Ackislander

I just responded to another post, answering the question of why someone might want to go to Wick.

Which leads me to a question I have wanted to ask for years: when I was younger, it would have been possible to travel from John O'Groats to Land's End by local bus, but in my younger years I was too poor to take the time from my career to do it.

Suppose one wanted to do it today, linking one local bus service to the next in larger towns, could it be done? Could it be done if one were willing to supplement the busses with the odd taxi?

I envision traveling on weekdays, stopping for the weekend, when services are generally scarcer, in someplace pleasant to catch up and do the laundry.

And now the answer to the burning question: why would someone want to go to Wick? Short: like Everest, it is there. Longer: because some of us can't resist the farthest, highest, deepest places.

flanneruk

There have been a number of slightly publicised attempts to do this with over 60 bus passes. As far as I can remember, they worked (though English passes apply only in England and outside peak hours). A few hours' googling should throw them up.

There are certainly local bus stops a few hundred feet from the gates to the Land's End theme park. I've even seen local buses along the A30 at that point on a Sunday. Just a month or two ago, outside the conventional holiday season as well.

PatrickLondon

I have the vaguest memory that someone did do this on their Freedom Pass (i.e., for us persons who instantly become decrepit and impoverished enough to deserve free bus travel on their 60th birthday). But the research to organise it all must take as long as the trip in itself, and you might find yourself marooned in Lower Incest-on-the-Wold for a while waiting for next week's bus out.

hetismij2

Here's someone who did it, for free. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...-bus-pass.html

Ackislander

Thank you.

I am over 60 but not a UK citzen or resident, so I won't ask you to subsidize my journey should I be mad enough to undertake it. I'll pay the full price for my pass, despite being plenty decrepit!

ron

It would seem to me that planning and implementing such an adventure would, for a couple of reasons, be a lot easier now than in the past.

First, http://www.traveline.info/ is a pretty comprehensive website of local bus schedules and routes, something that didn't exist in the past. Second, there has been significant consolidation in local bus route operators, with Stagecoach, First and Arriva becoming the major players. There are probably still scores of independents, but not the hundreds or thosands that there used to be.

So, travelling with an Internet accessing device - netbook, tablet, smartphone - would seem to make the job quite doable.

PatrickLondon

That's the one I was thinking of, hetismij. Sounds like he did it in a bit of a rush.

flanneruk

" I'll pay the full price for my pass,"

That'll add yet another level of logistical complexity. Though (I guess) 80-odd % of all bus mileage travelled is on Aviva, Stagecoach, First and TfL, only TfL has systemwide passes. The rest sell passes for specific geographies (like Oxfordshire), sometimes interchangeable with other operators in the same location.

In your case, in England, it'll almost certainly be easier (and unlikely to be much pricier) to pay cash for each journey (correct money's never necessary). It might be different in Scotland, where you might want to use Citylink to get between cities - and Citylink DO have some pan-Scotland passes.

Some purists, though, might argue that Citylink would be cheating.

CaptainChas

As an alternative, and possibly more scenic option, I imagine it would be possible to visit the four extreme points of the British mainland by public transport i.e.

Dunnet Head - North

Ardnamurchan Point - West

Lowestoft Ness - East

Lizard Point - South

I've managed three of them in a car and I imagine a taxi would be needed for the last few miles, apart from Lowestoft (still to do).