Alan, there is much more to your fountain of knowledge ( and Humphrey’s) as regards negotiating Scotland from West to East but also your ability to buy bargain price trickers from South to North and return.
We are booking tickets for 4 of us from Birmingham to Lochailort and currently this tallies up to nearly £600.00.
We will keep looking and hopefully secure sensible priced tickets soon.
All part of the Challenge. We have transport to Acharacle from Lochailort, and the ferry from Dalilea, all logistics covered just need train tickets.

I know last year we managed to get cheaper tickets last year, Sue is on it.:upside_down_face:

You can fly from Birmingham to Glasgow - four people with a rucksack in the hold - for £277.96. Then coach to Fort William and train from there. Alternatively, try doing one way car hire. Four of you in an estate car driving from Birmingham to Glasgow, that can be done for just £300.

The cheapest way is still the seats on the sleeper, which are just £50 each.

Oh yes, Birmingham to Glasgow? Well, if yr into sit-up-straight-no-mumbling-this-is-serious-hardcore and prefer to spend your skoobies on mega-strength-cider then you could, uh, take the bus oh yea . . .

So now, here's a Birmingham > Glasgow bus route. Yes, it's a bus. And yes, it'll get you there.

Sure, it'll cost you all of - wait for it, easy now, no jostling at the back . . . - £5.00 each. Straight up. Serious money, que no?

But at £20 for four people a little cheaper than, uh, £300 for an estate car rental. Or £277 and counting for flights for four. Just checking, uh huh . . .

Click here for typical fares and schedules - is for a Thursday in April, but will be the same for May . . .

Lookit - the times are Beyond Horrid. But if yr on a budget, this is well worth a look.

Frankly, if it was me, I'd skip all this complex goobins and just take the train. Tix are released around Feb 16.Life is short, que no?

No, we won’t be on a bus.
We have to leave Thursday am and be in Lochailort same day.
It’s not a question of price beyond getting the best deal we can.
Hopefully mid February will open a window of opportunity for sensible prices.

Fly up and return the same way.
my flight from stansted to glasgow return is £86.96 including 20kg hold luggage.

I'm with Alan. :joy:

No..... I'm paying the same price from Montrose...... and he will probably have the, erm, pleasure of my company. :stuck_out_tongue:

Happy days. :laughing:

Whoop Whoop.

Just bought four tickets Droitwich Spa to Lochailort for £48.83 each with two together railcard on Trainline.
Maybe a good time for a look if your West Mids based.

Thank you for the heads-up! I have been checking recently and not had any joy. Now I have everything nicely booked thanks to your message alerting me!

Oh, and yes, do split the journey to save money!

We have booked a train with Caledonian Sleeper. Going from Euston to Fort William With one change in Edinburgh. This is just a sleeper seat not a bed but one way is only £50.00 each. Although this has no fancy perks its a cheap option :-) The company also travels from Montrose to London although we haven't booked this yet as we may end up staying and resting before travelling back to reality.

Try this website for split tickets - it does it all for you but takes 10% of the saving - well worth it!
https://raileasy.trainsplit.com/