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.