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

[TheGrandWazoo]

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.



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?

Some good info at this blog

THE NATIONAL WANDERBUS TICKET

For those of us whose lust for buses was equalled with a lust for a day out this surely was the ultimate product, the ‘National Wanderbus’ ticket, launched by the state owned National B…

junction-ten.co.uk

For those of us whose lust for buses was equalled with a lust for a day out this surely was the ultimate product, the ‘National Wanderbus’ ticket, launched by the state owned National Bus Company in 1978. Many of the individual NBC companies offered similar products such as London Country’s ‘Golden Rovers’ or Southdown’s ‘Busranger’ tickets but these were generally only available for use on those operator’s services. The ‘National Wanderbus’ allowed you to cross the boundaries from one operator’s territory into another. With some careful planning using the NBC’s excellent ‘Principle Bus Links’ map a good day out on the buses was guaranteed for a mere £2.97. Living in Crawley where I was largely restricted to London Country, the ‘Wanderbus’ could now give me easy access to Southdown, Maidstone & District, East Kent and Alder Valley. For the first time I could travel for miles in any direction on one ticket.

https://junctionten.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/img_4239-crop.jpg
‘Wanderbus’ tickets were issued as a pre-printed card available from enquiry offices who would stamp the date of validity on them meaning that you could buy them in advance, useful if you wanted an early start the following day, there being no time restriction on the use of the tickets. You could also buy them on the bus, although not all operators offered this option. Many older ticket machines in use at the time could only issue tickets to the maximum value of 99p, so the driver simply issued three ’99p’ tickets, hence the price tag of £2.97.

The later NBC Explorer ticket was seemingly available on every subsidiary irrespective of who issued it, though subject to individual rules for each firm (e.g. use between Malton and Scarborough was only allowed on paying of a surcharge, whilst journeys wholly within Tyne and Wear were not allowed)

 

[Typhoon]

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.


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? Or was it regional, so you'd be restricted to the South?

I seem to remember that, in the days when M&D did not have a garage in Maidstone, routes ran through the town to destinations so, when East Kent and M&D were working together; you could get from Folkestone to Sevenoaks via Maidstone on the same bus, so quite possible that at one time Hastings to Chatham without changing. 1996 was after M&D had acquired the Armstrong Road garage of Boro'line Maidstone, so no need for cross town long distance routes. The 5 definitely ran Maidstone to Hastings, M&D had a garage in Hastings at one time as well as one in Hawkhurst, useful to get to the seaside in the days when many families did not have cars.

Some good info at this blog

THE NATIONAL WANDERBUS TICKET

For those of us whose lust for buses was equalled with a lust for a day out this surely was the ultimate product, the ‘National Wanderbus’ ticket, launched by the state owned National B…

junction-ten.co.uk

The later NBC Explorer ticket was seemingly available on every subsidiary irrespective of who issued it, though subject to individual rules for each firm (e.g. use between Malton and Scarborough was only allowed on paying of a surcharge, whilst journeys wholly within Tyne and Wear were not allowed)

Yes, indeed. I was trying to remember how far north you could go (I knew not far). Having a string of PTEs (Merseyside, Greater Manchester/ SELNEC, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire) across the country must have complicated matters.

 

[nw1]

Some good info at this blog

THE NATIONAL WANDERBUS TICKET

For those of us whose lust for buses was equalled with a lust for a day out this surely was the ultimate product, the ‘National Wanderbus’ ticket, launched by the state owned National B…

junction-ten.co.uk

The later NBC Explorer ticket was seemingly available on every subsidiary irrespective of who issued it, though subject to individual rules for each firm (e.g. use between Malton and Scarborough was only allowed on paying of a surcharge, whilst journeys wholly within Tyne and Wear were not allowed)

Very interesting, thanks.
Also a detailed map of the main routes across southern England from that time, though you have to zoom in to see it clearly.

 

[TravelDream]

This could be an interesting full-day for the bus lover. Merthyr Tydfil to Stoke with enough time for lunch, exploration and dinner. The only issue being the very tight connection at Market Drayton coming back. It's about 150 miles each way so a 300 mile round-trip.

T4 - Merthyr to Newtown - 05:48 - 08:20
X45 - Newtown to Shrewsbury - 09:05 - 10:31
64 - Shrewsbury to Market Drayton - 11:15 - 12:08
(Lunch)
164 - Market Drayton to Stoke - 13:11 - 13:59
(Enjoy the sights of Stoke-on-Trent)
164 - Stoke to Market Drayton - 15:20 - 16:09
64 - Market Drayton to Shrewsbury - 16:12 - 17:05
X45 - Shrewsbury to Newtown - 17:50 - 19:20
(Dinner)
T4 - Newtown to Merthyr - 20:10 - 22:26

 

[Planesandtrain]

Pre pandemic I enjoyed using a discovery ticket down to Portsmouth then using a cheap overnight return (£24) on Brittany Ferries to Caen and spending the day there than returning on the next overnight ferry.

The trip went something like this:

281 from Teddington to Kingston
406 from Kingston to Epsom
460 from Epsom to Crawley
23 from Crawley to Horsham
17 from Horsham to Brighton
All three sections of the 700 from Brighton to Portsmouth

On arrival back in Portsmouth two days later:

700 to Chichester
60 from Chichester to Midhurst
70 from Midhurst to Guildford

and of course loads of options of getting back into the travelcard territory from there

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

This could be an interesting full-day for the bus lover. Merthyr Tydfil to Stoke with enough time for lunch, exploration and dinner. The only issue being the very tight connection at Market Drayton coming back. It's about 150 miles each way so a 300 mile round-trip.

T4 - Merthyr to Newtown - 05:48 - 08:20
X45 - Newtown to Shrewsbury - 09:05 - 10:31
64 - Shrewsbury to Market Drayton - 11:15 - 12:08
(Lunch)
164 - Market Drayton to Stoke - 13:11 - 13:59
(Enjoy the sights of Stoke-on-Trent)
164 - Stoke to Market Drayton - 15:20 - 16:09
64 - Market Drayton to Shrewsbury - 16:12 - 17:05
X45 - Shrewsbury to Newtown - 17:50 - 19:20
(Dinner)
T4 - Newtown to Merthyr - 20:10 - 22:26

Don't the 64/164 operate throughout as a single service from Hanley to Shrewsbury? Not that you can find that out from the timetables

 

[TravelDream]

Don't the 64/164 operate throughout as a single service from Hanley to Shrewsbury? Not that you can find that out from the timetables

I did wonder as the timetable gives it a three minute connection each way through most of the day. There's nothing to indicate it in the timetable though.

I wondered too on the fare.
A Powys Day Rover ticket is £9 which covers the T4.
An X45 day return is £10.80. (The shortest journey is the priciest!)
An Arriva Adult Day West Midlands is £6.30 for the 64 and 164.

£26.10 isn't too bad at all and is under 10p per mile.


A slightly shorter, but much cheaper journey would be Cardiff to Wrexham on the T4 and T12.
It's only 280 miles round-trip (vs 300 to Stoke), but the £9 Powys Rover is valid on both buses meaning the trip would be just over 3p per mile.
It's not possible on the £9 ticket under the current schedule though as it can't be done in a day with the current Covid timetable. Cardiff-Wrexham and then Wrexham-Merthyr (and back to Cardiff by another bus/ train) could easily be done on it though.

Have we had a thread like this before? How far can you go for under a tenner on a service bus? I think this would be a real competitor.

 

[Dai Corner]

Don't the 64/164 operate throughout as a single service from Hanley to Shrewsbury? Not that you can find that out from the timetables

bustimes.org suggests that, for example, the same vehicle operated the 11.15 Hanley to Market Drayton and the 12.15 Market Drayton to Shrewsbury today.

3698 - YJ12 PLO

Optare Versa

bustimes.org

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

bustimes.org suggests that, for example, the same vehicle operated the 11.15 Hanley to Market Drayton and the 12.15 Market Drayton to Shrewsbury today.

3698 - YJ12 PLO

Optare Versa

bustimes.org

I'm fairly certain that they show connections on the blinds. It's a long standing route that used to be joint with First

 

[nw1]

Further on the Wanderbus: just reading that blog makes me wish I had been a few years older in the early 80s, mid- or late-teens and old enough to make such journeys myself. With the stories of just being able to hop on a National or VR and go from place to place conjures up a feeling of immense freedom. Helps also that this was - just - before I started noticing buses (and so the nature of the network was much as it was in my earliest memories of it).

Of course, maybe if I had been old enough to travel round in the early 80s, I might not have appreciated the network so much as I would have been old enough to remember the MAP changes and might have been yearning back for the days of 1978, the older-generation buses (pre-National and VR), and regular Haslemere to Petworth buses and the like...

 

[Robertj21a]

Don't the 64/164 operate throughout as a single service from Hanley to Shrewsbury? Not that you can find that out from the timetables

Yes, it's a through bus, just operating in 2 sections.

 

[nw1]

Yes, it's a through bus, just operating in 2 sections.

The 60/70 (Bognor-Midhurst and Midhurst-Guildford, respectively) operated like that for a short while. It was introduced as the through Bognor-Guildford 260 in 1993, then at some point in the 90s became the 60, then became the 60/70 (though always worked through with the same vehicle) by September 1999, and then by summer 2000 had become two genuinely separate services, just like in the old days (although with well-timed connections).

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Further on the Wanderbus: just reading that blog makes me wish I had been a few years older in the early 80s, mid- or late-teens and old enough to make such journeys myself. With the stories of just being able to hop on a National or VR and go from place to place conjures up a feeling of immense freedom. Helps also that this was - just - before I started noticing buses (and so the nature of the network was much as it was in my earliest memories of it).

Of course, maybe if I had been old enough to travel round in the early 80s, I might not have appreciated the network so much as I would have been old enough to remember the MAP changes and might have been yearning back for the days of 1978, the older-generation buses (pre-National and VR), and regular Haslemere to Petworth buses and the like...

The "what ifs" of life.... I was brought up on buses in the early 80s but only allowed to really venture on my own not that long before deregulation. A couple of years earlier and I'd have been able to fully experience it but then again, I'd have wanted to have been born that bit earlier again to travel on services before the swingeing cuts of 1980 in the North East and Yorkshire..... or a bit earlier to experience the last Lodekkas in the north (and so it goes on)

As it was, I was able to fully enjoy the post deregulation period and I travelled a lot between 1987 and 1990 and it was brilliant to see the developments and changes at first hand even though many of those changes were not for the better. Not least that in 1988/9, you could still use a United Auto Explorer on West Yorkshire and East Yorkshire services (as a hangover from NBC days) but not for much longer.

 

[nw1]

The "what ifs" of life.... I was brought up on buses in the early 80s but only allowed to really venture on my own not that long before deregulation. A couple of years earlier and I'd have been able to fully experience it but then again, I'd have wanted to have been born that bit earlier again to travel on services before the swingeing cuts of 1980 in the North East and Yorkshire..... or a bit earlier to experience the last Lodekkas in the north (and so it goes on)

As it was, I was able to fully enjoy the post deregulation period and I travelled a lot between 1987 and 1990 and it was brilliant to see the developments and changes at first hand even though many of those changes were not for the better. Not least that in 1988/9, you could still use a United Auto Explorer on West Yorkshire and East Yorkshire services (as a hangover from NBC days) but not for much longer.

I was a little bit older between 1987-90 and the 'independent operators' era was when I started making trips by bus - but I largely stuck to one operator (mostly Alder Valley, Southdown on one occasion but was a bit caught out by the lack of services in the Petworth-Pulborough-Billingshurst-Arundel area). Explorers almost certainly existed then but I was unaware of them.

Consequently I can still remember many of the Alder Valley Hindhead depot workings of let's say 1987/88 even today, as I used the services so often!

Longer trips had to wait until the nineties, from around 1993 onwards. Even though large operators like Stagecoach were already quite dominant by this stage, the Explorer was still available and ISTR you could use all the ex-National companies in the Central South *except* Solent Blue Line, admittedly not ex-National but they took over many ex-National routes, and Provincial. (So all the Stagecoach companies, and Wilts and Dorset were fair game). I think Blue Line had a similar, and similarly priced Explorer offering but with slightly different validity.

Obviously that gave a fair amount of freedom too but there must have been something special about travelling around in the NBC heyday with the integrated network.

The Explorers remained decent value for money throughout the nineties and early years of the 21st century, but it seems (like so many aspects of life IMO) things have taken a downward trend from the late 00s onwards. I may be wrong, but I don't think, for instance, that there is any form of Explorer-like ticket that you can get from say Southampton which will permit you to use all of Bluestar, ex-Wilts and Dorset, and Stagecoach (ex-Hampshire Bus, Alder Valley and Southdown) - let alone First, which perhaps due to their Citybus heritage have always tended to do their own thing.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I was a little bit older between 1987-90 and the 'independent operators' era was when I started making trips by bus - but I largely stuck to one operator (mostly Alder Valley, Southdown on one occasion but was a bit caught out by the lack of services in the Petworth-Pulborough-Billingshurst-Arundel area). Explorers almost certainly existed then but I was unaware of them.

Consequently I can still remember many of the Alder Valley Hindhead depot workings of let's say 1987/88 even today, as I used the services so often!

Longer trips had to wait until the nineties, from around 1993 onwards. Even though large operators like Stagecoach were already quite dominant by this stage, the Explorer was still available and ISTR you could use all the ex-National companies in the Central South *except* Solent Blue Line, admittedly not ex-National but they took over many ex-National routes, and Provincial. (So all the Stagecoach companies, and Wilts and Dorset were fair game). I think Blue Line had a similar, and similarly priced Explorer offering but with slightly different validity.

Obviously that gave a fair amount of freedom too but there must have been something special about travelling around in the NBC heyday with the integrated network.

The Explorers remained decent value for money throughout the nineties and early years of the 21st century, but it seems (like so many aspects of life IMO) things have taken a downward trend from the late 00s onwards. I may be wrong, but I don't think, for instance, that there is any form of Explorer-like ticket that you can get from say Southampton which will permit you to use all of Bluestar, ex-Wilts and Dorset, and Stagecoach (ex-Hampshire Bus, Alder Valley and Southdown) - let alone First, which perhaps due to their Citybus heritage have always tended to do their own thing.

I think the Discovery ticket is the modern day successor to the Explorer ticket of the late 80s and 90s based on varying levels of interavailability. For the most part, a lot of the ex NBC firms just continued to accept each others' tickets. There were some anomalies, not least that a Hampshire Bus ticket would get you to Weymouth. It would also get you to Bristol and Bath but only on those X4 journeys operated by W&D. Should you have a Wilts and Dorset Explorer, that was valid on Southern National so you could get as far as Minehead and Seaton (don't think they were valid to Exeter or past Ilfracombe) and were valid on the Badgerline X4 journeys.

I certainly used Explorers a bit in 1991-93 when visiting Somerset, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset but they weren't valid on many (any?) independents in those areas, and W&D ones were definitely valid on Solent Blue Line so again, it may have been another anomaly. On 4th July 1991 (so almost 30 years to the day), I did: W&D 143 Swanage to Wareham (rail to Southampton), SBL 48 to Eastleigh, SBL 42 to Chandlers Ford, SBL 47 to Southampton, Provincial 80 to Fareham, Stagecoach Hampshire Bus 69 to Portsmouth (ferry to Gosport), a bit of a Provincial 1/6 Gosport-Fareham faffing, then Provincial 80 to Southampton (rail to Wareham), then W&D 143 back to Swanage, so a W&D ticket was valid on them, SBL, Hampshire Bus and Provincial.

There is a Solent Go ticket that is valid in South Hampshire (i.e. Winchester, Southampton, Portsmouth)

Your Solent Go travelcard is accepted by most bus operators in the South Hampshire area. See our list of operators below.

• Bluestar*
• First Hampshire
• Stagecoach South
• Unilink
• Wheelers*
• Xelabus*

Limited geography for £8. Used them a couple of times since they were launched.

 

[nw1]

I think the Discovery ticket is the modern day successor to the Explorer ticket of the late 80s and 90s based on varying levels of interavailability. For the most part, a lot of the ex NBC firms just continued to accept each others' tickets. There were some anomalies, not least that a Hampshire Bus ticket would get you to Weymouth. It would also get you to Bristol and Bath but only on those X4 journeys operated by W&D. Should you have a Wilts and Dorset Explorer, that was valid on Southern National so you could get as far as Minehead and Seaton (don't think they were valid to Exeter or past Ilfracombe) and were valid on the Badgerline X4 journeys.

I certainly used Explorers a bit in 1991-93 when visiting Somerset, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset but they weren't valid on many (any?) independents in those areas, and W&D ones were definitely valid on Solent Blue Line so again, it may have been another anomaly. On 4th July 1991 (so almost 30 years to the day), I did: W&D 143 Swanage to Wareham (rail to Southampton), SBL 48 to Eastleigh, SBL 42 to Chandlers Ford, SBL 47 to Southampton, Provincial 80 to Fareham, Stagecoach Hampshire Bus 69 to Portsmouth (ferry to Gosport), a bit of a Provincial 1/6 Gosport-Fareham faffing, then Provincial 80 to Southampton (rail to Wareham), then W&D 143 back to Swanage, so a W&D ticket was valid on them, SBL, Hampshire Bus and Provincial.

There is a Solent Go ticket that is valid in South Hampshire (i.e. Winchester, Southampton, Portsmouth)




Limited geography for £8. Used them a couple of times since they were launched.

Yes, I think I've heard of the Solent Go as the closest thing we have these days, but it doesn't allow you out of the South Hampshire region.

Actually thinking back to the nineties Explorers, I think it depended on exactly where you bought the Explorer. I think if you bought one on Stagecoach Hants and Surrey (ex-Alder Valley) and these had slightly different validity to Hampshire Bus, in that the latter were valid on Blue Line and Provincial and the former not (I think!) To be honest I'm a little vague on the detail, but the general pattern seemed to be 'neighbouring operators'.

There weren't so many independents in this area so you could use pretty much all the key routes.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Not a return trip but this guy certainly managed to get away from home in a day....

London council worker's bus odyssey sparks Twitter storm

Jo Kibble got from London to Morecambe in a day on public buses - "a great way to see the country".

www.bbc.co.uk

When Jo Kibble, a 39-year-old civil servant from Greenwich, set out to travel as far as he could from London in one day only using public bus routes it was supposed to be a personal project. But he ended up sparking a Twitter storm, causing a debate about how to build a fairer country along the way.
"I like travelling by public transport and by bus; I think it's a great way to see the country," Mr Kibble explains.
"I also really like timetables and I like the logistics of putting things together."
After "the last 18 months of having exciting travel plans cancelled", he decided to work out how far he could get from the centre of London in 24 hours on public bus networks.
"It was just a paper exercise to keep me occupied," says Mr Kibble, who is head of the Leader's Office at Ealing Council. "I had some fun doing that on commutes to and from work."
Mr Kibble figured the furthest he could get in one day would be Morecambe in Lancashire - some 260 miles from Charing Cross, the geographical centre of London.

 

[RELL6L]

Not a return trip but this guy certainly managed to get away from home in a day....

London council worker's bus odyssey sparks Twitter storm

Jo Kibble got from London to Morecambe in a day on public buses - "a great way to see the country".

www.bbc.co.uk

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

 

[py_megapixel]

192 to Manchester
8 to Bolton

Another possible route would be 42 to Didsbury, 50 to Salford, then onto the 8, though that might be significantly slower as IIRC the 192 just goes straight up the A6 into Manchester which is pretty quick

 

[nw1]

Impressive. I would just love to get hold of some timetables of the 80s - maybe late NBC days, so 1984 or 1985 - and work out how far I could have got from my home (southern Alder Valley territory) in one day then.

First bus was before 0700. From up-thread (think it was this thread) Birmingham would have been easily doable, thanks to a regular Oxford-Birmingham service, but would have been interesting to see if I could have made it to, say, Crosville country.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

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

Puts our efforts into some context

Have to agree with his comments on Aylesbury bus station. Many of the "doss hole" bus stations have now gone but that is one that is still with us and is an assault on the image of bus travel!

 

[RELL6L]

Puts our efforts into some context

Have to agree with his comments on Aylesbury bus station. Many of the "doss hole" bus stations have now gone but that is one that is still with us and is an assault on the image of bus travel!

Indeed!

Have done most of this route north of High Wycombe, in many different sections, all except the 125 between Chorley and Preston. Agree absolutely on Aylesbury bus station, a disgrace!

 

[Statto]

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

It's the 7 to Slough not the 8; the 7 is more direct, the 8 goes via Staines & Windsor.

I did Stratford, London to Stratford Upon Avon by bus. I was planning to go home from London to Wirral by bus, but gave up at Stafford & caught the train back.
From Stratford, London to Stratford Upon Avon my route was departing Stratford 00.25 & Slough 05.30. I did it via Romford as I didn't have long to wait for connections from Heathrow and I know I could have got to Heathrow quicker via the more direct way from Stratford but I would have had well over an hour to wait at Heathrow.

86 Stratford-Romford
N15 Romford-Aldwych
N9 Aldwych-Heathrow Central
7 Heathrow Central-Slough
X74 Slough-High Wycombe
275 High Wycombe-Oxford
S3 Oxford-Chipping Norton
50 Chipping Norton-Stratford Upon Avon
Then train Stratford Upon Avon to Birmingham
X51 Birmingham-Walsall-Cannock, i changed at Walsall then caught another X51 as the A34 was horrific due to an accident on the M6(M6 down to one lane each way) & some of the traffic diverting via the A34 instead, with added roadworks most of the way on the A34 between Birmingham & Walsall, meant i missed bus i was planning to catch at Walsall to Stafford & rest of the connections i was planning to get went belly up
74 Cannock-Stafford
Train home from Stafford

The main issue doing it this way is that you have to get to Oxford for the 08.45 S3 to Chipping Norton, otherwise you're going to miss the 50 & next one is around 3pm from Chipping Norton. Another way from High Wycombe is the 40 to Tame & 280 to Oxford.

The other issue is connecting from the 50 at Stratford Upon Avon as you miss the X20 by minutes, & there is a wait of about 55 minutes for the next one. This was the main reason I decided to catch the train to Birmingham.

You can do Oxford-Stratford Upon Avon via Banbury, but have to be at Banbury by 10.20 for the 7 to Stratford otherwise another long wait for the next bus north.

 

[WM Bus]

It's the 7 to Slough not the 8; the 7 is more direct, the 8 goes via Staines & Windsor.

I did Stratford, London to Stratford Upon Avon by bus. I was planning to go home from London to Wirral by bus, but gave up at Stafford & caught the train back.
From Stratford, London to Stratford Upon Avon my route was departing Stratford 00.25 & Slough 05.30. I did it via Romford as I didn't have long to wait for connections from Heathrow and I know I could have got to Heathrow quicker via the more direct way from Stratford but I would have had well over an hour to wait at Heathrow.

86 Stratford-Romford
N15 Romford-Aldwych
N9 Aldwych-Heathrow Central
7 Heathrow Central-Slough
X74 Slough-High Wycombe
275 High Wycombe-Oxford
S3 Oxford-Chipping Norton
50 Chipping Norton-Stratford Upon Avon
Then train Stratford Upon Avon to Birmingham
X51 Birmingham-Walsall-Cannock, i changed at Walsall then caught another X51 as the A34 was horrific due to an accident on the M6(M6 down to one lane each way) & some of the traffic diverting via the A34 instead, with added roadworks most of the way on the A34 between Birmingham & Walsall, meant i missed bus i was planning to catch at Walsall to Stafford & rest of the connections i was planning to get went belly up
74 Cannock-Stafford
Train home from Stafford

The main issue doing it this way is that you have to get to Oxford for the 08.45 S3 to Chipping Norton, otherwise you're going to miss the 50 & next one is around 3pm from Chipping Norton. Another way from High Wycombe is the 40 to Tame & 280 to Oxford.

The other issue is connecting from the 50 at Stratford Upon Avon as you miss the X20 by minutes, & there is a wait of about 55 minutes for the next one. This was the main reason I decided to catch the train to Birmingham.

On Sunday you can get X50 all the way through from Chipping Norton to Birmingham.
Other days that requires changing at Stratford onto the X20 and then again at Shirley onto the 6.
The X51 runs Sundays as well through to Cannock.
Some routes might not run Sundays though, so I did wonder how far you could get using X50, etc?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Indeed!

Have done most of this route north of High Wycombe, in many different sections, all except the 125 between Chorley and Preston. Agree absolutely on Aylesbury bus station, a disgrace!

Done bits and pieces of it but probably not as much as you.

Never done a really long end to end. Best I've probably managed was Trowbridge - Swindon - Oxford - Banbury - Daventry - Northampton - Market Harborough, or Shipston - Chipping Norton - Oxford - Swindon - Malmesbury - Yate - Kingswood

 

[Statto]

I know there's an X50 straight through from Birmingham to Chipping Norton on Sundays, but the far bigger issue with traveling on a Sunday is lack of buses elsewhere; no bus from Crewe-Chester, for example. I don't think the 74 Walsall-Cannock-Stafford operates on Sundays, either. Some routes do not operate Sunday evenings, & it's a nightmare to get anywhere by bus outside London before 8am on Sunday mornings.

 

[nw1]

You can do Oxford-Stratford Upon Avon via Banbury, but have to be at Banbury by 10.20 for the 7 to Stratford otherwise another long wait for the next bus north.

So no Oxford-Stratford or Birmingham via the old A34 these days? I wonder how long that service (the X50, mentioned previously) continued; as there are no direct rail links I would have expected there to be some demand at least for an 'A34' Oxford-Stratford service routed Woodstock, Chipping Norton, Shipston.

 

[NorthOxonian]

So no Oxford-Stratford or Birmingham via the old A34 these days? I wonder how long that service (the X50, mentioned previously) continued; as there are no direct rail links I would have expected there to be some demand at least for an 'A34' Oxford-Stratford service routed Woodstock, Chipping Norton, Shipston.

Surprisingly there's no such route - you have to change at Chipping Norton. You'd think a tourist orientated service connecting Oxford, Blenheim Palace, the Cotswolds, and Stratford could work, but then again - bus links heading north out of Oxfordshire generally are pretty poor. Indeed, if you want to get from Oxford to the West Midlands by bus the best way is to go via Daventry - and even that isn't ideal with slow hourly buses meandering around various villages.

 

[Statto]

Surprisingly there's no such route - you have to change at Chipping Norton. You'd think a tourist orientated service connecting Oxford, Blenheim Palace, the Cotswolds, and Stratford could work, but then again - bus links heading north out of Oxfordshire generally are pretty poor. Indeed, if you want to get from Oxford to the West Midlands by bus the best way is to go via Daventry - and even that isn't ideal with slow hourly buses meandering around various villages.

Yeah, bus links north of Chipping Norton/Banbury into Warwickshire are dreadful with high car ownership/usage being the main reason, I guess.

Looking at the timetables there is an Arriva 280 from Aylesbury to Oxford at 07.10 on Sunday, but no way of getting to Aylesbury for 7am, or even Thame where the first bus from High Wycombe arrives at 08.4. It looks like the only way to get from London to Oxford by 9am on a Sunday is the Oxford Tube or rail. This is so you can get the 09.38, S3 Oxford-Chipping Norton then 11.20, X50 Chipping Norton-Birmingham. This is so you can get to Birmingham in a reasonable time, 13.32, as the next X50 arrives at 16.22, which is a bit too late for my liking as I'd like to be well north of Stafford by then.

 

[TechDan2002]

I could in theory go from Penryn to Torquay and back, approximately 202.77 miles according to busmiles.uk (screenshot attached, services deleted from my log immediately after) in one day with two hours layover in Torquay
U1 Penryn to Truro 06:33-07:12
89 Truro to Bodmin 07:30-08:49
11A/11 Bodmin to Plymouth 09:07-11:12
Gold Plymouth to Torquay 11:40-13:27

Gold Torquay to Plymouth 15:40-17:31
11/11A Plymouth to Bodmin 17:45-19:25
27 Bodmin to Truro 20:38-22:38
U1 Truro to Penryn 22:40-23:09