Trivia: Furthest day return trip by bus from your home town

[Caboose Class]

Further to the Jo Kibble story of him travelling from London to Morecambe (285 miles) in a day on public buses, it is theoretically possible to travel from York to Stranraer (300 miles) in a day on public buses. The route (with a sprint through Newcastle city centre) would be as follows:-

FROM	DEP	TO	ARR	BUS(ES)	MILES
YORK	07:45	SCARBOROUGH	09:31	Coastliner	41
SCARBOROUGH	09:50	MIDDLESBROUGH	12:06	X93MAX	49
MIDDLESBROUGH	13:00	NEWCASTLE	14:43	X10	41
NEWCASTLE	14:45	CARLISLE	17:15	Cross Pennine	59
CARLISLE	17:30	DUMFRIES	20:20	382 and 381	38
DUMFRIES	20:33	STRANRAER	23:00	500	72
TOTAL					300

 

[RELL6L]

Further to the Jo Kibble story of him travelling from London to Morecambe (285 miles) in a day on public buses, it is theoretically possible to travel from York to Stranraer (300 miles) in a day on public buses. The route (with a sprint through Newcastle city centre) would be as follows:-

FROM	DEP	TO	ARR	BUS(ES)	MILES
YORK	07:45	SCARBOROUGH	09:31	Coastliner	41
SCARBOROUGH	09:50	MIDDLESBROUGH	12:06	X93MAX	49
MIDDLESBROUGH	13:00	NEWCASTLE	14:43	X10	41
NEWCASTLE	14:45	CARLISLE	17:15	Cross Pennine	59
CARLISLE	17:30	DUMFRIES	20:20	382 and 381	38
DUMFRIES	20:33	STRANRAER	23:00	500	72
TOTAL					300

You couldn't possibly expect to make a 2 minute connection between different termini in Newcastle!
But from next week, with the reinstatement of the 'normal' X9 and X10 there is an X9 from Middlesbrough at 12.45, arrives Newcastle 14.10, so plausible.
But I still wouldn't relay on these connections at Scarborough, Carlisle or Dumfries, they are too tight to be reliable, the Coastliner and Cross Pennine are often delayed by traffic (ditto the X93).

 

[NorthOxonian]

You couldn't possibly expect to make a 2 minute connection between different termini in Newcastle!
But from next week, with the reinstatement of the 'normal' X9 and X10 there is an X9 from Middlesbrough at 12.45, arrives Newcastle 14.10, so plausible.
But I still wouldn't relay on these connections at Scarborough, Carlisle or Dumfries, they are too tight to be reliable, the Coastliner and Cross Pennine are often delayed by traffic (ditto the X93).

Fortunately, there's a lot of slack there - you can leave Carlisle at 18:25 and still make the connection in Dumfries (arriving at 20:02). The services between Scarborough and Carlisle are at worst hourly so even if a connection is missed it's probably fine.

The only issue is that this later journey would use the 79 instead of the 382/381. It runs via Annan rather than via Lockerbie which is a shorter route - however it does serve Longtown rather than going down the M6 which may make up for this.

 

[nw1]

You couldn't possibly expect to make a 2 minute connection between different termini in Newcastle!
But from next week, with the reinstatement of the 'normal' X9 and X10 there is an X9 from Middlesbrough at 12.45, arrives Newcastle 14.10, so plausible.
But I still wouldn't relay on these connections at Scarborough, Carlisle or Dumfries, they are too tight to be reliable, the Coastliner and Cross Pennine are often delayed by traffic (ditto the X93).

It's interesting that there's nothing direct north from York - not a York-Northallerton-Middlesbrough X-something for example.

 

[darloscott]

Interesting there's nothing direct north from York - not a York-Northallerton-Middlesbrough X-something for example.

I guess the train covers most of that market. There is a number of coaches (both Megabus & Natex) from Leeds to Middlesbrough but very little from York. It can be done but takes most of the day thanks to poor timetables.

 

[Ken H]

Interesting there's nothing direct north from York - not a York-Northallerton-Middlesbrough X-something for example.

30X York - Thirsk Reliance Motor Services
Dales and District 30 and North Yorkshire County Council 153 do Thirsk - Northallerton
Hodgsons do a 72 Northallerton - Darlington

But none are frequent, and I bet they don't link up too well.

 

[Caboose Class]

30X York - Thirsk Reliance Motor Services
Dales and District 30 and NYCC 153 do Thirsk - Northallerton
Hodgsons do a 72 Northallerton - Darlington

But none are frequent, and I bet they don't link up too well.

I've done the reverse a couple of times (after a cheap £7 single train ticket from York to Darlington). On one occasion (probably about 5 years ago) I even managed to fit in a Richmond - Reeth (Swaledale) "bus" in a North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) subsidised mini-van! It's robably no longer possible today with all the cut backs.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

It's interesting that there's nothing direct north from York - not a York-Northallerton-Middlesbrough X-something for example.

30X York - Thirsk Reliance Motor Services
Dales and District 30 and North Yorkshire County Council 153 do Thirsk - Northallerton
Hodgsons do a 72 Northallerton - Darlington

But none are frequent, and I bet they don't link up too well.

I guess the train covers most of that market. There is a number of coaches (both Megabus & Natex) from Leeds to Middlesbrough but very little from York. It can be done but takes most of the day thanks to poor timetables.

The fact is that the train does it in no time whilst any bus service has to manage with a single lane A19 from Thirsk into York. It was tried by Stagecoach Darlington running from Newcastle to Darlington to York but didn't last long. Also, United did a couple of attempts with the 490 and the X5 (I think) but it's a rural jaunt through North Yorkshire and the train just does it faster.

BTW, the D&D 70 from Ripon to Northallerton provides more journeys between Thirsk and Northallerton than the 153 and quicker too but the timings are not handy. You can leave York at 0918 and get to Darlington for 1301....

 

[JWK]

Wow!
Good ending point as there's a depot there and the last 40 from Preston to Lancaster extends there and is well after midnight.
There's some good clues in there as to where he went, I reckon he would have done:

N9 to Heathrow
8 to Slough
X74 to High Wycombe
300 to Aylesbury
150 (or X60) to Milton Keynes
X6 (or 33) to Northampton
X7 to Leicester
Skylink to Derby
TP2/TP3 to Buxton
199 to Stockport
192 to Manchester
8 to Bolton
125 to Preston
40 to Morecambe

Glad people enjoyed the story of my little bus adventure - I certainly didn’t expect the level of interest it got!
The above is pretty much a spot on guess/deduction, except I took the 7 Heathrow-Slough and the 100 Aylesbury-MK.

 

[RELL6L]

Glad people enjoyed the story of my little bus adventure - I certainly didn’t expect the level of interest it got!
The above is pretty much a spot on guess/deduction, except I took the 7 Heathrow-Slough and the 100 Aylesbury-MK.

Thanks for posting this. It was of great interest. Your route was well chosen. My mistake on the 7 to Slough and I overlooked the Red Rose 100 which is the 'upstart' competing with Arriva but offers a faster and more frequent service on this corridor. Anything else planned?

 

[JWK]

Yes, the 100’s extra speed was crucial to the timetable hanging together, so I’m very grateful to Red Rose! A possible new trip is currently under negotiation - what I am rapidly finding is that there’s no efficient route north that doesn’t include the X7!

 

[TUC]

In terms of how you can go on a single ticket, Explorer North East enables (albeit with a double back between Newcastle and Carlisle):
*Berwick-Newcastle
*Newcastle-Carlisle
*Carlisle-Newcastle
*Newcastle-Middlesbrough
*Middlesbrough-Scarborough

A total of c275 miles for £10.90.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

In terms of how you can go on a single ticket, Explorer North East enables (albeit with a double back between Newcastle and Carlisle):
*Berwick-Newcastle
*Newcastle-Carlisle
*Carlisle-Newcastle
*Newcastle-Middlesbrough
*Middlesbrough-Scarborough

A total of c275 miles for £10.90.

Though not a return trip as the thread title suggests

 

[ALEMASTER]

Just thinking of the potential starting from Sheffield....

WEST X57 to Manchester for connections onwards into the North West
NORTH X17 to Barnsley changing onto the X10 to Leeds for connections onwards to the East Coast / North Yorkshire
SOUTH X17 to Chesterfield changing onto either the Pronto to Nottingham or the Comet to Derby for connections onwards into the Midlands

East is more of a challenge,

 

[route101]

A humble offering, but I once got from Hailsham to Southampton and back in a day, all for the princely sum of £2.97 for a NBC Wanderbus ticket.

Routes:
191 Hailsham to Eastbourne
712 Eastbourne to Brighton
700 Brighton to Portsmouth
(the above two routes were branded as ‘Stagecoach’, long before the Souter tartan appeared!)
X71 Portsmouth to Southampton via the M27 motorway.

Not going to be the longest distance in this thread, but perhaps the longest covered by purely Bristol VRs!

I travelled from Southampton to Brighton yesterday on the X4 and 700. It took 7 hours to complete.

 

[PTR 444]

Out of curiosity as someone who has just finished watching the excellent Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm, where’s the furthest afield you can travel to Chipping Norton and back in one day? I ask for the benefit of anyone wishing to visit the farm shop while making use of a day bus ticket or ENCTS pass. Me and a friend are interested in visiting but we would most likely get the train to Oxford then a bus from there.

 

[NorthOxonian]

Out of curiosity as someone who has just finished watching the excellent Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm, where’s the furthest afield you can travel to Chipping Norton and back in one day? I ask for the benefit of anyone wishing to visit the farm shop while making use of a day bus ticket or ENCTS pass. Me and a friend are interested in visiting but we would most likely get the train to Oxford then a bus from there.

I would imagine it's hard to beat Haverhill, Suffolk - which can be done all on one day ticket (Stagecoach East Dayrider for £15).

Haverhill dep 0608, Cambridge arr 0725 (13)
Cambridge dep 0800, Bedford arr 0916 (905)
Bedford dep 0925, Oxford arr 1140 (X5)
Oxford dep 1147, Chipping Norton arr 1248 (S3)
Chipping Norton dep 1352, Oxford arr 1458 (S3)
Oxford dep 1520, Bedford arr 1740 (X5)
Bedford dep 1805, Cambridge arr 1922 (905)
Cambridge dep 1940, Haverhill arr 2046 (13)

This route also has quite a decent evening service so I would imagine an extra hour or two at Chipping Norton would be possible - given that the shop is about a 35 minute walk from the nearest stops this is quite important!

 

[A Challenge]

Not starting from my hometown, but Sheffield to Alton Towers/Scarborough/Skegness on the Hulleys services, and maybe even from further away if you can connect through the X57

 

[johnnychips]

Not starting from my hometown, but Sheffield to Alton Towers/Scarborough/Skegness on the Hulleys services, and maybe even from further away if you can connect through the X57

All three have been cancelled because of the driver shortage.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

I'm thinking of being able to do Oxford to Bournemouth by bus rather than by train, and that would involve:

S6 Oxford to Swindon - departure at around 08:40 arrive at 10:10
X5 Swindon to Salisbury - departure at around 10:40 arrive at 12:38
X3 Salisbury to Bournemouth - departure at around 13:10 arrive at 14:25
X3 Bournemouth to Salisbury - departure at 14:50 arrive at around 16:10
X5 Salisbury to Swindon - departure at 16:30 arrive at around 18:40
S6 Swindon to Oxford - departure at around 19:00 arrive at around 20:00

 

[NorthOxonian]

I'm thinking of being able to do Oxford to Bournemouth by bus rather than by train, and that would involve:

S6 Oxford to Swindon - departure at around 08:40 arrive at 10:10
X5 Swindon to Salisbury - departure at around 10:40 arrive at 12:38
X3 Salisbury to Bournemouth - departure at around 13:10 arrive at 14:25
X3 Bournemouth to Salisbury - departure at 14:50 arrive at around 16:10
X5 Salisbury to Swindon - departure at 16:30 arrive at around 18:40
S6 Swindon to Oxford - departure at around 19:00 arrive at around 20:00

I have done that exact journey (set off earlier though, and spent longer in Bournemouth). It's a great trip - considerably cheaper than the train and there are a lot of scenic, double decker routes on the way. In theory you can probably get even further (Swanage should be doable) but Bournemouth is still an impressive distance.

It may be better to get the 2 from Salisbury to Devizes - the last bus back is a lot latter (1740). It also doesn't work out that much longer - and you get a chance to stretch your legs in Devizes (which isn't a bad place to spend half an hour of an evening). The 49 is also a nicer route than the X5 - probably the only bus route through a stone circle!

For the last part, the S6s in the evening usually depart at 40 minutes past the hour (though currently they're leaving at 25 minutes past due to roadworks in Swindon). They arrive into Oxford on the hour, about an hour and a half after leaving Swindon.

 

[route101]

I'm thinking of being able to do Oxford to Bournemouth by bus rather than by train, and that would involve:

S6 Oxford to Swindon - departure at around 08:40 arrive at 10:10
X5 Swindon to Salisbury - departure at around 10:40 arrive at 12:38
X3 Salisbury to Bournemouth - departure at around 13:10 arrive at 14:25
X3 Bournemouth to Salisbury - departure at 14:50 arrive at around 16:10
X5 Salisbury to Swindon - departure at 16:30 arrive at around 18:40
S6 Swindon to Oxford - departure at around 19:00 arrive at around 20:00

What ticket covers this?

 

[PTR 444]

What ticket covers this?

I think a Wiltshire Day Rover covers all of this with the absurd exception of the X3 (why is this the case just out of interest?).

 

[NorthOxonian]

I think a Wiltshire Day Rover covers all of this with the absurd exception of the X3 (why is this the case just out of interest?).

Isn't the X3 operated by Morebus?

The cross border routes which accept the Day Rover are generally operated by "Wiltshire" operators - the X7 to Southampton is operated by Salisbury Reds, Stagecoach's S6 to Oxford is operated from the Swindon end, and most of the routes into Bath are Faresaver. The only exception is the D1 (which is First and comes from Bath) - I suppose that is included for consistency because it'd be strange if Melksham/Chippenham to Bath was valid but Trowbridge to Bath was not.

 

[JonathanH]

most of the routes into Bath are Faresaver. The only exception is the D1 (which is First and comes from Bath) - I suppose that is included for consistency because it'd be strange if Melksham/Chippenham to Bath was valid but Trowbridge to Bath was not.

The Wiltshire Day Rover was valid into Bath on those routes when Badgerline ran the services. Do First still have an outstation at Westbury in any case rather than running the Trowbridge routes solely from Bath?

 

[PTR 444]

Isn't the X3 operated by Morebus?

The cross border routes which accept the Day Rover are generally operated by "Wiltshire" operators - the X7 to Southampton is operated by Salisbury Reds, Stagecoach's S6 to Oxford is operated from the Swindon end, and most of the routes into Bath are Faresaver. The only exception is the D1 (which is First and comes from Bath) - I suppose that is included for consistency because it'd be strange if Melksham/Chippenham to Bath was valid but Trowbridge to Bath was not.

X3 is indeed operated by Morebus and uses their branding on its vehicles and at stops, but it is part of the larger Go South Coast which Salisbury Reds also comes under, and hence the route appears on both operators’ publicity material.

I don’t see why the X3 couldn’t be jointly operated by both More and SR, especially as the latter operator interworks the Activ8 route with Stagecoach.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The Wiltshire Day Rover was valid into Bath on those routes when Badgerline ran the services. Do First still have an outstation at Westbury in any case rather than running the Trowbridge routes solely from Bath?

Westbury outstation closed last year