cheers, yes I've already had a look at Calmac, the first task is to work out which timetable you actually want, there's about 30 of them.
Plan is vaguely,
- get to Inverness
- Ride to Oban, overnight there
- ferry(s) to islay, pootle around a day or so visiting distilleries
- ROTFR
- depart, 2 or 3 days back to Cumbria (need to check distances)