Andrew Cowell, 48, caught 80 buses during his whistle-stop tour of the country which he completed in just 13 days. The most buses he caught in a single day was eight, where he travelled over 100 miles from Canterbury in Kent and to Chichester, West Sussex.
He left his home in Allestree, Derbys., on June 10 and took six buses to travel 115 miles to Lancaster in one day. Andrew, a railway operations planner, then took dozens of buses with 39 different operators to explore more 20 counties the length and breadth of England and Wales.
He then trekked across the country to the Lincolnshire coast, to the south west before finally getting off at is last stop in Bangor in Wales. The super saver, who kept costs to a minimum thanks to the £2 fare cap, and said Welsh prices were on average a couple of pence more.
Andrew said: “I basically wanted to get as close as possible to English and Welsh coast. It only took 13 days to complete which I was surprised considering the miles I covered. On the whole the buses were reliable, mostly on time and very comfortable.”
“It’s a wonderful way to travel because you can take everything in and when there is a stop in a town or I have to change I have a chance to explore somewhere I wouldn’t normally. I used 80 buses in total. The original plan was 81 but in typical bus fashion, some of the routes and times had changed.”
“I went around around England and Wales. The first day I went up through the Lake District, then through to Newcastle. Then I went to Grimsby. I carried on to Spalding, then to Kings Lynn and then Norfolk coast.”
“I wanted to get the Tilbury ferry but last year they stopped running it. I then went through Kent to Canterbury and then just followed the south coast to Weymouth. Then to Plymouth and through to Cornwall.”
“I made it to around Bristol, across the Severn, then into Wales. I did Cardiff to Bangor in one day. It is amazing how far you can get on ordinary service buses.”
Incredibly, Andrew’s total travel bill came to just £165 and just over £200 on cheap B&Bs near the bus stations. He said: “I was able to use predominantly £2 fares. One operator in England wasn’t participating in it, so that was a £6 trip. Wales doesn’t participate either, but the prices were roughly the same.”
“You couldn’t drive it for that. Nothing broke down. Everything did turn up, although some stuff was late. Usually due to traffic.”
Andrew only had to seek alternative travel twice, once when a free bus along the Somerset coast failed to stop along the main road – forcing him to take a train. The second was due to Andrew mistaking the times on the timetable, causing him to miss the bus.
He said: “There’s some very good operators out there. Some less than good. The actual problem I had in my head when I missed the bus, it was a free bus. I saw the bus go in a different direction. Because there’s no stop, it doesn’t tell you where it’s going to go.”
“I always like to travel to Cornwall. The best bit of the journey was Polperro to Polruan. It’s basically a minibus that goes down a country road. It only runs five times a day. It’s a good way to see areas you want to go back to. The longest I’ve spent was an hour-and-a-half in Aberystwyth.”
Andrew admits he’s always had the travel bug and is already planning his next public transport adventure. He said: “It’s partly a personal challenge. It’s also to highlight where you can get on local buses and to use them. How many people work in hospitality and retail use it.”
“Everyone depends on it. You probably get a coffee from someone who relies on a bus. I do have a car. But I use the bus. We need them.”
Andrew is now taking part in the three peaks challenge by rail to raise money for the Railway Children charity.
Andrew’s UK bus tour
- Day 1: Derby Buxton Manchester Airport Warrington Interchange Wigan Preston Lancaster.
- Day 2:Lancaster Keswick Carlisle Newcastle Middlesborough Scarborough.
- Day 3:Scarborough Bridlington Hull Interchange Grimsby Riverhead Exchange Lincoln Boston Spalding King’s Lynn Interchange.
- Day 4: King’s Lynn Interchange Wells-next-the-Sea Cromer Norwich Bungay Halesworth Saxmundham Ipswich Cattle Market Bus Station.
- Day 5: Ipswich Cattle Market Bus Station Colchester Chelmsford Basildon Lakeside Bluewater Bus Station Chatham Waterfront Sittingbourne Canterbury.
- Day 6: Canterbury Dover New Romney Hastings Eastbourne Brighton Littlehampton Chichester Portsmouth.
- Day 7: Portsmouth Southampton Lymington Bournemouth Swanage Weymouth.
- Day 8: Weymouth Axminster Exeter Totnes Plymouth Polperro Crumplehorn.
- Day 9: Polperro Crumpleton Polruan Ferry to Polruan-Fowey St Austell Truro Penryn Penzance St Ives Truro Newquay.
- Day 10:Newquay Wadebridge Bude Hartland Barnstaple Ilfracombe Minehead.
- Day 11: Minehead Bridgwater Burnham-on-Sea Weston-Super-Mare Bristol Chepstow Newport Cardiff.
- Day 12:Cardiff Bridgend Swansea Carmathan Aberystwyth Bangor.
- Day 13: Bangor – Llandudno Penmorfa Rhyl Chester Crewe Macclesfield Buxton Allestree.