The Transport Game (UK)

[me123]

Oh dear, why Aberdeen?

Still, I can put my local knowledge to good use here We walk out onto Guild Street, and step onto the First Aberdeen Number 3 bus at 17:23. We take it to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, alighting at 17:41 on Friday evening.

 

[ValleyLines142]

We then board the 1752 First Aberdeen service 4 to Danestone (Primary School), arriving there at 1815 on Friday evening.

 

[me123]

And then it's onto the busy First Aberdeen Number 1 service at 18:35, which we take to Holborn Street (Opp Nellifield Place), arriving at 19:16 on Friday evening.

 

[ValleyLines142]

We then board the 1943 Stagecoach Bluebird service 7B to Stonehaven (Station Hotel), arriving there at 2037 on Friday evening.

 

[AndrewR232]

At the nearby railway station we board the 2058 ScotRail service to Glasgow Queen Street, arriving 2319 on Friday evening.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Central Station is a seven minute walk away from Queen Street. We make this walk and board 1M11, the 2340 ScotRail service to Watford Junction, arriving there at 0641 on Saturday morning.

 

[me123]

Couple of things:
1) Scotrail no longer operate the Sleeper.
2) Friday night Lowland Sleeper services are faster for some reason, with an arrival time of 06:24 on Saturday morning. So, to head on from there.

Since we actually arrive at 06:24, we do make the 06:45 London Midland Abbey Flier 2F05 service to St Albans Abbey, which deposits us there at 07:01 on Saturday morning.

 

[James Wake]

We next board the 0728 Arriva Harlow Green Line service 724 to Heathrow Central Bus Station arriving at 0855 on Saturday morning.

 

[DasLunatic]

We walk to Heathrow Central (Terminals 1-3) and board the 0926 Heathrow Express service to Heathrow T5, arriving at 0931 Saturday morning.

How about a ride on the ulTRA system while we're here?

 

[me123]

As tempted as we are by British Airways flight BA213 to Boston, leaving at 11:15, we decide not to go rogue at this time. Besides, we haven't applied for ESTAs.

Instead, we take the 10:00 GoAhead/Oxford Bus Company AirLine (bus) service to Oxford. It makes the journey in 90 minutes, arriving at Oxford Queen's Lane at 11:15 on Saturday morning.

 

[Springs Branch]

Our stop at Queen's Lane is too far to walk to either Gloucester Green Bus Station or Oxford Railway Station.

Luckily there is a frequent procession of buses to choose from here, and in 5 minutes we are aboard the 1120 Oxford Bus Company service 5 to the Railway Station forecourt, arriving at 1130 Saturday morning.

 

[me123]

Giving us enough time to get onto the platforms to catch the 11:43 CrossCountry service 1O84 to Southampton Central, arriving there at 13:17 on Saturday afternoon.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

We next board the 1333 SN service to Lancing that arrives there at 1500 on Saturday afternoon.

 

[AndrewR232]

We then board the 1520 Southern service to Chichester, arriving 1550 on Saturday afternoon.

 

[me123]

And we decide to explore the interestingly named "Manhood Peninsula". It doesn't have a rail service, so we have to go by bus. At 16:01, we board the Stagecoach 52 "circuit" service, taking us to West Wittering (Old House, at Home) at 16:26 on Saturday afternoon.

 

[ValleyLines142]

To avoid being stuck in settlements that are served solely by the 52/53, we return on the 1632 Stagecoach South West service 53 back to Chichester (Bus Station), arriving there at 1700 on Saturday afternoon.

 

[AndrewR232]

An hour later, we complete the circuit by taking the 1726 Stagecoach service to Chichester Bus Station, arriving 1745 on Saturday afternoon.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
It's back to the trains as we take the 1735 Southern service to Portsmouth Harbour, arriving 1802 on Saturday evening.

 

[DasLunatic]

We then board the 1710 National Express No.206 coach to Portsmouth, The Hard Interchange, arriving at 1740 Saturday afternoon.


We leave the station and board the 1815 Wightlink catamaran service to Ryde Pier Head, arriving at 1840 Saturday afternoon.

 

[ValleyLines142]

We then board 2D55, the 1907 Island Line service to Shanklin, arriving there at 1930 on Saturday evening.

 

[DasLunatic]

We then head back onto the buses and board the 1950 Southern Vectis No. 3 service to Ventor, adj Boots arriving at 2008 on Saturday evening.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

We next board the 2038 Southern Vectis service 3 to Brading (Bull Ring) that arrives there at 2115 on Saturday evening

 

[ValleyLines142]

Not much we can do here other than to stick with the 3. We then board the 2133 service to Newport (Bus Station), arriving there at 2240 on Saturday.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

We next board the 2255 Southern Vectis service 1 to Cowes (Somerton Park and Ride) that arrives there at 2307 on Saturday evening.

 

[ValleyLines142]

We then board the 2320 Southern Vectis service 1 to Cowes (Pontoon), arriving there at 2330 on Saturday evening.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Having now visited the south, east and north of the island, there is much to admire on the west coast, such as The Needles and Alum Bay with its famous multi-coloured cliff sands,, so we decide to return to the transport hub of the island in order that the weekend still has surprises to offer on Sunday, so we next board the 2345 Southern Vectis service 1 to Newport bus station that arrives there at 0005 on Sunday morning.

 

[me123]

We find there's a very good late night bus service on the Isle, so we continue our journey West, this time on the 00:20 Southern Vectis Number 7 service to Totland War Memorial. We alight at Yarmouth Bus Station at 00:40 on Sunday morning.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

We are thankful for the night buses provided on these days and board the 0053 Southern Vectis service 7 to Carisbrooke (High Street) that arrives there at 0123 on Sunday morning.

 

[me123]

If we're sticking to the rules, we don't have much choice other than to get back on another Southern Vectis 7. We'll wait for the next, and last bus of the day, that allows us to complete our journey to Newport Bus Station. It pulls up two hours later, at 03:23, taking us to Newport Bus Station at 03:28 on Sunday morning.

As we leave the bus, and set up camp for (what's left of) the night, we ponder how such a good service can operate down here whilst so many much busier places have so much less...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Sunday morning daylight breaks over the edifice that is Marks and Spencer and we are pleased that a dry day is forecast, so we decide to take a bus ride that passes Osborne House the home of Queen Victoria on the island, so we board the 0655 Southern Vectis service 5 to East Cowes (Waitrose) that arrives there at 0709 on Sunday morning.

 

[me123]

We decide to return to dry land. The Southampton Vehicle Ferry leaves a few minutes walk from the bus station, and a ferry is ready to take us back to Southampton.

Sadly, we've missed the check-in time, so we have to let the vessel sail. We grab some breakfast and board the 08:30 Red Funnel ferry, and it's MV Red Falcon that takes us back to Southampton. As we sail, we reflect on our journey across the Isle of Wight, and wonder what other new horizons await us beyond these shores.

After a relaxing crossing, we disembark at Southampton Ferry Terminal 1 at 09:30 on Sunday morning.