Skye - this is my first adventure

So my big adventure overseas is galloping towards me. Bit sad really, being 43 and just heading off by myself for the first time, but that's life and it's about to be a little more interesting! I have a trip organised this far:

Sun 26 June - arrive London (from Athens where my husband will be working at the Special Olympics World Games while I adventure ). Accommodation is booked.

Monday 27 June - London to Inverness by train. Need to book this bit. I have a hotel booked in Inverness that night.

Tuesday 28 June - This is the tricky bit - Inverness to Fort William by coach, Fort William to Mallaig by train (I don't need it to be a steam train), Mallaig to Skye by ferry. I have absolutely no idea what to do on Skye or where to stay.

Wednesday 29 June - Skye to Inverness via Plockton - train mainly? Accommodation in Inverness is booked.

Thursday 30 June - Join a JO'G tour to Orkney, two nights in Kirkwall

Saturday 2 July - back to Inverness at 13:45, need to get to Edinburgh that afternoon and find a place to stay in Edinburgh that night.

Sunday 3 July - Edinburgh to London, then to Athens on morning of 4 July to rejoin husband.

Can anyone please suggest the best way to pre-book:
* train London - Inverness (especially how far ahead - should I just do it now online?)
* public transport Inverness - Inverness a couple of days
* public transport Inverness to Edinburgh
* somewhere to stay on Skye
* somewhere to stay in Edinburgh.

Prefer B&B type accommodation.

Thanks in advance from a complete newbie.

Book train through http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/. Currently only taking bookings until early June Try in a week or so time.
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Major bus company in Scotland is Citlink: http://www.citylink.co.uk/index.php. Normally don't neeed to book in advance but of you do it will cost you 50p. Will get you from Inverness to FW and back from Skye. Not much slower but more frequent service than train to get from Inverness to Edinburgh.
For getting from A to B use: http://www.travelinescotland.com/welcome.do
Going to Skye one day and returning next will not give you much time to do anything.
Can't recommend any where to stay - I only live there.
Suggest: http://www.visitscotland.com/guide/where-to-stay/

If you can get a Caledonian Sleeper Bargain Berth, London Euston to Inverness for £19 / £29 / £39 / £49, it's a good deal - see http://www.scotrail.co.uk/content/caledonian-sleeper-bargain-berths.html Usually need to book as soon as tickets become available, 12 weeks before travel. It's 8.5 to 10.5 hours London to Inverness, depending on the number of changes.

You could probably get a flight from London to Inverness for about £45 if you're wanting extra time in Inverness.

Scottish Citylink - if you know the times, its worthwile booking ahead of time. Going between major towns and cities you can save quite a lot. Their super single tickets are quite good, if you know the times you're wanting to travel. Even 15 minutes before you jump onto a bus its worthwile checking the online ticket costs. I'm not sure how early they release the tickets but its not uncommon to get the Inverness - Fort William tickets for £4 or £5.

Accomodation - Laterooms.com might be worth a look. You can often get discounted room rates. Also it might be worthwile finding a place on there and then phoning the place directly, they might be able to give you a better deal then you find on there as Laterooms charges something like 15% commission. You might want to double check if the accomodation is ok with tripadvisor.com.

I don't understand why you are going to Skye if you have no idea why you are going. I also don't understand why you would go to Ft. William from Inverness enroute to Skye rather than take the train directly from Inverness to Kyle of Localsh and the go over the bridge to Skye. Nor do I understand why you would go one day and return the next. Do you just want to look out of a bus/train window rather than be somewhere doing/seeing things?

On the 2nd and 3rd you plan to make your way to London via Edinburgh. Why are you staying the night in Edinburgh? Why not take a night train from Inverness to London?

Your whole plan makes no sense to me. You are spending no time really in any location other than 1 day (Friday) in the Orkneys. All the rest of your time is moving around. I understand this is your first 'adventure' but it seems as though you are just trying to go to as many places as you can possibly fit in to the time available without spending any time anywhere. Is that really what you want?

I would suggest you think about what it is you are really trying to do. If what you want is to experience a bit of Scotland this is probably not a good plan. What you will experience is primarily train travel in Scotland and not much else. Do you just want to 'go to' places rather than spend time 'in' places?

Agree with #4. When I read your itinerary I couldn't understand what you were trying to do - you seem to be simply travelling for the sake of travelling, you won't have time to see anything except for the place where you are staying 2 nights. You will spend all your time sitting on trains or getting to and from railway stations and accommodation locations.

I would suggest you get a Britrail Pass, if this is available to citizens of whatever country you are from. This will give you a lot of flexibility as far as train travel goes and works out fairly cheap. I think train travel is good as you get to see quite a bit of the country.

Have you actually looked to see how long some of your train trips will take? For example, London to Inverness is 8 - 9 hours. Rather than go from London to Inverness and then double back down to Fort William and Skye the next day, you would be better off to go from London to Glasgow on the first day, and then the next day catch the train from Glasgow to Mallaig via Fort William. You will need to catch the ferry across to Armadale on Skye. Skye is absolutely beautiful and worth a visit, but more than one night, otherwise you will just get there and then have to go. I would stay in Portree (get a bus from Armadale) as you can go on various tours and boat trips from there. I stayed at a nice B&B in Portree called Coolin View three years ago. I assume it's still there.

Orkney is amazing, especially if you like history and is well worth a visit. Edinburgh is too, but you need more than one night. If I were you, I wouldn't try to spend too much time in Inverness, there's not a lot there, although it's a nice enough place.

As the others have said, don't try to cram in too much or you won't see anything much at all.

Hi,
A word of warning with the ferry to Skye, if you are going on it by foot (which it sounds like you plan to) then there really won't be much to see when you get off the ferry! Skye is actually a lot larger than one may think and it's a bit of a drive to the main towns like Corry, Ollach or Portree.

Have you considered maybe renting a car to explore Scotland? It might save you a lot of time that would be otherwise spent on buses or trains!