Have free bus pass, want to travel.

seven-day-weekend

This was about ten years ago. I went on a bus when I was visiting some friends in Co Durham to visit some other friends in Carlisle.

The bus went right across the country from from Newcastle to Carlisle.

The bus journey was all along the route of Hadrian's Wall and took in some stunning scenery.

I can't remember how long it took, but I was able to do the return journey in one day and see my friends in Carlisle in between, so it must have run at reasonable times.

May do it again if I'm ever up that part of the world again.

EdInvestor

From Dover you can get a bus to Hastings via Folkestone and the interesting Romney marshes. Thence you can go on to Eastbourne, where you can catch a bus to Brighton.From Brighton there are buses going further along the coast, no doubt you could hop right the way down to Cornwall if you set your mind to it.
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Can't help thinking a south coast bus trip would work quite well for a holiday , with plenty of interesting places to stop off, and no shortage of places to stay.

donnajunkie

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

This was about ten years ago. I went on a bus when I was visiting some friends in Co Durham to visit some other friends in Carlisle.

The bus went right across the country from from Newcastle to Carlisle.

The bus journey was all along the route of Hadrian's Wall and took in some stunning scenery.

I can't remember how long it took, but I was able to do the return journey in one day and see my friends in Carlisle in between, so it must have run at reasonable times.

May do it again if I'm ever up that part of the world again.

that sounds like the bus i mentioned(685). it stops at places like hexham and haltwhistle along the way. by the way it is worth mentioning to anyone who doesnt have a bus pass that the north west explorer ticket covers all journeys in cumbria and also the whole route of the 685. you buy the ticket on a stagecoach bus and the arriva 685 buses along the route accept them too. so before i got a bus pass i used to travel as far as coniston from newcastle all on a north west explorer. that was when i was staying there of course this year they cost £9.50 for one day. i think they have 4 day and 7 day tickets also. so any friends without a pass can join you and not spend a fortune on fares.

bagpuss_fan

Hi all, thought you might find this interesting.

There was a chap in the paper last week who'd used his new bus pass to get from Somerset to John O'Groats and back!

Apparently he usually cycles, but has done this for charity. I've posted the link below, he had problems at Bristol and a few unexpected "diversions", in all it took him 13 days!

There was a letter afterwards saying that he shouldn't have been allowed to use his pass in Scotland, but obviously he was, and did!

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/583388

Newly_retired

Yes, I heard he made special arrangements with the Scottish companies.

chesky369

My problem is I don't know how to get out of London. I'd really like to go to places like Brighton and Hastings by bus but I don't seem to be able to get much beyond places like Hampton Court. After that, it seems to be National Express which don't give you free rides. Any advice where I'd go for such information - I've tried googling but with no success.

murphydavid

You can get from Woking Station to Heathrow on the National Express Railair coach for free with an over 60 Bus pass. Just did it. So if you can get out of London to Heathrow you can then get to Woking and presumably to any of the other stations serviced by Railair. I know Reading is one. I'm just going to see if I can find out more.

murphydavid

I checked the National Express web site and they say half price fares on most routes nothing free.
I then checked my local council and they say
Will I be able to use my bus pass on community transport?

No. You will only be able to use your bus pass with registered local bus service providers. If in doubt, please check with the bus provider.


So I can only presume that the National Express Railair terminating at Woking is registered as a local bus service provider in Woking. I only found out it was free by Accident and probably only for Woking residents.
It seems the national government has tried to give us something but expects the local authorities to pay but they don't want to so they keep as much as they can a secret???

donnajunkie

chesky369 wrote: »

My problem is I don't know how to get out of London. I'd really like to go to places like Brighton and Hastings by bus but I don't seem to be able to get much beyond places like Hampton Court. After that, it seems to be National Express which don't give you free rides. Any advice where I'd go for such information - I've tried googling but with no success.

try this site to plan a journey. it should give you several choices.

http://www.transportdirect.info/TransportDirect/en/

also go to the websites of the bus companies that operate in london and also in the places you want to go to.

System

Today, I've been into every outlet that was likely to display/offer bus time tables and picked up quite a few. They covered area's that I normally would not consider or need to visit.

But, now that I have free access, just a trip to any one of my nearest towns which would in the usual way have been sufficient, I am able to plan the next leg of a journey to one of those out of the way locations.