UKC

A couple of friends want to spend 4-5 days walking in Scotland at the end of May. They won’t have a car, and have asked my advice on a good place to base themselves for hill walking. Obviously their base location would need to be easily accessible by public transport, and then there needs to be access (without car) to good walking. 

I’ve never visited Scotland without a car and I’m scratching my head to be honest! My immediate thought was Fort William or Aviemore for their proximity to classic Scottish hills country, but I’ve no idea how easy it is, for example, to get to Glen Coe and back, say, from Fort William without a car. 

Any thoughts on where they might base themselves or other advice would be much appreciated. Thinking about it, it doesn’t have to be the classic western or eastern highlands, it could be somewhere in the borders, say.
Thanks!

Anywhere on the West Highland rail line ought to give access to lots of stations making good starting points or even starting and different finishing points. 

Fort William is not a bad choice: there are buses up Glen Nevis and to Kinlochleven, and several options from stations on the train line in both directions. 
Crianlarich is also a reasonable option, with several walks from the village and others via the train in all 3 directions. It is a bit limited in facilities compared to FW, though.  
Aviemore is also OK with a bus to the ski centre and also train options. 

I'd say there is much to be said for using the West coast line to do walks from different stations as Rob said.

Another option in the same vein would be the Dingwall to Kyle of Lochalsh line. Trains are not that regular but there are a few stops on the line with nice hill-walking from the station and if you took bikes too then that would really open up your options because you can access a lot more if you can cycling along a landrover track to approach.

Many thanks all. Really helpful pointers. The west highland line has stations in some great locations now I come to think of it.
 

(Bit of a cliche but since Trainspotting I’ve always fancied getting off at Corrour station and going for a wander…)

I've done two walking trips to Scotland, both without a car. It's totally possible but limits options a bit. 

The first time was with a friend and we used the West Highland Line to get off the train in the Trossachs, Fort William, and Mallaig to take the ferry to Skye. Especially on Skye we used the bus lines to get around from the Slig to Portree. All totally feasible. 

The second time I was on my own, got off the train in Aviemore and Fort William and just hiked from there. 

Stay in the west end of Glasgow with its nice bars and restaurants. And then get the bus from Great Western Road to Fort William via Glencoe and back every day. Endless possibilities.

Edit. Can’t seem to find the timetable. Can’t imagine it’s been cancelled. That would be disappointing.

Not very practical to do everyday at the moment. First bus out is 0645, gets to Glen Coe at approx 0915, return from Glen Coe is 1944 getting into Glasgow approx 2216. There are later buses out and an earlier bus back but doesn’t leave much time for any walking.

Aviemore which is served by both mainline train and bus services would be more practical imo, and you can hire bikes locally.

I had a very successful holiday in 2019 based around Loch Lomond. By using the water buses creatively we managed to get some good triangular walks in. 

We got a train to Balloch, and based ourselves in Balmaha. 

https://www.cruiselochlomond.co.uk/waterbus-ferries

Tyndrum better as a base than Crianlarich. Loads of corbetts and munros nearby.

Walk from FW to Dalwhinnie? Via Corrour

As a more adventurous alternative, Inverie in Knoydart is reachable using public transport (bus or train and ferry) and there's plenty of walking for 4 or 5 days.

Train to fort William then walk to Inverness via the Great Glen Way in about 4-6 days then train back home. No hills as such but a great weeks walking and takes in a lovely part of Scotland. 

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. Tons of options!

Don't really rate the GGW, too much forestry plantation and not enough hill action.

Are they wanting to do individual day walks each day and back to the same accommodation each night?

What kind of walking are they after? e.g. intent on just bagging munros ... or a mix of hill types ... or longer, flatter walks ... or a mixture of everything to take account of weather maybe not always being suitable for mountains? 

And where are they coming from?

(I sound so nosy!! It's just to come up with suggestions - e.g if they're coming up from London or somewhere on the main sleeper line, they can get to places like Kingussie, Aviemore or Inverness directly to use as a base without having to change trains, minimising travel stress at the start and end of the holiday and giving them an extra free day if they travel overnight)

I've seen this advertised on buses I've been stuck driving behind:

https://www.citylink.co.uk/travelling-with-citylink/tickets/explorer-pass/

Could be a useful way to get around .

Given fuel prices now, that's not a bad option even if you do have a car!

Train to Ardrossan, ferry to Arran. Base in Brodick (or Glen Rosa campsite, or Sannox, or many other places) with plenty of low and high walks to stay occupied for several days. Big variety of gentle walks between towns, beach days, easily accessible Corbetts, up to mountain ridges with scrambling up to Diff and multi-pitch climbs.

Do post buses still run in Scotland?  That what I did to get around, long before I owned a car.

These went a long time ago unfortunately.

Some good suggestions here. 

Another might be to get the bus to Shiel Bridge/Morvich. A lot of very good days to be had on foot from there.

The buses on the A82 are more frequent and have more stops than the trains, should consider them as well!

Watch out for the fares though. The long distance buses will clobber you for short journeys.  Bus fares in the Highlands are inspired by the railways.

They’re coming up from Bristol and are flexible in their plans. Basing at one place may be more feasible given their trip is 6 weeks away and they haven’t booked anywhere yet. They love hills (not necessarily just Munros) but mixing up the terrain would be fine. 
 

The suggestions on the thread of remoter places like Knoydart and Rum are very tempting, I’d say, though maybe the suggestion of Arran I would be better for ease of access and also wet weather options e.g. distillery visiting 😊. 
 

There are some great thoughts and ideas here - so thanks!

So you've never done it then?

https://www.daveslejog.co.uk/post/2017/07/26/day-71-caledonia

I've done my last 80 or so Munro using only train, or train/bike. There have been some good suggestions already. My latest trip was to Arrochar. Lovely spot just down from station. Enough to keep busy for 4 days. The adventure of going by train adds to the trip for me.

I hope I'm not hijacking this thread but would you say this approach is feasible on Skye? I'm considering doing parts of the Cuillin Ridge this summer (and if the stars align the entire traverse) but I would not have access to a car and my driving license is too recent to rent one in the UK, aside from the fact that I don't have any experience driving left side of the road with left stick.

Most of the scrambles start at either Glen Brittle or Sligachan, which seem to be about an hour and a half cycling distance from each other, but I'm assuming this is without a pack. 

No trains on Skye, busses to Portree 

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regionaltickets/north-scotland/skye/dayrider

and on the island.

https://www.lochalsh.com/bus_services_in_skye_and_lochalsh.html

Getting to Glen Brittle by public transport could be a problem.

Yeah that’s why I was thinking about renting a bike to get to and from Glen Brittle. Either that or finding a partner with a car when and if my plans are a bit more final

I sea kayaked to Glen Brittle when I did the Skye ridge but had the help of a friends car when there. That was a while ago. If you were keen I would imagine you could get help with a bit transport if you arrived by bike. I did Inverness to Elgol via Glen Affric and did the outlying Munro on Skye (?) plus 6 others en route, as one of the last 80, by bike. You are really just limited by the time you have. Cars mean you can consume Munro's with more speed.

Have you thought of Braemar? One week-end in Winter many years ago, I caught the train to Aberdeen, then  bus to Braemar. I hired a bike at Braemar Mountain Sports, and cycled from Braemar to Linn of Dee. It is pretty tough, though, but at least it will be light in the evenings at this time of year. One evening I arrived back at the bike, knackered, and had the long ride back. I needed a meal badly, so went as fast as I could to Braemar, fully expecting the Fife Arms to have stopped serving (it was after 8.30). Fortunately, the local MRT had been out on an exercise, and they were queueing for food, so I just latched on to the end of the queue and got my meal. 

If you take this option your friends will a) be very fit by the end of their stay and b) probably have lost weight!