Busathon

[anti-pacer]

A friend and I are planning a three day "Busathon" from Berwick-upon-Tweed to his home in East London, overnighting in Hull and Norwich.

Unfortunately First don't know their own single fares, so does anyone locally know the adult single fare on the Excel service from King's Lynn to Norwich, and also Saxmundham to Ipswich? Unfortunately these journeys will be on different days so a day ticket might not be useful.

I have contacted Ipswich Buses who have advised that an adult single fare from Ipswich to Colchester is a whopping £7.30. That seems a bit steep!

If you're interested, our plans are...

DAY ONE:

0901 Berwick 1126 Newcastle (X18 Arriva)
1200 Newcastle 1325 Middlesbrough (X10 Go NE)
1420 Middlesbrough 1637 Scarborough (X93 Arriva)
1705 Scarborough 1813 Bridlington (12 EYMS)
1830 Bridlington 2005 Hull (121 EYMS)

DAY TWO:

0850 Hull 1024 Grimsby (HF - S/c EM)
1040 Grimsby 1145 Louth (51 S/c EM)
1150 Louth 1340 Skegness (59 S/c EM)
1400 Skegness 1512 Boston (57 S/c EM)
1600 Boston 1646 Spalding (B13 Brylaine)
1657 Spalding 1819 King's Lynn (505 S/c East)
1835 King's Lynn 2020 Norwich (X1 First)

DAY THREE:

0900 Norwich 1018 Halesworth (X88 Konectbus)
1035 Halesworth 1102 Saxmundham (521 Borderbus)
1131 Saxmundham 1308 Ipswich (64 First)
1355 Ipswich 1508 Colchester (94 Ipswich Buses)
1555 Colchester 1718 Chelmsford (71 First)
1735 Chelmsford 1825 Brentwood (351 First)
1834 Brentwood 1859 Romford (498 S/c London)
1905 Romford 2015 Canning Town (5 Blue Triangle)

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Interesting that you can do all this by bus in this day and age. Good Luck and I hope all the connections work!

Back in the days of yore and with the assistance of the good old National Bus Companies "Wanderbus" ticket, I managed to do a trip from my digs in London to my family home inBristol in a day.

I cannot remember all the stopping points but the route was something like
Cricklewood
London Victoria
Kingston
Guildford
Farnham
Winchester
Eastleigh
Southampton
Romsey
Salisbury
Trowbridge (or was it Devizes?)
Bath
Bristol
Family Home

Talking of the Wanderbus ticket, I made several day trips from Bristol to the depths of South Wales - I think the furthest that I made was either Llanelli or Ammanford. I'll have to dig out the old records sometime. It was also fun heading up and down the Valleys with a Bristol issued Wanderbus as it was even valid on the old Rhymney Valley DC 36 from Newport. I think that one day I even made it to Abergavenny in search of their brand new Leyland engined Bristol VRs and inquiring at the depot where I might find them was met with the respond "We haven't got any!" which in a Welsh accent sounded very much like Abergavenny. When one crept upon the depot engineer and I, I said that was what I was looking for. Engineer's response was "That's a Leyland not a Bristol!"

 

[flymo]

Isn't the first one an X15 ? The X18 goes via the coast and takes a bit longer.

 

[_toommm_]

Isn't the first one an X15 ? The X18 goes via the coast and takes a bit longer.

Yep, the X18 takes 4 hours compared to the 2 hours on the X15

 

[anti-pacer]

Isn't the first one an X15 ? The X18 goes via the coast and takes a bit longer.

Yes, it is. I think I looked at both and typed the wrong one.

 

[carlberry]

Interesting that you can do all this by bus in this day and age. Good Luck and I hope all the connections work!

Back in the days of yore and with the assistance of the good old National Bus Companies "Wanderbus" ticket, I managed to do a trip from my digs in London to my family home inBristol in a day.

I cannot remember all the stopping points but the route was something like
Cricklewood
London Victoria
Kingston
Guildford
Farnham
Winchester
Eastleigh
Southampton
Romsey
Salisbury
Trowbridge (or was it Devizes?)
Bath
Bristol
Family Home

Talking of the Wanderbus ticket, I made several day trips from Bristol to the depths of South Wales - I think the furthest that I made was either Llanelli or Ammanford. I'll have to dig out the old records sometime. It was also fun heading up and down the Valleys with a Bristol issued Wanderbus as it was even valid on the old Rhymney Valley DC 36 from Newport. I think that one day I even made it to Abergavenny in search of their brand new Leyland engined Bristol VRs and inquiring at the depot where I might find them was met with the respond "We haven't got any!" which in a Welsh accent sounded very much like Abergavenny. When one crept upon the depot engineer and I, I said that was what I was looking for. Engineer's response was "That's a Leyland not a Bristol!"

I managed Bristol-Haverfordwest and back once! (Expresswest). The ticket was valid on Rhymney Valley but not on Taff Ely which made it tricky on the joint worked Caerphilly-Pontypridd service as each operator worked on week one and one week off so you had to be careful about dates. I think the 36 was a joint working as well but the more usual arrangements of having to find the Rhymney worked ones!

 

[overthewater]

There is a very tight gap on Day two at Louth.

 

[anti-pacer]

There is a very tight gap on Day two at Louth.

There is. If missed, it will mess up our day.

 

[Kevpbus]

The Ipswich-Colchester single fare is £5.00.

 

[MotCO]

For information on Excel X1, try this website: http://fecx1news.blogspot.co.uk/

 

[anti-pacer]

The Ipswich-Colchester single fare is £5.00.

They quoted me £7.30 at Ipswich Buses. I thought it was high.

 

[Dentonian]

There is. If missed, it will mess up our day.

TBH, quite a lot look tight to me - especially given the length of journeys being undertaken.

 

[anti-pacer]

TBH, quite a lot look tight to me - especially given the length of journeys being undertaken.

We have rescheduled it to include a night in King's Lynn, with a 3rd night, in Colchester. That way if we miss the connection in Louth, we can still reach King's Lynn at a reasonable time. Also, we will be having one very long day on the first day, so would prefer shorter days from then.

 

[Andyh82]

Indeed, some of those connections down the east coast resorts look tight, particularly if you are planning to do this in peak season.

Have you checked there are buses half an hour or an hour later and you don’t end up stranded in Bridlington or Kings Lynn.

 

[route101]

Looks like something id love to do . Glasgow to London using local buses.

 

[MedwayValiant]

Have you checked there are buses half an hour or an hour later and you don’t end up stranded in Bridlington or Kings Lynn.

From King's Lynn to Norwich there is a later bus, although it's not until 2105. No such luck from Bridlington to Hull though; that 1830 departure from Brid is the last bus. Plenty of trains though, if "cheating a bit" is considered preferable to being overnighted in Bridlington.

I've done a couple of comparable trips in the past, when I was rather younger and fitter than I am today. One was from London to Edinburgh, mostly staying fairly close to the A1, and the other was from London to Glasgow (and then a Citylink to Inverness, which was where I was actually headed on that occasion). I resorted to two trains on the first trip - Sandy to St Neots saved an hour over buses via Bedford, and York to Thirsk because the last bus was too early for me and I had a bed arranged in Thirsk. No trains were needed on the second, although those three hours in a pub near Derby bus station weren't the best idea I ever had ...

I planned the trips using the Great British Bus Time Table of blessed memory, and in general allowed a minimum of half an hour for each change. In fact, I got a bit ahead of myself on at least one day of each trip - either by stepping straight off one bus onto another which was ready to depart, or in one case by catching a bus that left ten minutes late rather than waiting 50 minutes for the one I was actually supposed to take.

In fact, anti-pacer's Day One looks OK to me. Most of those buses will run on time, and there's the fall back of a train for the last leg. Day Two does look a bit hairier, and I might be tempted to take the first bus from Hull at 0715 and deliberately get ahead of myself. Day Three should be fine, and south of Colchester all of the buses are reasonably frequent and operate into the evening.

 

[Statto]

Looks like something id love to do . Glasgow to London using local buses.

That is possible, might have to do couple of express buses though off the top of my head one way to do this could be
X74 Glasgow-Dumfries
79/379 Dumfries-Carlisle
104 Carlisle-Penrith
X4/X5 Penrith-Keswick
555 Keswick-Lancaster, there is a special hourly summer 555 which operates as normal Keswick-Kendal then fast from Kendal to Lancaster
40/41 Lancaster-Preston
125 Preston-Bolton
8 Bolton-Manchester
192 Manchester-Stockport
199 Stockport-Buxton
TP Buxton-Derby, or could do TP from Manchester-Derby instead if timed right
Skylink Derby, Derby-Leicester
X7 Leicester-Milton Keynes
99 Milton Keynes-Luton
321 Luton-Watford
142 Watford-Edgware
113 Edgware-Oxford Circus

 

[jay38a]

A friend and I are planning a three day "Busathon" from Berwick-upon-Tweed to his home in East London, overnighting in Hull and Norwich.

Unfortunately First don't know their own single fares, so does anyone locally know the adult single fare on the Excel service from King's Lynn to Norwich, and also Saxmundham to Ipswich? Unfortunately these journeys will be on different days so a day ticket might not be useful.

I have contacted Ipswich Buses who have advised that an adult single fare from Ipswich to Colchester is a whopping £7.30. That seems a bit steep!

If you're interested, our plans are...

DAY ONE:

0901 Berwick 1126 Newcastle (X18 Arriva)
1200 Newcastle 1325 Middlesbrough (X10 Go NE)
1420 Middlesbrough 1637 Scarborough (X93 Arriva)
1705 Scarborough 1813 Bridlington (12 EYMS)
1830 Bridlington 2005 Hull (121 EYMS)

DAY TWO:

0850 Hull 1024 Grimsby (HF - S/c EM)
1040 Grimsby 1145 Louth (51 S/c EM)
1150 Louth 1340 Skegness (59 S/c EM)
1400 Skegness 1512 Boston (57 S/c EM)
1600 Boston 1646 Spalding (B13 Brylaine)
1657 Spalding 1819 King's Lynn (505 S/c East)
1835 King's Lynn 2020 Norwich (X1 First)

DAY THREE:

0900 Norwich 1018 Halesworth (X88 Konectbus)
1035 Halesworth 1102 Saxmundham (521 Borderbus)
1131 Saxmundham 1308 Ipswich (64 First)
1355 Ipswich 1508 Colchester (94 Ipswich Buses)
1555 Colchester 1718 Chelmsford (71 First)
1735 Chelmsford 1825 Brentwood (351 First)
1834 Brentwood 1859 Romford (498 S/c London)
1905 Romford 2015 Canning Town (5 Blue Triangle)

On day 1 if you wanted I know it would cost more but after getting into Scarborough doing the 17:10 Route 843 to York arriving at 18:45 then the 19:47 Route X46 to Hull arriving 21:45. From experience the X93 will run late.

 

[gnolife]

That is possible, might have to do couple of express buses though off the top of my head one way to do this could be
X74 Glasgow-Dumfries
79/379 Dumfries-Carlisle
104 Carlisle-Penrith
X4/X5 Penrith-Keswick
555 Keswick-Lancaster, there is a special hourly summer 555 which operates as normal Keswick-Kendal then fast from Kendal to Lancaster
40/41 Lancaster-Preston
125 Preston-Bolton
8 Bolton-Manchester
192 Manchester-Stockport
199 Stockport-Buxton
TP Buxton-Derby, or could do TP from Manchester-Derby instead if timed right
Skylink Derby, Derby-Leicester
X7 Leicester-Milton Keynes
99 Milton Keynes-Luton
321 Luton-Watford
142 Watford-Edgware
113 Edgware-Oxford Circus

That's doable in 2 days, overnighting at Manchester, but you have to have early starts both days really. I say that from having done the Glasgow to Manchester leg as stated, but going MK - Aylesbury - Hemel Hempstead - Watford instead. I'll try to dig out my itinerary for it at some point.

 

[Statto]

That's doable in 2 days, overnighting at Manchester, but you have to have early starts both days really. I say that from having done the Glasgow to Manchester leg as stated, but going MK - Aylesbury - Hemel Hempstead - Watford instead. I'll try to dig out my itinerary for it at some point.

Only problem i see is the first southbound X74 leaves Glasgow 09.15 & arrives in Dumfries just before 11.30 & this is on a weekday so it's going to be tricky getting to Manchester by the end of day 1 with most of those services taking anything from 80 minutes upwards, have to change the itinerary a bit to try & get to Carlisle by around lunchtime, as this would be best to try & get to Manchester by the end of day 1.

Also using services that also allow use of Scottish or English NCTS passes you could do a cheat & use the Greenline 757 from Luton to London which allow ENCTS passes.

Ironically Edinburgh to London is definitely doable in 2 days with the first Southbound bus running earlier 07.10, X95 although this is no longer a through service, you have just over 20 minute wait between Gala & Hawick for the Carlisle section the bus arrives in Carlisle around 11.10am.

 

[MrTurbostar170]

Return on the X1 is £6.40, unsure of the single fare.

 

[Dentonian]

That's doable in 2 days, overnighting at Manchester, but you have to have early starts both days really. I say that from having done the Glasgow to Manchester leg as stated, but going MK - Aylesbury - Hemel Hempstead - Watford instead. I'll try to dig out my itinerary for it at some point.

Wow! I envy your fitness. Not sure how long it would take from Glasgow to Carlisle, but I've just looked at the timetables for the Carlisle to M'cr section and if there were no delays and you walked off one bus straight on to the other without taking in (or getting rid of!) any food or drink, you could possibly do it in 8h 20mins, based on off-peak running times.

As regards TP; don't forget the first bus from Manchester to Derby on a weekday isn't until 1115 (0915 at weekends), as there is no Summer hols enhancement this year.

 

[Statto]

Looking at the times, as i've said the first Southbound X74 is 09.15 from Glasgow, arrives in Dumfries 11.25am, the 79 Dumfries to Carlisle departs Dumfries 12.10 arrives in Carlisle 13.50 you'd be doing well to arrive in Manchester by 11pm.

Also note the Glasgow-Bolton itinerary, all the services are operated by Stagecoach, but alas you have to by 2 separate tickets. West Scotland connect dayrider[single to Dumfries might be cheaper] & North West Explorer which is valid on the full length of the 79

Also there is a 554 Carlisle-Keswick direct, this avoids having to change in Penrith but the 554 only has 4 journeys Monday to Friday, & after the 12.10 the next 554 is at 16.00 which is also the last 554.

 

[anti-pacer]

Revised itinerary...

WED:

0901 Berwick 1126 Newcastle (X15 Arriva) - 10.50 Exp NE
1200 Newcastle 1325 Middlesbrough (X10 Go NE)
1420 Middlesbrough 1637 Scarborough (X93 Arriva)
1705 Scarborough 1813 Bridlington (12 EYMS) - 12.00 EYMS Day
1830 Bridlington 2005 Hull (121 EYMS)

Total: £22.50

THU:

0850 Hull 1024 Grimsby (HF - Stage EM) - 9.00 EM Day Out
1040 Grimsby 1145 Louth (51 Stage EM)
1150 Louth 1340 Skegness (59 Stage EM)
1400 Skegness 1512 Boston (57 Stage EM)
1600 Boston 1646 Spalding (B13 Brylaine) - 5.30 Single
1657 Spalding 1819 King's Lynn (505 Stage East) - 5.00 Single

Total: £19.30

FRI:

0820 King's Lynn 0955 Thetford (40 Coach Services) - 3.60 Single
1015 Thetford 1047 Bury St Edmunds (86 Coach Services) - 3.30 Single
1140 Bury St Edmunds 1411 Colchester (753/754 Chambers) - 7.00 Single
1425 Colchester 1544 Chelmsford (71 First Essex) - 8.25 First Day Essex
1605 Chelmsford 1648 Brentwood (351 First Essex)
1656 Brentwood 1723 Romford Station (498 S/c London) - Oyster 1.50
1730 Romford Station 1850 Canning Town (5 Blue Triangle) Oyster 1.50

Total: £12.75

**DAY ONE - If the X93 is late into Scarborough, we will take the advice of jay38a.
**DAY TWO - If we miss the connection in Louth, there are alternative buses later to still get to King's Lynn at a reasonable time.

 

[route101]

Looking at the times, as i've said the first Southbound X74 is 09.15 from Glasgow, arrives in Dumfries 11.25am, the 79 Dumfries to Carlisle departs Dumfries 12.10 arrives in Carlisle 13.50 you'd be doing well to arrive in Manchester by 11pm.

Also note the Glasgow-Bolton itinerary, all the services are operated by Stagecoach, but alas you have to by 2 separate tickets. West Scotland connect dayrider[single to Dumfries might be cheaper] & North West Explorer which is valid on the full length of the 79

Also there is a 554 Carlisle-Keswick direct, this avoids having to change in Penrith but the 554 only has 4 journeys Monday to Friday, & after the 12.10 the next 554 is at 16.00 which is also the last 554.

Thought of doing the 4 from Glasgow to Kilmarnock then to New Cummock to Dumfries . The x74 is a bit of an express ha

 

[Statto]

Even that's not great, the 246 Cumnock-Dumfries is every 2 hours, & you need to be at Cumnock for the 07.45 on school days, 07.55 school holidays, otherwise the next 246 is 09.55 & arrives just after the first X74 so back to square one.

Glasgow-Kilmarnock-Cumnock there is an X50/X51/X76, annoyingly the first southbound journey is 05.05 but thats Kilmarnock-Cumnock section, first bus X76 from Glasgow arrives in Kilmarnock just after 8am, first 4 from Glasgow arrives just before 08.40

 

[Statto]

Glasgow-Manchester is still doable in 1 day but you arrive in Manchester quite late, but you have a tight connection from the 555 to the 41 at Lancaster, miss the 41 you're not going to get to Manchester. timings.

Glasgow-London itinerary
09.15, X74 Glasgow-Dumfries arrives 11.25
12.10, 79 Dumfries-Carlisle arrives 13.50
14.02, 104 Carlisle-Penrith arrives 14.44
15.15, X4 Penrith-Keswick arrives 16.02
16.30, 555 Keswick-Lancaster arrives 19.25 or between July & end of September catch the 17.00, 555 instead, arrives Lancaster 1916
19.35, 41 Lancaster-Preston arrives 20.34
20.50, 125 Preston-Bolton arrives 22.16
22.30, 8 Bolton Manchester arrives 23.23

Can start early on Day 2, itinerary for early start can be
04.01, 43 Manchester-Manchester Airport arrives 04.48
05.15, 199 Manchester Airport-Buxton arrives 06.25
07.30, TP Buxton-Derby arrives 09.05
09.20 Skylink Derby, Derby-Leicester arrives 11.00
11.24, X7 Leicester-Milton Keynes arrives 13.50, this is the new X7 timetable with most journeys going Leicester-Milton Keynes
14.20 150 Milton Keynes-Aylesbury arrives 15.33
15.50, 500 Aylesbury-Watford arrives 17.44
17.57, 142 Watford-Brent Cross arrives 19.15
19.22, 189 Brent Cross-Marble Arch arrives 20.12
or, 17.57, 142 Watford-Edgware arrives 18.49
18.55, 113 Edgware-Oxford Circus arrives 20.04.

 

[Statto]

There is a quicker way doing Milton Keynes-Watford instead of via Aylesbury
14.00, 99 Milton Keynes-Luton arrives 14.55
15.05, 321 Luton-Watford arrives 16.48[16.43 on school holidays]
16.57, 142 Watford-Edgware arrives 17.39
17.42, 113 Edgware-Oxford Circus arrives 18.59 or 17.49, 113 Edgware-Oxford Circus arrives 19.06
Or stay on the 16.57, 142 to Brent Cross arrives 18.21
16.25, 189 Brent-Cross-Marble Arch arrives 19.21 or 18.34, 189 Brent Cross-Marble Arch arrives 19.29

 

[Tetchytyke]

0901 Berwick 1126 Newcastle (X15 Arriva) - 10.50 Exp NE
1200 Newcastle 1325 Middlesbrough (X10 Go NE)
1420 Middlesbrough 1637 Scarborough (X93 Arriva)

Get a North East Explorer for these, rather than singles, might save you a bit.

 

[Statto]

Get a North East Explorer for these, rather than singles, might save you a bit.

Is the Explorer North East valid before 09.30 on a weekday?