End of first day

Manju did interviews with Radio Manchester, Northwest Tonight, Manchester Evening News and Bolton Evening News at Piccadilly Station. When she got to Sheffield we both did interviews with Radio Sheffield and the Yorkshire Post. We had hundreds of photographs taken of us holding a poster sized bus pass and getting on and off buses and waving from buses. On the train to Berwick we spoke to the Northern Echo, Tyne Tees Television, a Bolton radio station and Look North. We are staying in a very pleasant small hotel in Berwick, Alannah House. Tomorrow morning our adventure starts on the bus number 505 to Alnwick. But we have to be filmed by Tyne Tees Television before we leave.

The journey begins

By the way, we are Manju Ghosh and Christine Jackson and we have been close friends for fifteen years. Manju lives in Bolton and early this morning she met a crowd of media people at Piccadilly Station where she was 'seen off' by the Minister for the North West, Beverley Hughes MP and the Vice Chair of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority, Counciller Allen Brett. She is now travelling to Sheffield where I live and where we shall also meet the media at the Interchange bus station before we get a train to Berwick. If we can find an internet cafe the next blog will be from the Scottish border.

A number of difficulties have arising during the planning. First, the bus pass has not arrived. We contacted the Passenger Transport Executives where we live (Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire) and they are trying to speed things up. They also intend to issue a press release about our trip and take photographs of us climbing on to a bus. The second difficulty is the definition of a local bus. Neither the staff of the PTEs or of the main bus companies seem to be clear about their policy. We are working on the assumption that a local bus is one on which you cannot book a seat: that is, a bus which randomly picks up passengers at bus stops or stations. Third, it is difficult to find timetables. There is no longer a national bus directory so we have to search all kinds of websites to get the data. Its easy in a PTE area but where buses cross into county areas, the information gets patchy. Then you find the perfect bus but the small print tells you it only runs twice a week. Fourth, its very difficult to find a good bus where there is a good rail link. Its clearly not in the bus companies interests to compete. Lastly, finding buses on Sundays is a nightmare.

Our planned route is as follows:
1st April - Berwick-upon-Tweed, Alnwick, Gosforth
2nd April - Gosforth, Newcastle, Chester-le-Street, Durham, Darlington, Richmond
3rd April - Richmond, Northallerton, Thirsk, York, Selby, Doncaster, Sheffield
5th April - Sheffield, Chesterfield, Nottingham, Leicester
6th April - Leicester, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Oxford
7th April - Oxford, Swindon, Chippenham, Bath
8th April - Bath, Wells, Taunton
9th April - Taunton, Tiverton
10th April - Tiverton, Exeter, Bude, St Columb Major
11th April - St Columb Major, Truro, Penzance
12th April - Penzance, Lands End, St Ives, Penzance