More slides

Here's the second half of the slideshow, covering Stockport to Brighton. I've uploaded almost all my photos, although work on filling in all the descriptions continues in a rather haphazard way.

(If you can't see the frame above, view the Flickr set here)

Virtual Slideshow

I'm well behind on the photo front, but I'm starting to catch up a little. Here's a slideshow of uploaded photos from the expedition – I'll try and upload more on a daily basis, so please check back.

(If you can't see the frame above, view the Flickr set here)

Photography

You know what? I'm still sifting through all the photos I took. You've no doubt seen some of the low quality photos I took with my camphone, but I did have a proper digital camera with me too. It seemed like an ideal opportunity to learn more about the concepts of photography: shutter speeds, apertures, etc. Unfortunately, I had failed to take into account the nature of the challenge.

Taking photos from a bus is difficult. Firstly, it is moving. If you make a mess of a shot, there's no going back to have another go. Secondly, it is difficult to take shots through a window on a sunny day without getting reflections of seats, stanchions, etc. Finally, it may not seem strange taking photos from a bus whilst passing through a national park, but you get a lot of strange looks and half-whispered mutterings when you attempt the same in less touristy areas.

(Taking photos of buses is difficult too, for reasons of movement, strange looks, and also the fact that you've a tight connection and don't want to stray too far from the queue – but that's another story.)

In the meantime, here's my favourite quirky hi-res photo, taken from the X4 as it sped along the A45 south of Northampton.

What went wrong?

A compendium of mishaps...

Carlisle-gate (Day 3)

I stood at the wrong bus stop.

• Bus from Dumfries the previous night did not call at bus station
• Sub-standard reconnaissance failed to locate existence of bus station
• General lack of on-street signage pointing to bus station
• Crib sheet specifically mentioned bus station but failed to mention omission of stop on The Crescent
• Failure to check crib sheet properly
• Lack of "where to catch your bus" posters at city centre bus stops
• Timetable at The Crescent bus stop made no mention of college day variation

Solution: caught my reserve journey direct to Keswick (avoiding Penrith) and arrived in time to make planned onward connections.

Worksop-gate (Day 4)

I got on the bus going in the wrong direction.

• Spent an additional 30 minutes in Chesterfield, reducing connection time
• Travel office undergoing renovation, temporarily replaced by portakabin in bus depot entrance
• Travel portakabin closed for lunch, so no access to timetables
• Worksop bus station extremely cramped and busy, resulting in lack of access to at-stop timetable
• Crib sheet failed to note that service ran in two directions
• Day ticket resulted in lack of destination verification from driver
• Correct stop for Retford around the corner from the main bus stops

Solution: caught my reserve journies onwards to Retford, Gainsborough, Lincoln and Grantham. Arrived in Grantham half an hour later than planned.

Grantham-gate (Day 4)

The B&B thought that I was due to arrive the day after.

• I organised accomodation via email
• The mistake was at their end and not mine
• Nearby Belton Horse Trials causing most Grantham hotels to be fully booked.

Solution: caught the next available East Midlands Trains service to Peterborough to try my hand there – a journey not scheduled until the following morning. Booked into Great Northern Hotel opposite station. Was able to have a lie-in the following morning.

Alton-gate (Day 6)

I missed a connection by the smallest of fractions.

• Decided to spend an extra hour in bed in Andover, meaning a six minute connection in Alton rather than 2 hours
• Bus from Basingstoke to Alton ran at least five minutes late
• Failure to research Alton town centre bus stops in advance
• Crib sheet referred to changing at railway station, not town centre
• Lack of confidence over where bus to Petersfield would stop in town centre
• Continuing on to railway station rather than alighting in the town centre
• Term time diversion via college lengthened journey
• Failure to attract attention of the driver to Petersfield before he drove off

Solution: hung around in Alton for 2 hours. Ran an hour later than scheduled for the remainder of the day + RTA delay.

Number crunching

I caught 30 buses and 2 trains on my six day trip from Thurso to Brighton, over a journey of roughly 1068 miles. In addition to that, I caught a further 3 trains, 2 planes, 1 bus and 1 National Express coach getting to and from the start and finish points.

(Edit: I also caught another bus in Worksop. It was a double-decker. I thought it was heading to Retford, but instead it was operating in the opposite direction and ended up back in Worksop again. I didn't catch any further details, as I was in rather a fluster. I have thus excluded it from my figures!)

Here's a table summing up the different types of buses and coaches I caught on my trip:

x	Double deck bus	Single deck bus	Single deck coach	Low floor	Wheel chair lift	Step entrance	Total
Sunday	-	1	2	1	2	-	3
Monday	1	2	3	1	3	2	6
Tuesday	3	2	-	4	-	1	5
Wednesday	3	4	-	6	-	1	7
Thursday	2	1	1	2	1	1	4
Friday	3	2	-	2	-	3	5
Subtotals	12	12	6	16	6	8	30

I wouldn't normally make detailed notes – but given that it was a special occasion, here's a list of vehicles I travelled on over the six days, with links to pictures available on the internet:

Sunday: 53104; 53269; 22356

Monday: 18351; 53291; 53251; 20509; 54502; 20944

Tuesday: 14232; 18360; 22816; 18140; 22186

Wednesday: 19463; (158882); 22612; 16462; 34003; 33203; 22417; 19076; (158864)

Thursday: 18407; 53613; 22621; 16504

Friday: 20615; 33037; 16643; 16745; 18517