Jim's Journeys


JIM’S JOURNEYS – Getting to and from Starcross by public transport. Many of the earlier trip reports on the site make reference to my journeys to and from “Starcross” by car or by public transport as I feel that these are part of the total experience of owning, but not living on, a narrowboat. Starcross’ mooring at Norbury junction was 70 miles away from my home in Hereford and her new mooring at Uplands Basin is a similar distance from Lancaster, but of course I often have to join or leave her at other locations. I’ve decided to group all such further reports of my journeys in this section just in case they bore readers who are only interested in what’s happening on the cut.
Let me say first of all that I am a great fan of public transport and have been a regular user for over 50 years, despite owning a car for much of that time. I’m also professionally employed in the subject at my local Council. My comments on the failings – and successes – of the buses and trains I encounter are therefore based on long experience of using the network and a degree of insider knowledge as to what might have gone wrong – or right!

Journey 13 Pembrey to Lancaster29th June 2012
Not, strictly speaking a journey to or from the boat but included for what I trust will become obvious reasons.
With my parents living a mile from “Pembrey & Burry Port” railway station and our house in Lancaster a similar distance from the station there and with one simple change and some cheap advance fares the train seemed the obvious way to get two of us – and two loaded touring bikes – home.
It started well: the 11.23 Carmarthen to Manchester train, which would takes us as far as Crewe arrived exactly on time with plenty of room for us and our bikes. It remained on time all the way to Neath three stations down the line) but just after leaving the station came to a halt at a red light and waited….and waited….and waited. Eventually the guard came on the PA and told us that a train in front had broken down but he had no idea how long we would be delayed. So we waited a bit more and eventually we started to move – backwards into Neath station. There the train was “terminated” (railspeak for going no further) and we were asked to get off and wait on the platform “where I assume alternative arrangements are being made”. No such luck. As soon as we were off the train, the doors closed and it disappeared back the way we had come. A member of staff then emerged and told us that no alternative transport could be found and we would have to wait until the problem resolved itself. His prediction, fairly accurate as it turned out, was that we would be there another hour (to add to the hour we were already late) during which time the station PA and electronic displays confidently predicted the imminent arrival of several trains that never showed. Even when things began to move the station announcer was announcing a London train whilst the displays predicted a Manchester one!
By 14.20 we were back on the move and this time we got as far as Crewe, although here it was announced that this train was now so late it would go no further. I wonder how many people waiting for the 17.39 to Manchester would have believed it had they been told that their train was cancelled because a Swansea to London train had broken down in south Wales nearly seven hours earlier! No matter – we were now just in time to get the 18.09 to Lancaster and rushed over to platform six to find that – it had been cancelled, having never even left Birmingham. At least there was an 18.18 to Preston so on the basis that in such circumstances “if a train is going in the right direction then get on it!” we caught that arriving just in time to miss the 19.04 Trans Pennine onward to Lancaster. But wait! – the 19.04 was not expected until 19.15. I was just about to leave the platform in search of the gents when I saw a Trans Pennine train arriving at the platform. It showed “Preston” on its indicator, whilst the platform display announced it as the 19.10 to Manchester Airport. When only a few passengers alighted it was obvious that it wasn’t terminating at Preston and, as it was heading in the wrong direction for Manchester it must be the Barrow train and would stop at Lancaster. Mind you, you had to know all this as no PA announcements were made.
It may have been obvious to me but it wasn’t to everyone, not least the gentleman who on arrival at Lancaster asked if he was on the Airport train. I advised him to bale out and get the next train back to Preston but he said “On! but my flight is at half-past nine!”
Still, we were home. Two-and-a-half hours late and over eight hours after setting off. I’ll be sending in a claim for compensation, but as we travelled with Arriva Trains Wales, Virgin and Trans Pennine, the breakdown was caused by First Great Western and I bought my tickets over the internet from East Coast Trains it may take me a while to get my money back!

Journey 12
Kinver to Lancaster 4th May 2012
This journey is included mainly because of the extremely low cost. When looking for a cheap rail fare on-line I came across a London Midland Trains half-price sale for tickets booked via the internet. Their internet deals are aleady cheap and now I have a railcard I can find some good offers. London Midland serves Stourbridge, the nearest station to Kinver, but the nearest they get to Lancaster is either Crewe (the obvious place to change) or Liverpool. If you start from Stourbridge to go north you have first to go to Birmingham, which is a long way round, but there is a bus directly from the town centre to Wolverhampton that “cuts the corner off” and which is, to me, free. I found a Wolverhampton to Liverpool advance-purchase fare of £3.30 (after the various offers and discounts) which was the total cost of the journey.
From Kinver I got the 288 bus to Stourbridge, changing there at the new bus station
Double-decker bus in new bus station
Stourbridge bus station
The 256 to Wolverhampton took just over an hour but as my train ticket was limited to a specific timing I had allowed extra time so had time for a pint in the Great Western, my favourite Wolverhampton pub.
The 13.53 to Liverpool was on time and got me to Liverpool just after 15.00 and just in time to miss an X2 bus to Preston, but I expected that and had a quick look around the city centre whilst waiting for the next one at 15.52. It’s a pretty grim ride up the Scotland Road through Bootle on the X2 and a slow one too – calling at all stops. However, from Southport things get better and the bus hurtles up the main road leaving the villages to other buses. I had another “just missed” connection at Preston, but that was OK because after two-and-a-quarter hours on the bus from Liverpool I needed a breather. Unfortunately the cafe had closed for the day and the only source of hot drinks was a vending machine, which dispensed the worst cup of “tea” I’ve ever had.
The Stagecoach 40 to Preston is speeded-up after 18.00 with 20 minutes cut from the running time and this ensures a fast run up the A6. I alighted at Lily Grove and walked the short distance home arriving, exactly as predicted, at 19.32.
Not the quickest way from Kinver to Lancaster, but at £3.30 definitely the cheapest!

Journey 11 Norbury Junction to Hereford
31 October 2010
I’ll admit that today’s debacle was largely my fault, although the railway didn’t get it exactly right either!
On a Sunday, any journey from Norbury Junction starts with a two-mile walk along the towpath to Gnosall. The 481 bus from Gnosall runs hourly to either Stafford or Telford stations and thus offers a choice of route home. The Sunday train service from Birmingham to Hereford is, however, so poor that its almost always quicker to travel via Telford and Shrewsbury.  Things would have gone better had there been any internet coverage at my mooring. I could have checked up-to date times of both trains and buses before deciding on a route. But I only had paper timetables to go on. These showed that Telford to Shrewsbury trains were replaced by buses for the day and therefore running at different times causing them to miss connections off the 481 bus my minutes and enforcing an hour’s wait at Telford station with a further lengthy wait at Shrewsbury. The route via Stafford and Birmingham therefore for once seemed the better option and I set off to catch the 11.40 bus from Gnosall. Now I freely admit that I was aware that the 481 had changed its times back in the summer and I had a copy of the new timetable on board. What I hadn’t done, however, was to throw the old one away! It was only when I arrived at Gnosall that I realised that the new timetable meant that I wouldn’t make the train at Stafford which, with the poor service on from Birmingham meant I wouldn’t get home until after 18.00! Unfortunately, I only realised this after I  had allowed a Telford-bound bus to pass when it turned up, unexpectedly, at its new time.
During the subsequent hour I spent at Gnosall, during which only one boat passed through, I consoled myself with the thought that at least the next bus, at its new time, would connect with the rail replacement service at Telford with a comfortbale 15 minute wait.
The timetable published by London Midland Trains, in leaflet form and displayed on the platform at Telford clearly states that between the 5 September and mid-December all Sunday trains between Wolverhampton, Telford and Shrewsbury are replaced by buses running to a revised timetable. I was more than a little surprised therefore to see a Shrewsbury-bound train just leaving the station and the platform indicator screen announcing the next one  to Shrewsbury at the old, pre-September time – meaning I had another hour to wait after all!
At least the service between Shrewsbury and Hereford was running as expected and I reached Hereford station at 15.46, over 5 hours after leaving Norbury for a journey that takes an hour and three-quarters by car!

Journey 10 Hereford to Market Harborough
29 May 2010
The recommended route by train from Hereford to Market Harborough is via Birmingham and Leicester, which is a long way round. However, during the bank holiday week, London Midland Trains were doing a special offer of a £10 “day ranger” ticket valid throughout their network. My plan, therefore was to go by train to Northampton and change there to a Stagecoach X7 bus to complete the journey. Despite the London Midland trains being stopping trains rather than expresses this would only take a short while longer than the “official route” via Leicester and as the railway station at Market Harborough is at remote from the town centre – and even more remote from the canal basin, whereas the X7 stops almost outside it was to be just as convenient and cost half the price.
The journey went according to plan but was enlivened by an example of all too typical on-train confusion: The trains from Birmingham to Northampton continue to London Euston; but as they take a lot longer than the main line service they are, quite reasonably, advertised at Birmingham New Street as being for “Northampton” to prevent unwary London-bound passengers boarding them. Once you are on the train, however, the automated announcements reveal that the train is for London. On leaving New Street – and the next few stations, the train was announced as being for London, but then the guard (as I still think of them) made an announcement to the effect that today, for no specified reason, the train was being “terminated” at Northampton and passengers for further south would have to change. This continued at Birmingham International and Coventry stations with the train announced as being for both London and Northampton. Finally, approaching Northampton itself, the guard came on to say that they had “heard from Birmingham” and the train had been “reinstated” and would, after all, continue to London. Passengers who had been gathering their belongings for an enforced change of train looked relieved – if a little confused – and settled back into their seats. Except that “Birmingham” didn’t seem to have told Northampton and the train was routed into a bay platform, from which it could not possibly continue southwards!
It didn’t affect me, as I was leaving anyway. The few of us actually travelling to Northampton alighted and looking back at the platform I saw a pause, following which first one or two, then more, then the rest of the passengers got off and crossed the platform to join a train that really was going to London.
Just to round things off nicely the automatic ticket barrier at the exit rejected my ticket, but when I reported to this to the attendant he just shrugged and let me through.
The X7 was much more straightforward, departing and arriving on time and depositing me exactly where I was expecting to go.

Journey 9 Norbury Junction to Hereford via Wombourne and Wolverhampton Hospital!
1st November 2009
This was a car journey, but deserves to be recorded here as certainly the worst journey to or from Starcross so far. We had just returned to Norbury Junction arriving from Wombourne on the Staffs & Worcester Canal with a crew member who had left her car by agreement in a pub car park for the weekend. The plan was simple enough – we would drive her to Wombourne in our car, she would then pick up her car and drive home while we continued on our way to Hereford.
But, said crew member awoke feeling unwell. Attempts to contact a doctor or even NHS Direct for advice all failed, but eventually our crew member decided she was well enough to go home, although someone else would have to drive. We reached Wombourne easily enough, but by then she was feeling worse. In the pub car park we became seriously worried about her and called an ambulance, which arrived and took her to New Cross Hospital on the other side of Wolverhampton. Hil went with her in the ambulance and I followed on in our car desperate to keep up as I had no idea of the hospital’s whereabouts. Even though it was not proceeding at emergency speeds this was quite tricky and I must admit to jumping a couple of red lights!
After a long wait and an examination our crew member was passed fit to go home. Of course, her car was still in Wombourne so we had to drive back there to pick it up. Hil then took her home, while I continued home.
All ended well, but it’s not a journey I would care to repeat.

Journey 8
Hurleston to Hereford
29th March 2008
The Plan: Cycle from the boat back to Whitchurch, pick up the car and drive back to Hereford – estimated time 1.5 hours cycling and 1.75 hours driving.
The reality: Although it had been raining all afternoon it appeared to be easing off by 17.00 so I unfolded the Dahon and set off for Whitchurch. It soon became clear that this was a mistake as the rain returned heavier than ever. Fortunately, as it turned out, the front wheel punctured shortly after Acton cross-roads. I wasn’t carrying a repair kit – not that I would have wanted to repair a puncture at the roadside in that weather anyway - but fortunately I was only about half-a-mile off the bus route so was able to walk to a convenient stop and, for the first time, take my folding bike on the bus.  The “bus stop” was an all too typical example of such facilities in rural areas, being merely a patch of mud at the side of the road. It didn’t even boast its own bus stop pole – the one opposite was marked “both sides of road” – but I’m from Herefordshire and well used to such things. I didn’t expect there to be a timetable – and there wasn’t – but I knew that the 84 Chester to Crewe bus ran every 30 minutes. After 20 minutes a bus arrived displaying an “Out of Service” sign. I let it go by, but then noticed that its lights were on and passengers inside. I’d just decided that it was the bus after all – and had started to unfold the Dahon for a long walk when another bus appeared. This one did stop, although all the seats were taken and the lady driver, when she saw my bedraggled state and my partially folded bike, gave me a look that said “What next?!” I said to her “Its one of those days” to which she replied “Yes, my windscreen wiper’s just packed in as well!” Meanwhile the other passengers moved shopping off the luggage rack to make way for my bike and 5 minutes – and £1.40 – later I was in Nantwich, from where I could get a train to Whitchurch.
Not THAT easily though! British buses make a point of avoiding railway stations and Nantwich is no exception. By the time I’d walked from the bus stop to the station I had just missed the Whitchurch train and the next one was an hour and a quarter later. Fortunately the Railway Hotel was nearby and did a decent pint, but I didn’t find the combined “entertainment” of three TV screens showing football plus the road crew from that night’s band setting up – and testing the volume of – the PA system exactly to my taste. Nantwich to Whitchurch only takes 15 minutes on the train, but then I had to walk across the town about 2 miles back to the Whitchurch Arm where I’d left the car. Eventually I was able to set off and, pausing only to buy and eat some pretty ropey fish and chips from the chip shop at Whitchurch traffic lights, I headed for home arriving nearly five hours after I’d set off.
Definitely a journey of “if only’s” If only I’d taken the bus straight to Nantwich I could have got an earlier train. If the bus had gone straight to the station I could have caught the earlier train. If I’d not had a puncture I’d have got to Whitchurch an hour earlier. If I hadn’t taken the car in the first place I could have just got the bus to Crewe and a fast train home. If it hadn’t rained…..  All in all I think I made the worst possible series of choices for this journey. Sometimes that’s just how it is!

Journeys 6 and 7
Hereford to Norbury Junction and back
26th and 27th January 2008
The outward trip was fairly straightforward, although I made an earlier start than usual on the 06.48 from Hereford to get to Starcross as early as I could. This one drawback was a 40 minute wait at Shrewsbury between trains but at least this gave me time to wander off the station in search of a better and cheaper breakfast than that available inside. I found one at a sandwich bar just outside, on the road towards the city centre.
A little knowledge can often be a dangerous thing. I knew that fast trains from Shrewsbury to Telford usually started elsewhere and for some reason convinced myself that the 08.22 would be arriving from Aberystwyth. I was therefore quite happy to wander down platform four for a view of the river, still swollen from recent heavy rain, safe in the knowledge that I would see the train arriving from the south end of the station. So convinced was I of this that even when the train was announced as “arriving on platform four” I assumed it was premature and only when I turned round a minute later did I see it standing at the far end, having arrived at the north end from Chester!
This train was due at Telford 20 minutes later giving a five-minute connection into the 481 bus. The journey was enlivened at Telford Central when the train doors refused to open leaving boarding passengers looking puzzled on the platform and alighting passengers growing increasingly agitated inside. Just when I was beginning to wonder about my connection the guard solved the problem and I was able to get off. The bus journey, by comparison, was straightforward and I was at Gnosall at 09.40 and, after a visit to the shop, at Norbury Junction about an hour later.
The return journey on Sunday could – and should – have been wonderful. The 15.45 bus from Gnosall has a 5 minute connection with the Shrewsbury train at Telford and that train had a six-minute connection at Shrewsbury for a fast train to Hereford where its due just after 18.00. With a total “hanging about time” of less than 15 minutes this is about as good as it gets.  Everything went to plan as far as Shrewsbury but, of course, I had overlooked the bane of all Sunday train travellers – the dreaded “engineering works”. The line north of Shrewsbury was closed, so trains from Manchester were being diverted and, in effect, a completely new timetable was in operation. There was no sign of my train – and no obvious way of finding out when it could be expected. The electronic platform indicators, as so often in times of disruption, were not functioning, merely referring passengers to “the printed departure sheets” – and these of course just showed the published timetable! Because a revised timetable was in place, and working correctly, no announcements were being made about disruption and, needless to say, station staff were nowhere to be seen!
In the bad old British Rail days the public timetable didn’t recognise engineering works. This meant that disruption was often unexpected – and unexplained – but at least it was easier to find out what was happening. In those days, the “17.08 to Hereford” would still have run late, but would have appeared on the indicators – perhaps as the “delayed 17.08″ or even the “retimed 17.08″. This isn’t good enough for the private railway as it smacks too much of failure. Instead the timetable is merely reissued and the 17.08 becomes the 18.21 – which is then “on time”! despite its existence not being acknowledged on any printed information available to the public. A triumph of “spin” over substance.
The “on time” 18.21 was “on time” and duly delivered me to Hereford at 19.10. Still not a bad journey – but nowhere near as good as it could have been.

Journey 5
Norbury Junction to Hereford: 16 December 2007
The Plan: Walk to Gnosall, 481 bus to Telford then trains to Shrewsbury and Hereford
The Reality: Another trouble-free journey, which was almost a disaster! I had planned to catch the 17.45 bus from Gnosall to Telford, which is,on a Sunday, the last bus of the day. I normally allow 40 minutes to walk down the towpath from the mooring but as it was dark and as I would be taking the parallel road which follows a slightly longer course I allowed myself some extra time. It was just as well that I did. I arrived at the bus stop at 17.35 and was just settling down for an unpleasant 10 minute wait at the side of the A518 when the bus appeared, running seven minutes early. Had I taken just a few minutes longer to walk the two and a bit miles from Norbury Junction my journey would have been over before I had begun! I have complained to Arriva about this, although as I actually did manage to catch the bus I haven’t sought “compensation” rather an assurance that the driver will be “spoken to” and “reminded”of the consequences for passengers of early running.
In comparison, the train journeys were a model of perfection. The 18.43 from Telford Central to Shrewsbury was exactly on time and there was only 8 minutes to wait at Shrewsbury for a fast train to Hereford. I was in the house 3h 45m after leaving the boat which is not at all bad given that an hour of that was spent walking to Gnosall and from Hereford station.

Journey 4
Hereford to Norbury Junction   15 December 2007
The Plan: Arriva Trains Wales to Shrewsbury and on to Telford; bus 481 to Newport and bus 350 to Norbury
The Reality: Absolutely everything went to plan and this is only recorded here as an antidote to those journeys when inevitably it doesn’t. The only “problems” were the one hour wait between buses at Newport, although even this was utilised for a cup of tea and a bit of shopping and the sad fact that once again there was only myself and one other passenger on the much-underused, 350 bus out of Newport.

Journey 3
Norbury Junction to Hereford: 8 December 2007
The Plan: 350 bus from Norbury village to Newport then 481 bus to Stafford and trains to Hereford via Birmingham
The Reality: One of the drawbacks about taking advantage of the peculiarities of the railway fares “system” in the UK is that you often find yourself having to take a sub-optimal route, particularly on your return journey, because you’ve bought a “cheap” return ticket. The best way home to Hereford from Norbury Junction is via Shrewsbury but because I had travelled up via Birmingham and bought separate tickets Hereford-Birmingham and Birmingham-Stafford (because it was cheaper than a Hereford to Stafford ticket) I had to return that way.
The 350 is the nearest regular bus service to Norbury Junction although it only runs about four times a day so usually I end up walking to or from Gnosall. Due to the terrible weather however I was prepared to time my departure to coincide with the 12.33 to Newport from “Norbury Village Hall”. Many years of living, and catching buses, in Herefordshire has got me used to unmarked bus stops and having to guess where the bus drivers will expect people to be waiting. Nevertheless as this was the first time I’d caught a 350 from Norbury it was a bit un-nerving. I knew where the village hall was because I’d got off the bus there, but the return bus goes from the other side of the road and the only safe place to wait is in someone’s driveway. I know these sort of things can upset people and as there were no other waiting passengers to follow, I stood in the village hall car park until I could see the bus coming then dashed across the road to flag it down when it turned up impressively punctually at 12.33 exactly (given that it had come all the way from Hanley in the potteries). The four miles to Newport cost £1.20 (compared to the £1.30 it would cost me to take a bus one mile into the city centre at home, were I daft enough to pay it!). At Newport there was a reasonable connection with the reliable Arriva 481 which dropped me at Stafford station.
Trains from Stafford to Birmingham are fairly frequent, so I hadn’t planned for a particular train but didn’t have long to wait before a “London Midland” Liverpool – Birmingham train arrived getting me to New Street at 14.30.
So far, so good. I opted to spend an extra hour in Birmingham knowing that the 15.59 would get me home in good time but, knowing also that it would be a busy train I decided to get to the platform 10 minutes early to be sure of getting a seat. It was just as well I did as I was only just in time to get on the train at all! London Midland, like Central Trains before them don’t have enough trains and far too often have to use a two-carriage set (seating capacity about 125) to work services that carry way in excess of that number of passengers. The 1559 last Saturday was just such a train with people standing throughout – and in all the doorways – and some people unable to board. The conductor made a vain attempt to lighten the load by pretending the train would not stop at “University” – a local station just outside Brum – but this failed to persuade anyone to abandon ship and, of course, we did stop there after all. Some fellow passengers were protesting that the train was too full and that “it wouldn’t be allowed on a bus or a plane”. Too right it wouldn’t – but the outcome would be lots of passengers left standing at the bus stop/airport waiting for the next one. I know what I’d prefer. I eventually got a seat at Worcester (after 40 minutes and the half way point). Everything was on time, but someone really needs to sort out some additional rolling stock for this line.

Journey 2

Hereford to Norbury Junction: 7th December 2007 The Plan: Hereford to Birmingham and Birmingham to Stafford by “London Midland” train; Arriva bus 481 to Gnosall then walk. The reality:
All went remarkably to plan. The 07.35 from Hereford got me to Birmingham New Street for 09.10 and, after my meeting, the 13.21 from New Street deposited me at Stafford at 14:00. After a leisurely walk through the town I caught the 14.22 bus to Gnosall which, as ever with this service, was punctual and reliable. Operationally, this was excellent – both train and bus with the only quibble being the continuing imbecility of the railway fares system. You can’t buy a so-called “Saver” ticket from Hereford to Stafford before 09.00 so the cheapest ticket is a full price “Open Return” at about £35. You CAN, however, buy a Saver to Birmingham and another saver from there to Stafford (all at Hereford booking office) for a total price of £24! No wonder the recorded number of rail journeys is rising rapidly as each ticket sold no doubt counts as a “journey”!


Journey 1

Hereford to Braunston  26th October 2007
The Plan: Hereford to Birmingham New Street by Central Trains, Birmingham New Street to Rugby by Silverlink and Rugby to Braunston by “Geoff Amos” bus. Depart Hereford 13.50 arrive Braunston 17.41
The Reality: 26th October 2007 was a good day to be setting out on a journey by public transport as it was the 21st anniversary of the deregulation of bus services in Great Britain! My train to Birmingham ran exactly to time and deposited me at New Street at 15.21 exactly. However, the next stage proved more difficult. The 15.45 to Rugby was cancelled due, of all things, to a strike by members of the drivers’ trade union ASLEF. I must admit I was mildly surprised to find that ASLEF still existed, let alone went on strike, so far removed are we now from the militant days of the 1970s and 80s. Trains to Rugby are only hourly and although a 16.45 was advertised, this would get me there too late for my planned bus connection. I also had doubts as to whether that train would also be cancelled in due course. A Virgin West Coast train was just about to leave for London calling at Coventry so I hopped aboard to see what I could do from there. Coventry station is well out of the city centre, but is served by bus. The timetable on display there showed a bus to Rugby in 40 minutes, but it appeared to follow a roundabout route and was not due there until well after my Braunston connection would have left. I knew that there were other, more direct, services from the city centre so I paid £1 to take a “Travel Coventry” bus into the city centre. This takes a roundabout route and there is no information system on board to tell you which stop you are approaching. Its not easy to ask the driver either, as the vehicles used on the service are articulated monsters, all of 18 meters long and this one at least was full of standing passengers. Just as I was beginning to wonder if I’d missed the centre altogether we came to a street that I recognised so I got off to find myself at exactly the right stop for buses to Rugby.  Now the fun began! The timetable showed an “86″ to Rugby via Brinklow due at 16.17. As it was by now 16.10 this seemed ideal. At 16.15 a bus showing “86 Coventry” arrived and although I was mildly surprised to find it was a “Stagecoach” rather than the “Travel deCourcey” (many Midlands bus companies have “backwards” names) I’d been expecting I was encouraged by the fact that the legend “86 Coventry – Rugby every 30 minutes” was emblazoned down the side. The waiting dozen or so passengers duly filed on, and most of them duly filed off again amongst mutterings of “only going to Binley Woods” (which is a suburb of Coventry). 16.17 came and went and the Binley Woods bus sat there empty. By 16.20 there was still no sign of the deCourcey bus but then, on an adjacent stand, appeared a “580″ to Rugby. Obeying the first rule of public transport (never wait for the “other” bus!) I piled on and paid my £2.90 for a single to Rugby. The bus set off and five minutes later arrived at the Railway Station taking me back to where I had been 45 minutes earlier. I now knew that this bus would not get me to Rugby in time for the 17.15 to Braunston and resigned myself to a late arrival. The 580 follows a convoluted route through Coventry’s eastern suburbs and then a succession of commuter villages that are in the general direction of Rugby, at one point having to double back on itself along a dual carriageway in order to make a right turn. When I’m using buses in an area I don’t know I like to follow the route taken on a map, so after some time I realised that the bus was likely to pass through Dunchurch before it reached Rugby and a quick check of my timetable showed that the Braunston bus from Rugby went via Dunchurch, being due at 17.29. I quickly amended my plans and the 580 duly dropped me at Dunchurch Memorial at 17.20. For once, it was easy to find the correct stop and at 17.29 exactly the “Geoff Amos” bus turned up. A quick run through the Warwickshire countryside in the gathering gloom followed and I was deposited outside Braunston Church at exactly 17.41!
The Verdict: A good example of the strengths and weaknesses of public transport. The failure of the Silverlink train was obviously a bad thing and the bus situation at Coventry was a case of either me not reading the timetable display properly or of it being incomplete as I subsequently discovered a timetable on the Stagecoach website. The 86 does ruin every 30 minutes to Rugby EXCEPT at 16.20! I arrived at Braunston at exactly the advertised time, which is a good thing (and how many people can time their car journeys to the minute). I suspect, however, that someone without even my basic knowledge of the midlands bus network would just have waited at Birmingham until a train to Rugby appeared, which might – or  might not – have got them there in time for the last bus to Braunston. Trains 5 out of 10; Buses 8/10; Jim 10 out of 10 (for initiative!)

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