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.
