Ivo's Bus Charity Challenge

[Ivo]

This idea comes from the Most inappropriate bus thread.

Essentially, the idea is to travel by bus (using an ENCTS pass, so there were be a small cost to councils involved; it could be argued that they are accepting and even promoting charitable activity though?), all the way from Land's End to Berwick-upon-Tweed and back again. And it can't be in a straight XC-esque line either; it would need to take in all manner of places, such as shown in the attached map (from google Maps obviously).

I realise that this is both highly-ambitious and liable to taking ages. However, I genuinely think it could work. As a last resort, we could get a few people to join in, and each has a leg they have to make; for instance, assuming we run towards Brighton first and via Bristol at the end, I could do the leg from roughly Ipswich to Bristol, and someone else could take over for the remainder down to Land's End.

What does everyone think? I reckon it would take somewhere in the vicinity of 18-21 days to complete this.

 

[Eagle]

I'll let you work out a possible itinerary :P

 

[Ivo]

Thanks (!) Itinerary coming soon

This'll be a rare instance of the Traveline site actually being useful - Zoe's Transport Game thread should come in handy here!

For the purposes of this I will use data available for the seven-day period starting this coming Saturday. As a precaution, Sundays will be treated as rest days, mainly to (a) relieve any stress we might encounter, (b) give a chance to catch on sleep and the like, and (c) poorer connections. Needless to say, (c) is the most important reason here.

Good thing I have Wednesdays off!

 

[Eagle]

Being as I have neither a bus concession nor lots of money I don't think I'd ever take part

 

[Ivo]

You could come and say hello at some stage

The route I've mapped out does include the m1 in Bournemouth for instance, or you could meet us in or near Birmingham...?

Alternatively, you could get something like a Day Explorer for a large area?

 

[callum112233]

Why Berwick Upon Tweed?

 

[Eagle]

Why Berwick Upon Tweed?

Because it's at the other corner of England.
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The route I've mapped out does include the m1 in Bournemouth...

Not taking the fabled X53 then?

 

[callum112233]

oops I missed that.
Scotland could be included and go up to John O' Groats. If theres even a bus up there

 

[Ivo]

Not taking the fabled X53 then?

How do you think we're getting to Poole in the first place? See below

oops I missed that.
Scotland could be included and go up to John O' Groats. If theres even a bus up there

No can do It's called the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme for a reason: It's (almost) exclusive to England.

-------------------

So far I've got the first three (four including the Sunday dud) days mapped out, and we are in Eastbourne. The most notable buses used so far are the "fabled" X53 and the Coastliner 700.

Day 01: Land's End to Exeter
Day 02: Sunday, no progress
Day 03: Exeter to Lymington
Day 04: Lymington to Eastbourne

Number of journeys so far: 15

 

[starrymarkb]

You could pay the fare the rest of the way. Even if it cost you £30-£40 it's not that much more (unless you are as tight as our customers)

 

[Ivo]

True. If I'm honest though, I think england on its own would be exhausting enough!

An update! The first week is complete, and we are in Ludlow. We've gone from Land's End via the south coast to Canterbury, and then through London, MK and Birmingham to Ludlow. One inaccuracy in the map however is that Gloucester and Cheltenham will be covered in the twilight of the run, between Swindon and Bristol, to make things easier. Birmingham to Hereford via Gloucester/Cheltenham is proving difficult! :roll:

Not bad for six days!
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Another update:

Eleven days have passed, including the two Sunday duds that have been factored in, and we've reached Berwick! Ludlow to Berwick in just three days!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Two weeks down, and we're back in the Midlands, in Nottingham. Not too much further to go!

 

[anthony263]

I will say hi if I spot you

 

[Eagle]

Which bus are you going through Coventry or Leamington on? (I can't think of a way you could avoid them if you're going Milton Keynes to Birmingham.)

 

[Ivo]

Coventry is set as the 580 from Rguby and the 900 to Birmingham, on Day 7 (6 if you discount Sundays).

 

[Ivo]

SEVEN hours later, the job is complete!

We start on a Saturday at 0930, from Land's End, reach Berwick at 1858 the following Tuesday, and then return to Land's End at 1839 the Friday after that.

18 days of travelling in all, with three Sunday rests.

 

[anthony263]

SEVEN hours later, the job is complete!

We start on a Saturday at 0930, from Land's End, reach Berwick at 1858 the following Tuesday, and then return to Land's End at 1839 the Friday after that.

18 days of travelling in all, with three Sunday rests.

Good luck.

 

[Deerfold]

This link may interest you - someone at my work who did Land's End to John o'Groats by bus in a little over 5 days:

http://www.lejogbuscountry.org.uk/

 

[bb21]

What happens with people who don't have ENCTS entitlements? Are you going to do it on your own?

 

[Ivo]

What happens with people who don't have ENCTS entitlements? Are you going to do it on your own?

It's a tough one. I would hope that I would see some people along the way, because even for a "professional bus traveller" (:roll it's a Hell of a lot of work that could get very lonely. The problem is, those things aren't exactly easy to come by, and it's not as though there's a bus-based ALR is it? There is another cost issue though, which is accommodation and the like...

Put simply, I don't know

What I would say (seen as this got deleted before :roll is that I would hope for August next year, probably timed to hit London just after the Olympics, and conclude at the end of the Summer Holidays.

It also means I get to visit Luton. Yay. And Hell Hull.

That did take a Hell of a long time to plan though, and given the nature of bus services I can't even be sure those times will be accurate come next Summer!

 

[Blindtraveler]

dont have an NCTS pass, being from north of Berwick, the point where mine stops
but finance permitting I might get my hands on a cheep tiket to Hull and join you in the0last bit throught the northeast. I assume your final move is the Ariva northeast service from Newcastle to Berwick?
If so you may be in for a treat as the one and only time iv used this it was a coach seated Olimpian!

 

[richw]

i see you use a lot of western greyhound in cornwall, I hope you like putting your life on the line. They have a very bad reputation for their poor driving standards. I know two different bus drivers who have quit Western Greyhound in disgust of the manner their colleagues were getting away with the way they treated their buses. One of them commented that they stable a lot of the buses remotely over night, so nobody checks for damage, so they get away with damaging their buses, and so a lot of the drivers dont give a damn about their buses

 

[Ivo]

I like how this thread is back; I was discussing it with a potential "comrade" - a certain banned member of this forum - literally last night.

We will be using the 505 between Newcastle in Berwick, but rather than the last journey it is the halfway point. It will be starting and finishing at Land's End. As for Western Greyhound, it doesn't help that they have so many Mercedes minibuses in their fleet! But their apparent mis-management of their fleet is no different to many other larger firms nationwide...

 

[Blindtraveler]

as said Ivo if I can I may join you from hull as that should be a hellfire stretch. Would love to do it all but as usual money!

 

[Ivo]

Right then: Here we go. Neil has jumped the gun a bit (more than a bit actually) and already set up a Just Giving page, so I guess I may as well publicise it! But he had the idea of doing it without my knowledge so it looks like it's his attempt and not mine But of course, the charity aspect is what matters, so I'll let that go.

Anyhow, here goes!

http://www.justgiving.com/Lands-end-to-Berwick

Just as the Olympics finish another marathon will begin - Neil and Scott's attempt to travel from Land's End to Berwick-upon Tweed and back again - by bus. And not just any old bus either - around 150 of them, taking in Kent, the Midlands and Carlisle (and more) on the way up, and Yorkshire, East Anglia and Bristol (and more) on the way down again. It'll be a long nine days in each direction, starting on one Saturday early in August and ending three weeks later at the same spot in Cornwall. And all in the name of charity - supporting a cause that is so important the team.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I have to be honest Ivo, the 'My Story' area on that page is pretty poorly written. Just saying

 

[Ivo]

I have to be honest Ivo, the 'My Story' area on that page is pretty poorly written. Just saying

Yes. I know. Neil wrote the first version and I only revised what he put to tidy it a little. If I wrote it as I wanted it would be too long!

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Oh, I've just seen the hidden text beyond the display text to. Yeah, with all due respect, it's not too good.

Anyway, 11 mins Preston Bus Station-Town Hall is cutting it a bit fine. There should be plenty more buses to Blackpool, but I don't know how a delay would affect to Lancaster and Windermere thereafter.

 

[Ivo]

Oh, I've just seen the hidden text beyond the display text to. Yeah, with all due respect, it's not too good.

Anyway, 11 mins Preston Bus Station-Town Hall is cutting it a bit fine. There should be plenty more buses to Blackpool, but I don't know how a delay would affect to Lancaster and Windermere thereafter.

Yes, I know. And Neil wants lots of connections like that - not recommended. We do have quite a while in Blackpool so we should have any problems; if we miss the expected bus, there are indeed plenty of others available!

I'm going to give it a full rewrite I think in time, but not just yet. We need to discuss some things...

 

[richw]

I may attempt to join in with your time in Cornwall, Looking at a Ride Cornwall ticket for £10 which says "Get hold of a one day Ride Cornwall ticket and enjoy unlimited travel throughout Cornwall on all First and Western Greyhound buses as well as First Great Western train services"

source cornwall council http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=4475

 

[Ivo]

I may attempt to join in with your time in Cornwall, Looking at a Ride Cornwall ticket for £10 which says "Get hold of a one day Ride Cornwall ticket and enjoy unlimited travel throughout Cornwall on all First and Western Greyhound buses as well as First Great Western train services"

source cornwall council http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=4475

Isn' that valid in Plymouth as well?