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

[TheGrandWazoo]

Maybe, though I am fairly sure I did pick up a direct X7 pretty early in the morning once - before 0830.
Might be wrong though; I do remember the last X7 back from Salisbury was sometime after 1800 though.

I'd have guessed they must have had one for Salisbury commuters from Landford, Whiteparish etc, to get to Salisbury around 0830 or so, though maybe as I said that one started from Romsey.

Checking on Timetable World, the earliest in the Great British Bus Timetable was 0828 from Southampton. There was an earlier shortworking from Ower to Salisbury but not from Southampton; I guess it may have been a Romsey outstation journey?

If you could get yourself into Romsey by 0700 ish, you had a choice of the 34 or 36 to take you to Salisbury

 

[LiviCrazy]

There used to be a Blue Bus from Livingston to Oban (124 miles according to Apple Maps), one return journey per day M-F. Travelled on it quite a few times up to Stirling but never all the way to Oban.
If I remember rightly they also did, for a short time, a return journey to St Andrews.

 

[175mph]

Back in 2014, I did Scunthorpe > Lincoln > Skegness. It was a bit nail biting on the return journey between Wragby and Lincoln due to there being a road traffic accident, causing a queue. I only had slightly less than ten minutes between getting to the Lincoln bus station and getting the 103 bus back to Scunthorpe and it was the last one back to Scunthorpe too.

 

[route101]

There used to be a Blue Bus from Livingston to Oban (124 miles according to Apple Maps), one return journey per day M-F. Travelled on it quite a few times up to Stirling but never all the way to Oban.
If I remember rightly they also did, for a short time, a return journey to St Andrews.

What kind of bus was used on it?

 

[miklcct]

So what's the furthest practical return trip in a day holding a morebus zone ABC day ticket, which covers all the way between Dorchester (on route 30), Southampton (on the Bluestar network) and Swindon (on route X5)?

 

[nw1]

Checking on Timetable World, the earliest in the Great British Bus Timetable was 0828 from Southampton. There was an earlier shortworking from Ower to Salisbury but not from Southampton; I guess it may have been a Romsey outstation journey?

If you could get yourself into Romsey by 0700 ish, you had a choice of the 34 or 36 to take you to Salisbury

Mentioned that in a post above; I am fairly sure that Ower journey actually started at Romsey. I do remember at the time a load of W+D double-deckers and minibuses would park up at Romsey overnight.
Getting to Salisbury before 0900 would have been critical for potential long journeys as that would have got you on the 0900 X4 to Bath.

So what's the furthest practical return trip in a day holding a morebus zone ABC day ticket, which covers all the way between Dorchester (on route 30), Southampton (on the Bluestar network) and Swindon (on route X5)?

Southampton to Swindon and return can be done easily, with an hour to spare, despite near-worst-possible connections at Salisbury:

SOU-SAL 09:10-10:32
SAL-SWI 11:25-13:22
SWI-SAL 13:40-15:38
SAL-SOU 16:45-18:00 (there is a 15:40 but discounting a 2-min connection as unrealistic)

With those timings you could easily start from and end at Lymington with a change at Totton, so Lymington-Swindon is definitely doable.

(If Bluestar still ran a two-hourly Southampton-Petersfield bus with the last bus back at 1840, as in the nineties, Petersfield-Swindon could have been possible, but sadly not these days...)

Or what about Swanage-Swindon, which is actually easier as the routes keep going later into the evening:


Swanage-Bournemouth 50 06:45 07:47
Bournemouth-Salisbury X3 08:05 09:35
Salisbury-Swindon X5 10:25 12:22
Swindon-Salisbury X5 12:40 14:38
Salisbury-Bournemouth X3 15:10 16:30
Bournemouth-Swanage 50 16:50 18:10

Dorchester seems to be difficult, even on the first bus you don't get into Poole until 12:15 (due to an hour wait at Wareham, you just miss the connection), then you've got to get to Bournemouth which would probably put you on the 13:05 to Salisbury and therby not get to Swindon until 17:22.
Can't see the old 184 Dorchester-Salisbury any more, or any equivalent, so it doesn't look like you can go that way anymore.

Nonetheless, looks like you could probably get back to Swanage as the last bus out of Poole isn't until 23:00. So perhaps the answer to the question is Dorchester-Weymouth-Wareham-Poole-Bournemouth-Salisbury-Swindon-Salisbury-Bournemouth-Poole-Swanage.

Presumably the ticket won't let you on the Salisbury-Bath, what used to be the X4, if that still exists (though I have a feeling that got split at Warminster a number of years ago)

 

[NorthOxonian]

So what's the furthest practical return trip in a day holding a morebus zone ABC day ticket, which covers all the way between Dorchester (on route 30), Southampton (on the Bluestar network) and Swindon (on route X5)?

You could certainly get to Swindon (I've done the reverse journey before), but I think it's fair to say the town is an acquired taste and not all visitors like it as much as I do. So you might instead like to head for the pleasant town of Devizes, which is nearly as far, and is also easily accessible with a change at Salisbury. Southampton would be pretty straightforward too - either going via Salisbury or Lymington (or doing both as a loop).

However, Dorchester isn't possible - it's only served by one journey on the 30 each day and this leaves Dorchester at 9am. But getting to Weymouth is pretty straightforward.

Edit: This is all based on the ABC zone ticket boundaries, and in general you can get a fair bit further if you're willing to go beyond those. Though sadly, you'd need two tickets: the excellent multi-operator ticket in Wiltshire does not include Bournemouth (despite include Southampton, Oxford, Cirencester, and Bath).

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Grimsby to Skegness / Scarborough, any further and it's not worth the return trip as there will be no time.

 

[LiviCrazy]

What kind of bus was used on it?

Been a long time but it was definitely a Mercedes Mini-coach on the Oban route, it ran with boards in the window from what I remember.

Did try to find some pictures but can’t seem to find anything.

Seems I was wrong about St Andrews but they did operate to Ayr for a while according to the link below.

Blue Bus of North Lanarkshire

For other companies known as "Blue Bus", see Blue Bus (disambiguation). Blue Bus of North Lanarkshire, also known as Blue Bus of Shotts or Law of Shotts, is a bus operator primarily serving the area of Shotts, North Lanarkshire in West Scotland. It is a mainly local bus operator, based at...

uktransport.fandom.com

 

[Flange Squeal]

Southampton to Guildford was doable with zero changes for a time in the nineties I seem to recall (the X64 did the whole journey around 1997, I am sure) and for a much longer period with a single change in Winchester. I used to go out that way a lot on an Explorer ticket when this through service ran, and when Explorers were mutually accepted by Blue Line and Stagecoach, which was more recent than this.

I noticed that last week. Means that as it is Stagecoach all the way beyond Winchester, presumably you could do Winchester to Kingston, at least, with whatever the equivalent of the Explorer is these days. Once at Kingston you're into Travelcard territory meaning it's a cheap, if slow, option from Winchester to London!

You could still do Southampton to Waterloo and back by bus if you really didn't like the trains, although you'd only get around an hour and a half there (leave around 40 mins earlier if you didn't want to risk the five minute connection in Guildford from 715 to 65).

1: 0610 Southampton to Winchester (0700)
64: 0725 Winchester to Alton (0810)
65: 0855 Alton to Guildford (0942)
715: 1020 Guildford to Kingston (1130)
57: 1145 Kingston to Streatham Hill (1305)
59: 1311 Streatham Hill to Waterloo (1346)

59: 1522 Waterloo to Streatham Hill (1600)
57: 1612 Streatham Hill to Kingston (1741)
715: 1800 Kingston to Guildford (1910)
65: 1915 Guildford to Alton (2002)
64: 2015 Alton to Winchester (2100)
1: 2105/2150 Winchester to Southampton (2150/2235)

Sadly, Stagecoach don't operate TfL services to Kingston, or else you could swap the Bluestar 1 from Southampton with the Stagecoach 66 and do Romsey - Winchester - Alton - Guildford - Kingston solely by Stagecoach, and actually have a decent-ish amount of time there.

66: 0608 Romsey to Winchester (0647)
64: 0725 Winchester to Alton (0810)
65: 0855 Alton to Guildford (0942)
715: 1020 Guildford to Kingston (1130)

715: 1710/1800 Kingston to Guildford (1834/1910)
65: 1915 Guildford to Alton (2002)
64: 2015 Alton to Winchester (2100)
66: 2110 Winchester to Romsey (2148)

 

[Kremlin Stooge]

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!

 

[Ken H]

Just worked out that I can do Scarborough from settle or Hellifield. (I am not on a bus route) Some heroic connections. Out via ilkley, back via Keighley. If I lived in Lancaster it would still work as the settle-skipton buses start from/go to there.

 

[Geordie driver]

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

Perhaps not the longest, but because of the VRs, definitely the best.

 

[nw1]

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!

The lack of existence the last-named route (A VR motorway express, that must have been something!) for many years is the main restriction on attempts to do long bus trips in the Sussex direction originating from Southampton - while there are still buses to Portsmouth, they take a long time and certainly don't go via the M27 !

I did in summer 1993 attempt to do something similar, going in the other direction - with the aim of seeing the eastern South Downs - but was stopped by a) the lack of fast buses Southampton to Portsmouth and b) the lack of a bus from Eastbourne to Lewes, so for those parts I resorted to the train. Nonetheless I did do

Portsmouth-Brighton (700)
Brighton-Eastbourne (712)
Eastbourne-Lewes (train; no usable bus existed)
Lewes-Brighton (28, I think)
Brighton-Worthing (700)
Worthing-Midhurst (1)
Midhurst-Henley, Sussex (260)
Walk for about two hours (! - it was still daylight as it was summer)
Midhurst-Chichester (260)
Chichester-Portsmouth (700)

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The lack of existence the last-named route (A VR motorway express, that must have been something!) for many years is the main restriction on attempts to do long bus trips in the Sussex direction originating from Southampton - while there are still buses to Portsmouth, they take a long time and certainly don't go via the M27 !

Many people have had a go at resurrecting the fast service from Portsmouth to Southampton but the train just mullers it!

If we're also tipping in vehicles as a differentiator...

Catterick to Richmond (LH) to Leyburn (RESL) to Ripon (RELH) to York (RELH) to Pocklington (VR - 501 engine highbridge version) - Bridlington (Olympian) to Scarborough (VR) to Middlesbrough (Leopard - Willowbrook ) to Darlington (National) to Catterick (VR)

- that's about 200 miles of Yorkshire-ness (with the incursion north of the Tees) from Catterick via the Dales, the Vale of York, the Wolds and the North York Moors so some stunning scenery. There were some cracking vehicles as it was 1987 just before United withdrew their REs.

 

[Martin2013]

Back in February 2017 I did a trip from Yate to Southampton via Bath (620) and Salisbury (265).
Remember catching the early journey from Yate to Bath (something like 0630 in the morning) and a 265 journey from Bath to Salisbury at around 0720 (it was a very tight squeeze catching it). I think I then caught the X7 from Salisbury to Southampton.

For the return journey pretty sure I did X7R back from Southampton to Salisbury and then returned using X5 to Swindon, 55 to Chippenham, X31 to Bath, 39 to Bristol and 46 back to Yate. Arrived back in Yate around midnight although did stop off at a Wetherspoons pub near Temple Meads for a couple of hours on the way.

Think I brought a single on the 620 from Bath to Yate, did the Wiltshire trips on a Wiltshire Day Rover and I already had a weekly First ticket which I did Bath to Bristol and Bristol to Yate on.

 

[01d-and]

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.

Ah , the NBC Wanderbus ticket. I actually found the leaflet that advertised this ticket some months back. I had many a cheap day out with this ticket. I always carried the leaflet with me as many drivers reply to me asking for the ticket was: "A National what ticket? It's not on my ticket machine!" "Three 99's", was my usual reply. That also got some funny looks. If I recall correctly, I once got one from Birmingham to Reading but I think I had to resort to a train for part of the return trip.

 

[Silver Cobra]

From my hometown of Shefford in somewhat rural Bedfordshire, the furthest I've travelled on a day trip purely by bus is to Leicester, using the 9A from Shefford to Bedford, the 41 to Northampton and the X7 to Leicester. The journey works out to being 130-140 miles for the round trip, and can be done on one single ticket (Stagecoach East Dayrider Gold). No doubt if mixing in other operators you can go further in a single day, but any trip is limited by the last bus from Bedford back to Shefford being at 1830. There is also the possibility of heading down into Hertfordshire rather than towards Bedford, but I haven't looked into the options around there much.

Before Stagecoach withdrew from Norfolk, you could technically have got from Shefford to somewhere like Hunstanton or even Cromer on an East Dayrider Gold. Hunstanton would have been fairly doable for a day trip, but Cromer I'm not so sure about.

 

[AlastairFraser]

A free Transdev Daytripper Plus as a result of a Burnley bus not turning up a few weeks ago got me from Burnley to Scarborough last Thurs, leaving at 10.30 to arrive for 4.45 and coming back at 6.15 I think, getting back into Burnley around half 11.
The route taken was Mainline from Burnley to Keighley, Aireline from Keighley to Leeds then Coastliner to and from Scarborough. I did cheat a little on the way back with a £1.95 Northern advance from Leeds to Keighley. Had I left earlier, would have been able to do it comfortably, maybe even further onto Preston - (234 miles return, take off about 20-30 for Burnley.)

 

[RELL6L]

I’ve been meaning to post to this thread since I saw it but have been away for a few days.

I have not done any bus trips from my home town so I accept I may not qualify at all. What I have done is about 230 trips since 2004 which are all or nearly all on buses, with the occasional train, ferry, taxi or walk where necessary to make the most of the bus trips. But every trip has been driving from home in the Thames Valley to do a trip further afield. All the distances I quote are approximate road distances rather than as the crow flies.

For single day trips, ie leaving home in the morning and returning home in the evening, the longest trips would seem to be to South and Mid Wales:

• Drive to Carmarthen (190 miles), then train to Haverfordwest, buses to St Davids, Fishguard, Cardigan, Poppit Sands and back, New Quay, Aberaeron and back to Carmarthen.
• Drive to Llandovery (175 miles), then Lampeter, Aberystwyth, Aberaeron, Carmarthen, Llandovery
• Drive to Newtown (175 miles), then Machynlleth, Aberystwyth, Llanidloes, Builth Wells, Rhayader, Newtown
• Drive to Welshpool (160 miles), then Llanfyllin, Oswestry, Chirk, Froncysyllte, walk across Pontcysyllte aqueduct to Trefor, Llangollen, Barmouth, train to Aberdyfi, Machynlleth, Newtown, Welshpool

Furthest distances from home at St Davids (225 miles), Aberystwyth (215 miles) and Barmouth (205 miles).

Other long single day trips have been to:

• South Molton (180 miles), furthest point Woolacombe (195 miles)
• Exeter (175 miles), furthest point Plymouth (210 miles)
• Wrexham (165 miles), furthest point Rhyl (210 miles)
• Warrington (175 miles), furthest point Southport (205 miles)
• Stockport (180 miles), furthest point Hebden Bridge (205 miles)
• Horncastle (175 miles), furthest point Grimsby (185 miles)
• Buxton (160 miles, this April), furthest point Glossop (185 miles) using X57

On trips where I have stayed away before or after the furthest points I have been to are:

• Hexham (315 miles)
• Maryport (305 miles)
• Mousehole (285 miles)
• Whitley Bay (285 miles)

I can’t begin to guess what my longest actual trip is, I have never set out to target particularly long trips, I would prefer to visit a number of places and spend time in them rather than take a 2 or 3 hour bus journey.

Going back to pre-history (70s and 80s) I did Inverness-Perth-Dundee-Aberdeen-Elgin (via Banff)-Inverness, also Glasgow-Dumfries-Carlisle-Edinburgh-Glasgow which were long distances but not what I would do now. And with the mention of Wanderbus tickets I remember these from the late 70s, from Oxford I often took the X50 to Birmingham and then went further north into Midland Red territory and beyond, eg to Nottingham or Hereford, Shrewsbury etc, returning on the X50 at 21.20 (if I remember rightly) from the depths of Birmingham Bull Ring bus station. Also went on to Liverpool and came back on the overnight coach a couple of times. Once I took the train to Swansea and then ended up at Wrexham for the overnight coach back south. And once I did the Armstrong Galley (I think) overnight MCW Metroliner service from London to Newcastle and back the next night with an all day trip from there.

 

[nw1]

Going back to pre-history (70s and 80s) I did Inverness-Perth-Dundee-Aberdeen-Elgin (via Banff)-Inverness, also Glasgow-Dumfries-Carlisle-Edinburgh-Glasgow which were long distances but not what I would do now. And with the mention of Wanderbus tickets I remember these from the late 70s, from Oxford I often took the X50 to Birmingham and then went further north into Midland Red territory and beyond, eg to Nottingham or Hereford, Shrewsbury etc, returning on the X50 at 21.20 (if I remember rightly) from the depths of Birmingham Bull Ring bus station. Also went on to Liverpool and came back on the overnight coach a couple of times. Once I took the train to Swansea and then ended up at Wrexham for the overnight coach back south. And once I did the Armstrong Galley (I think) overnight MCW Metroliner service from London to Newcastle and back the next night with an all day trip from there.

Interesting about the existence of a direct Oxford-Birmingham bus at that time. Would be interesting to see what the furthest point SE which would have allowed a return journey to Birmingham would have been. Reading, perhaps? Further SE than Reading, somewhere like Wokingham or Bracknell?

Certainly means you could get all the way from Midhurst, West Sussex, to Birmingham in just four hops from what I have read on here in recent months, though very doubtful you could go there and back in one day. I'd guess one direction was doable though, particularly as it sounds like the X50 ran late in the evening...

Midhurst-Aldershot 219
Aldershot-Reading (unsure of route number in those days, has been mentioned here I know - was latterly 112)
Reading-Oxford 5
Oxford-Birningham X50

Wonder if the £2.97 Wanderbus would have allowed you to do that? If the X50 was an Oxford bus (guessing it was joint Oxford/Midland Red) then that would have been only two operators for the whole of that trip.

 

[randyrippley]

Let's try this. Current summer Monday - Friday schedules. All by Stagecoach 'North West Explorer' - buy on the bus for £11.50

0647 X2 Southport – Preston 0740
0755 40 Preston – Lancaster 0918
0925 555 Lancaster – Keswick 1144 **** see note below ****
1220 X5 Keswick – Penrith 1307 **** see note below ****
1315 104 Penrith – Carlisle 1405
1410 300 Carlisle – Workington 1532
1545 X5 Workington – Keswick 1643
1700 555 Keswick – Lancaster 1927
1930 40 Lancaster – Preston 2029
2045 2 Preston – Southport 2146

Works on a Saturday, too, except that the last leg runs 45 minutes later, so it's 2130 Preston - Southport (arrive 2230).

Note. By alighting from the 0925 ex Lancaster 555 at Windermere (1034), you can connect onto the highly scenic 508 over Kirkstone Pass, catching the 1125 508 Windermere - Penrith (arrives 1304). Makes the whole journey slightly shorter (which rather defeats the object of this thread!), but is well worth doing for the added scenic value.

As a bonus, most of these are double deck workings. Only the 508 over the Kirkstone Pass is certain to be a saloon.

The only really 'tight' connection is the one in Lancaster on the return journey - only three minutes, and if you miss it, the next bus (to Preston) misses the last Southport connection. Even if that happens, you're not "stuck". The next Preston bus leaves Lancaster at 2100, arriving in Preston at 2207. Plenty time to walk to the station, catch the 2238 Northern service to Ormskirk (arr 2307), with an easy connection onto the last Arriva 375 from the adjacent bus station at 2326, which gets into Southport at 2355.

In theory, it all works. Difficult to give the exact mileage without having access to the running boards, but it's at least 276 according to Google Maps, which doesn't take into account every little deviation off the mai

Do the X2 / 2 start / finish at Liverpool?

 

[NorthOxonian]

Do the X2 / 2 start / finish at Liverpool?

The X2 does, but the 2 doesn't (only running Preston - Southport).

 

[nw1]

The X2 does, but the 2 doesn't (only running Preston - Southport).

Do Stagecoach run further south towards the Manchester area? Wondering if Bolton or even Manchester could be used as an origin point. Guess if Stagecoach are running what was the old Ribble company, this is possible.

Don't plan to do this anytime soon, it's 200 or more miles from home, but just curious...

 

[TheSel]

Do Stagecoach run further south towards the Manchester area? Wondering if Bolton or even Manchester could be used as an origin point. Guess if Stagecoach are running what was the old Ribble company, this is possible.

Don't plan to do this anytime soon, it's 200 or more miles from home, but just curious...

Yes. Stagecoach operate a Preston - Bolton 125 service. But the first bus out of Bolton (0632 M-F, 0625 Sat) does not arrive in Preston in time for the 0755 40 to Lancaster.

 

[Kremlin Stooge]

The lack of existence the last-named route (A VR motorway express, that must have been something!) for many years is the main restriction on attempts to do long bus trips in the Sussex direction originating from Southampton - while there are still buses to Portsmouth, they take a long time and certainly don't go via the M27 !

I did in summer 1993 attempt to do something similar, going in the other direction...

It was 1980 or 81 when I did my trip, so pre-deregulation but post-Market Analysis Project (which culled a lot of routes in Sussex and Hampshire). The motorway VRs carried a double-deck version of the NBC dual-purpose livery plus route branding; at least the examples I took had dual-purpose seating so were quite comfortable and performed decently on the M27. From recollection there seemed to be a worthwhile amount of publicity for the route at the time, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have known about it, so H&D looked as if they were trying to market the service against the train.

I can’t recall much in the way of bus services between Lewes and Eastbourne, even in those days of yore; there wasn’t a great deal to serve! Pre-MAP there was a direct Hailsham to Brighton service (128? via Lewes and Ringmer) usually served by creakingly ageing bus-bodied Leyland Leopard saloons.

Another journey comes to mind that I undertook in the same era (though again modest in mileage) was a circular route from Hailsham to Uckfield (via service 180, avoiding having to dogleg through Heathfield), Uckfield to Tunbridge Wells (729, Stagecoach branding), M&D 7 Tunbridge Wells to Maidstone, 101 Maidstone to Chatham (my only ride on one of M&D’s Willowbrook-bodied Dennis Dominators), the long 5 from Chatham to Hastings (back to sanity with a VR!), finally a dual-purpose Mk1 National on the 495 from Hastings back to Hailsham. Again all this cost me £2.97!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Going through the records from September 1986 and the splitting of United Auto....

I decided to visit both bits of the empire that were being split to Northumbria and East Yorkshire on the final day of United being one entity. So from Catterick to Darlington (VR) and then to Newcastle on a Plaxton DP Leopard. Then to Hexham on a Cumberland Duple bodied Leopard (transferred from Ribble with Carlisle depot a few months earlier), and then back to Newcastle on the slow route via Prudhoe on a United Olympian.

Then onto one of the hellfire Northern DP Metrobuses to Middlesbrough before a sedate trip over to Scarborough on a United DP Olympian before getting a lift back on a Bova Europa (!) before a scabby National to Darlington and then a blistering trip to Catterick on an LH. That looks like a rough 270-280 miles.

 

[Typhoon]

Again all this cost me £2.97!

Wanderbus? (Issued as 3 x 99p tickets?)

 

[TravelDream]

I once caught the bus from Merthyr Tydfil to Shrewsbury and was in Shrewsbury by 10.30am. That was taking the T4 from Merthyr to Newtown and then the X75 from Newtown to Shrewsbury which is around 107 miles one-way according to Google.

A quick check of the current timetable shows you could leave Shrewsbury at 5.50pm and be back in Merthyr at 10.20pm. That gives over seven hours to either explore Shrewsbury or travel further.

 

[nw1]

It was 1980 or 81 when I did my trip, so pre-deregulation but post-Market Analysis Project (which culled a lot of routes in Sussex and Hampshire). The motorway VRs carried a double-deck version of the NBC dual-purpose livery plus route branding; at least the examples I took had dual-purpose seating so were quite comfortable and performed decently on the M27. From recollection there seemed to be a worthwhile amount of publicity for the route at the time, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have known about it, so H&D looked as if they were trying to market the service against the train.

I can’t recall much in the way of bus services between Lewes and Eastbourne, even in those days of yore; there wasn’t a great deal to serve! Pre-MAP there was a direct Hailsham to Brighton service (128? via Lewes and Ringmer) usually served by creakingly ageing bus-bodied Leyland Leopard saloons.

I remember in 1993 some of the 28s (?) extended beyond Lewes to Ringmer and still others headed all the way to Tunbridge Wells (possibly as the 728) so presumably that was the left-over of that service.

I'd guess that pre-deregulation, Southdown used the 100-199 range for routes east of Brighton - except long-distance express services which were 7xx.

Another journey comes to mind that I undertook in the same era (though again modest in mileage) was a circular route from Hailsham to Uckfield (via service 180, avoiding having to dogleg through Heathfield), Uckfield to Tunbridge Wells (729, Stagecoach branding), M&D 7 Tunbridge Wells to Maidstone, 101 Maidstone to Chatham (my only ride on one of M&D’s Willowbrook-bodied Dennis Dominators), the long 5 from Chatham to Hastings (back to sanity with a VR!), finally a dual-purpose Mk1 National on the 495 from Hastings back to Hailsham. Again all this cost me £2.97!

Interesting trip, I do recall seeing an M+D 5 many years later (1996) at Hawkhurst, though it was a single-decker, not a VR. No idea whether it went all the way to Chatham but presumably that was the same route.

Did the Wanderbus allow unlimited travel for a day across all NBC companies, or just your local company and its immediate neighbours (so if it was Southdown, you could have used M+D, H+D, Alder Valley and London Country, for instance)? Or was it regional, so you'd be restricted to the South?