One of my neighbours is going to ride the Great Glen to Inverness with his son on May Bank Holiday weekend. He will get the train back to Perth from Inverness afterwards, but is struggling to work out how to get to Ft. William with his bike.
My ideas were:
-Train to Pitlochry, ride to Rannoch Station, train to Ft. William
-CityLink bus (will they take a bike?) but this will involve at least 2 buses I think
Can anyone suggest anything else suitable?
City link bus goes perth to fort william, with meet/change at Tyndrum.
A bike, wheels off, will be taken by them as I know a couple of folk who have done so - but it was a smile at the driver.
Could he blag a cardboard bike box from Perth bike shop?
Bus to Fort William
Hire bikes from Nevis Cycles
Leave them in Inverness
Train or bus home
Train from Perth to Glasgow, then train to Fort William. It will take a while, but its a nice scenic route.
Or yes, Citylink will take bikes. They are supposed to be in a box or bag. Should be OK if you wrap it up in a plastic bag.
Check the price of a one way van hire? Likely to be more than train/bus but maybe worth a look. Practical seem to have branches in Perth and FW.
My experience with the West Higland Line is that you *have* to book the bikes for travel. There's 6 spots Glasgow to Oban and another 6 for the Glasgow to Fort William half of the train (the train splits at Crianlarich).
Have train reservations ben made for the bikes? If not then it's not happening at this stage.
And the "new Scotrail" booking system means you can't see or check online.
Whenever we've booked we've had to do it in person at a station.
May Bank holiday weekend? Hmm, I think you might need a bit of luck with that though most bookings going north are likely to be on the Friday and Saturday.
Dalwhinnie to Corrour is doable and a really nice ride.
What sort of cost are those train tickets adding up to for the pair of them? Taxi driver over the road from me does Perth to FW for £130 (Transporter van).
Book first nights accommodation in FW. Drive there from Perth and leave bikes. Continue to Inverness, park car somewhere suitable, and get bus back to FW.