Saturday 9th July 2022 I took a ride with my friend Ray on Stephensons’ bus route 14 between Southend-on-Sea and Foulness recently. But we needed special permission to travel on it. That’s because it serves Foulness Island which is owned by the Ministry of Defence with a foreboding checkpoint and barrier manned by security personnel... Continue Reading →
Britain’s most westerly bus stop eludes us
Tuesday 7th September 2021 Thanks for the guesses following Sunday’s post. Some of you were spot on identifying Britain’s most westerly bus stop. Bearing in mind we’re talking ‘Britain’ (therefore ruling out Northern Ireland) and not just thinking about England, the Outer Hebrides trumps Lands End by a considerable longitude; and in particular, the mission... Continue Reading →
Britain’s most easterly bus stop
Sunday 5th September 2021 I visited Britain's northernmost bus stop in July 2018. It's on Unst, the furthest north island in the Shetland archipelago, in the small hamlet of Valsgarth. It was a great trip. I turned my attention southwards in 2019 and visited Lizard Point in August that year to check out Britain's most... Continue Reading →
Stagecoach Rewards reviewed
Tuesday 22nd September 2020 According to its website, the Marketing Lounge Partnership (MLP) is"one of the UK's only combined incentive, loyalty, partnership and CRM agencies" which struck me as odd. It seems double dutch to say you're 'one of the only' of anything. Either you're ‘one of a few’, or you're ‘the only’. Surely? Anyway... Continue Reading →
Farewell Newhaven Marine station
Thursday 16th April 2020 It was always a bit of a luxury for a town of little over 12,000 population to be blessed with three stations all within half-a-mile of each other. Back in its heyday the south coast port of Newhaven would welcome trains direct from Victoria terminating at Newhaven Marine station for what... Continue Reading →
Is this really going to be a Healthy New Town?
Friday 31st January 2020 Bordon and Whitehill are two linked communities in East Hampshire situated midway between Alton on the A31 and Hindhead on the A3 and south of Farnham. The area is one of ten demonstrator sites in the Government’s Healthy New Towns programme. Launched in 2015 the programme aims “to explore the development... Continue Reading →
Britain’s remotest bus terminus
Wednesday 17th July 2019 It's been a bucket list ambition for a few years. Travel to mainland Britain's most north westerly point at Cape Wrath and visit by far the remotest bus terminus alongside its famous lighthouse. You can't get more remote than the end of an isolated eleven mile single track road which has... Continue Reading →
Alderney’s Northern Line
Wednesday 8th May 2019 I spent last weekend’s Bank Holiday break on beautiful Alderney, one of the Channel Islands. Alderney’s not renowned for its public transport - there are no buses - they’re not really needed on an island that measures just three miles long and 1.5 miles wide with a population of 2,000. It... Continue Reading →
Farewell Norton Bridge
Friday 29th March 2019 The rail replacement bus service which has been running between Stafford and Stone to serve the abandoned Norton Bridge station since May 2004 comes to an end tomorrow. I couldn’t resist taking a trip up there to check it out on its penultimate day. Trains stopped calling at Norton Bridge fifteen... Continue Reading →