their latest timetable info.

Double checking by phoning transport operators or talking to drivers is really important if the bus service/time is critical – we discovered things change at short notice so a printed timetable does not mean the bus will run. The Travel Line is up to date but their 0871 200 2233 number is a premium number – find a local number by searching Say no to 0870. Currently this shows 01236 634361 as the number for Travel Line Scotland.

Chatting to other car-free visitors to the area, we discovered that some local bus services only run if there is demand at the starting point, so to avoid the possibility of being stranded, you need to phone up the company itself or talk to the driver; don’t rely on a website or tourist information as situations change. Or plan to take the bus out, and walk back, or hitch.

The other timetable minefield is school holidays – although some children still had their noses to the grindstone, the Scottish Highlands children were already off – so that’s the first question for the tourist info people as many buses only run in term time.

With more digging on the net, we found these sites that we’ll use for better planning next time:

• Highlands public transport map 2009 – a pdf file download
• Highland Council public transport page – has some links, but until this page is revamped (if ever), the ones below are of more use.
• UK bus, train, plane timetables – comprehensive, with info arranged regionally with phone numbers plus links to all the relevant sites if they exist – including Royal Mail Postbus services. Includes a link to the maddening Stagecoach site.
• Carl Berry’s Travel Search – this site lists services and timetables so you really do have to double check with operators, but links and phone numbers are provided to help you.
• Carl Berry’s list of buses serving Ullapool
• Scottish hills by bus and train – Wester Ross and Torridon – an info site and forum for walkers
• CTC forum with many contributions re cycle transport in Scotland – mostly relating to cycling end-to-end logistics (ie Lands End to John o’Groats – LEJOG).
• Celtic Fringe – a visitor guide to Wester Ross
• Lochcarron and Wester Ross. Lots of info on the area, including a comprehensive round up of ‘how to get to Lochcarron area by public transport’.
• Current timetable library on Travel Line Scotland – good if you know which operator to look for – find this out first on Carl Berry’s site