Rural bus riding in the Cotswolds

Tuesday 18th June 2024

Taking a ride on Pulhams Coaches route 801 has been on my to do list ever since seeing buses on the route pass through the delightful Bourton-on-the-Water when trying out the Robin DRT in November 2022.

Spurred on by further suggestions to take a ride after contact from blog readers Chris and Julian, I included it in the itinerary for my Rail Rover gadabout at the beginning of the month.

Another reason for taking a ride now was to see how the extension from its long standing terminus in Moreton-in-Marsh over to Chipping Norton was faring since introduction in March thanks to Gloucestershire Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding improved the frequency to hourly enabling the extension.

Interestingly, aside from that very recent development, the route, which has its other terminus in Cheltenham, has been in the hands of Pulhams Coaches since 1934 meaning it’s celebrating 90 years this year. Not bad for a largely rural bus route.

The hourly frequency applies throughout the day from around 05:30 through to 21:00.

If you like travelling through the delightful Cotswolds countryside, and who doesn’t, then the 801 is an ideal choice to take a ride on as it connects Cheltenham with the tourist hotspots of Bourton-on-the Water, Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh and Chipping Norton.

I travelled on the 15:30 departure from Cheltenham and after picking up at the town’s Royal Well Bus Station and a couple of central stops and the General Hospital we headed off along the A40 with an impressive 22 on board and all adults too, no school children … yet.

It was a nicely appointed Mercedes Citaro in Pulhams grey livery rather than the brighter red and cream which is such a familiar site on both buses and coaches in this part of the country as the Go-Ahead Group owned Pulhams’ tentacles seem to spread far and wide these days.

Before we’d escaped the urban sprawl (albeit a very pleasant urban sprawl) of Cheltenham and were heading towards Charlton Kings we met our first set of roadworks with temporary traffic lights which cost us a few minutes delay.

Two more passengers had come aboard and a bit further along the A40 we did our first twiddly circuit to serve Northleach where three passengers alighted at various stops before heading noprth towards Bourton-on-the-Water on the A429. The twiddle adds around 10 minutes journey time, but it’s the only way to serve Northleach.

Update: ignore the previous paragraph; I got confused when writing this up and referring to the map. The journey I caught doesn’t go via Northleach – it does a twiddly bit around Andoversford, where three alighted, then uses the A436 to Bourton – apologies.

We arrived into Bourton-on-the-Water at 16:18 with eight passengers alighting and 16 schoolchildren boarding with nine more at the next stop by a school bringing our total count of passengers on board at that point to 36, although we soon lost four and gained another.

Before leaving Bourton another twiddly bit including a scheduled visit to Pulhams’ garage in the town where there was a driver changeover. After all that we were now ten minutes down, leaving there at 16:30 instead of 16:20.

Another set of temporary traffic lights controlled roadworks on the A429 towards Stow-in-the-Wold caused a further eight minutes delay meaning we arrived into Stow (which entails another dogleg circuit) at 16:51 instead of 16:33.

Here we saw seven passengers alight and four board and it was on to Moreton-in-Marsh where there was more emptying out at the station (involving another dogleg) with goodbye to two…

… and at yet another dogleg to the original pre-March terminus where 14 schoolchildren alighted leaving just one passenger and myself on the bus for the 20 minute journey on the new extension to Chipping Norton.

The driver turned round to check we both really did want to go to “Chipping” giving me the impression the extension hasn’t really caught on yet.

We finally arrived into Chipping Norton to be greeted by more temporary traffic lights for roadworks at 17:20, 20 minutes later than the scheduled time and meaning the return journey kicked off ten minutes later than its normal 17:15 time.

Frustrations with all the roadworks and circuitous doglegs aside, it’s a lovely route with some wonderful views across the Cotswolds and good to see how busy and popular it is too.

After an enjoyable overnight stay in Chipping Norton I caught the 07:45 departure on another rural route operated by Pulhams – the X9 to Witney.

This had also been a recommendation for me to try and I’m very pleased to have done so. It’s a good example of a rural route that appears to be benefitting from an improved frequency. not least including a well used commuter journey in the morning and late afternoon.

The timetable includes nine return journeys on the route via Chadlington, Spelsbury, a tour around Charlbury, Flinstock, Ramsden Heath and Hailey.

Hugh of Bus Users UK told me the route was run for decades as a commercial venture by Worth’s Coaches of Enstone under a different route number but eventually it became an Oxfordshire County Council subsidised route. Stagecoach ran it in the 2000s with RH Transport running it by 2010 until that company went bust with Stagecoach coming to the rescue and then the route passed to Pulhams.

At one point when Oxfordshire cut all financial support for bus routes the X9 comprised only a few journeys each way including some only south of Charlbury.

Now, in 2024, it probably has its best timetable ever.

It’s a lovely route through the Cotswolds countryside and I was impressed to see 17 passengers made use of the 07:45 journey, and it was obvious they were all regulars too.

We arrived into Witney around five minutes late due to slow traffic approaching the town.

It seems odd that it uses the route number X9 as there doesn’t seem to be any logical reason to do so.

And that completes the 11 daily blog reports from my Rail Rover wanderings so normal timetabling is now restored albeit with some summer Su extras.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS with occasional Summer Su extras including this Su.

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