Itinerary Help

April 28

The trip from Windsor and Eton Central to Henley on Thames at 4pm would be Off Peak Single fare of £11 rather than Anytime Single at £12. You'll make two changes, from the little shuttle to the slow train to Twyford at Slough and then to the final train at Twyford to Henley on Thames.

You might be tempted to avoid the changes by hiring another taxi but that won't save you money and very likely would only save you 5 or max 10 minutes over the train.

Good luck to the chap in the race.

From Henley, it maybe quicker and cheaper to fly from Heathrow to Edinburgh. Check nearer the time for weekend engineering work on the train lines.

Great idea, Jennifer. I was trying to avoid airports given the mess last summer, but I'll definitely look into it!

How are you getting to Culloden and Clava Cairns without a car? I believe there is a bus to Culloden but you're not leaving yourselves a lot of time. Clava Cairns is in the middle of nowhere and there is no public transportation that I know of. Both are worth seeing, but based on your schedule I have to wonder if a 4 hour train trip for a couple of hours is worth it. We didn't make it to Fort George so can't comment on that. We also had a car so not sure of bus from Inverness to there.

Same observation for May 6th. We spent about 5 hours at Stirling Castle last June. I have to wonder what kind of public transportation will be available to get you to all your sites. I think it's about an hour from Stirling to the Kelpies.

Consider Rabbies tours in England and Scotland. They run small (max. 16 passengers), well-organized tours in Mercedes vans, with knowledgeable, friendly drivers. You can relax and take in the scenery without trying to figure out the directions. We try a combination of public transportation and Rabbies tours.

I just wanted to again thank you all for your thought-provoking comments. I agreed that Inverness was too difficult and fiddly given public transit, so we decided to do a private tour to spend 2 days in that area and then drop us in Glasgow. Again, thank you!

Answering Allan’s question - there are buses from Inverness to Culloden. Clava Cairns is just over a mile away and an easy walk. It may look isolated on a map but is regularly combined with Culloden.

Fort George is definitely worth visiting - it is an amazing place!

This is the bus timetable to get to Culloden Battlefield- scroll down to service 27- as you can see the bus is hourly, and takes just under 30 minutes. Inverness Bus station is a very short walk from the Railway Station- you go out of the back door of the railway station, not the front door, following the signage. Note that the bus stops at Dalcross Inverness Airport station even though it is not yet open to trains.
For me I was excited at this new timetable as it now goes straight to my go to hotel in the Inverness area at Strathpeffer, the battlefield bus was formerly a City service. Ignore journey planners which take you on other services to Culloden village- that is not particularly close to the battlefield, and will lead you astray.
Yes the cairns are an easy walk from the Battlefield.
https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/Timetables/North%20Scotland/Highlands/Beauly%20Firth%20Black%20Isle%20%26%20Easter%20Ross%20Area%20Guide%20October%2022.pdf

For Fort George you catch the Service 11 to Ardersier Church-the timetable is below but is a bit harder to read. But basically there is a bus every hour from Inverness Bus station which takes 45 minutes and calls in at the airport terminal itself (so you can connect between the 2 buses there if you want). From Ardersier Church the fort is a 30 minute walk (my journey planner tells me it is 3180 steps!)
https://tis-kml-stagecoach.s3.amazonaws.com/PdfTimetables/XIAO011.pdf

So both can be fitted in to your schedule on May 4 and May 5 as given above.