I am going to Iona for a long weekend retreat starting on 23 October. I have booked the sleeper train from London to Glasgow. I plan to get the train to Oban, ferry to Craignure, bus to fionphort and ferry to Iona. When I checked the timetable I found that the ferry times to Mull don't always connect with the bus times to Fionphort. The 8:22 train to Oban arrives at 11:30 and 12:30 ferry to Craignure arrives at 1:15. Then I found an issue in that the ferry arrives at 1:15 and bus leaves at 1:20 which isn't enough time especially if there are delays and the next bus doesn't leave till 5pm arriving at Fionphort too late to get to Iona for checkin. The only option I can see is to leave a day earlier and stay overnight in Oban and take an earlier ferry. I was just wondering if these times are correct as it could be that they haven't finalised the winter timetable yet so the times may change. It seems ridiculous that the ferry and bus times don't connect with each other or the bus wait for ferry passengers and why there isn't another bus until 5pm. The only bus times that seem to work is if I stay overnight in Oban and take first ferry over and then bus leaving around 10:30. I assume that Oban is a better option for staying overnight than Craignure. Please advise.
Posted by
Chicagoland
2585 posts
I have not taken the public bus, but did take the West Coast Tours 2 Island tour to Mull and Iona.
The bus dropoff in Fionnphort was less than a 2 minute walk to the Iona ferry landing. However, I'm not finding a bus schedule beyond October 18.
With potential disruptions due to weather or rail issues, I would be more comfortable arriving in Oban the night before.
Posted by
Lake District, England
12273 posts
The 1.20 pm bus is a scheduled ferry connection, so is supposed to wait. However there is an ongoing problem in that the passenger gangway at Craignure has been condemned, so foot passengers are having to use the car deck. This is liable to cause delays, building during the day.
The winter bus timetable won't be out until mid October, so that lunchtime departure time may end up as tweaked or cancelled. Traditionally in winter only the #496 council contracted journeys run (not the commercially operated #96 route), so the lunchtime bus does not run.
The 5pm bus certainly waits for the ferry, in turn the last ferry to Iona waits as long as it has to for the service bus, if it is late. On a Friday that is especially so because the last bus takes South Mull and Iona children home who have boarded at Oban school during the week.
The School children boarding out are why there is a Monday only 0610 ferry from Iona, with a connecting 0620 bus to Craignure.
Personally I would travel up a day early, stay in Oban and then you are well placed for whatever happens on the Friday, weather wise, and whatever the final bus timetable turns out to be.
The big risk at that time of year is that the weather is too bad for either or both of the ferries to sail (Craignure and Iona). If that happens the children are either sent home on an earlier ferry, or don't get home at all for the weekend. I would want to get over to Mull early, because if the children are sent home early there is an extra unscheduled bus to Fionnphort.
Posted by
OP
Croydon
2 posts
The thing that isn't clear is that all the other buses have 15 min window between ferry arrival and bus departure but not 1:20 departure so wondered if this is correct and if its likely to wait for ferry passengers. Looking at the timteables for other seasons its sometimes scheduled for 1:30 so its not clear what correct departure time is If I miss the bus are there any other options for getting to fionphort or taxi service and if so how much does it cost? Are there any nearby cafes/restaurants and other activities to while away the waiting time? Does anyone know when the winter timetable is published as the winter ferry timetable is already available online?
Posted by
Lake District, England
12273 posts
There is Blethers cafe at Craignure, and a couple of little shops (emphasis on the little).
I've managed to wait in the village Church before, but that may have been just luck.
There is a woodland walk, around 2 miles, along the old railway line to Torosay Castle, but the Castle is no longer open to the public, and the walk may be muddy that late in the year.
In theory the winter bus timetables should be out 6 weeks before they start, but West Coast Motors never meet that deadline, they are always very late publishing both in Spring and Autumn. The Argyll and Bute council website just points you back to the WCM website! In theory Traveline Scotland has the timetable, but they can only work with the data they get.
In England traveline have a lot of missing and up to date data, sometimes for months on end.
Only the Craignure ferry timetable is out, the Iona one is still being held back.
Craignure to Fionnphort is 35 miles.- £3.45 for the first mile then £2.30 for each mile= about £80. There are 3 taxi companies I am aware of, maybe more.
The thing is, that if the ferry is on time, 5 minutes is about 3 minutes more than you need to connect to the bus.
As said the bus will wait if it can for the ferry, subject to driver's hours, because for both locals and visitors, a lot of life revolves round the ferries so mis-connecting makes not much sense.