What does a former deputy editor and chief leader writer for The Guardian do when the time comes for them to consider retirement? Why, they grab their bus pass and set off around the country to research material for a travelogue on obscure British people and places. "Great British Bus Journeys" was the end product for David McKie, based on a series of disparate bus journies he undertook mainly in Summer 2004.
I remember being aware of the book back at the time of its launch. I may even have thumbed through a copy in my local branch of Waterstones. I didn't buy it at that point: I was rather underwhelmed by the lack of chapters devoted to the north west of England. Where were all my favourite journies? I put the book back, making sure I hadn't left too many rumpled page corners. It wasn't until I decided to do this challenge that I succumbed to acquiring an edition, just to make sure I wasn't infringing too much on journies that had already been made. I needn't have worried.
There are a couple of places where our journies converge: Thurso – Dornoch and Lincoln – Grantham being two sections of route we will both have covered, along with visits to Dundee, Glasgow, Chesterfield, Northampton and Basingstoke. But whereas David's trips are carefully constructed things, structural devices on which to hang the carefully researched historical narratives, mine will be dictated by the need to get from A to Z with some stop-offs along the way. If I were writing a book, it would probably turn out to be the "Round Ireland With A Fridge" of the newly-invented bus travelogue genre – only less humourous.
Image credit: Elsie esq. on Flickr
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