Thread by @politic_animal

Time for a new adventure! Just now, I’m the most easterly person on UK soil (accompanied by the UK’s most easterly crocheted turtle), at Lowestoft Ness, 1°45'49 east of Greenwich. Obviously, tomorrow morning, we begin a multi-day odyssey to the UK’s most westerly bus stop #GoWest

We’ll be leaving from the UK’s most easterly bus stop, just inland from here, linking together rural, town and trunk route buses, going to places I know well and lots I’ve never visited, across 3 of the UK’s nations. At the end of a heatwave. With lots of bus cuts coming. #GoWest

I can’t claim Lowestoft Ness is the most lovely of cardinal points. You get to it through a scruffy industrial estate, round the back of a council gritting depot. But at least unlike our adopted extremities of Lands End or John O’Groats, it really is the extreme point. #GoWest

Lots of good guesses going on as to where the western-most bus stop in the UK is. It probably doesn’t have much in common with Lowestoft, but a few minor parallels: both are/were known for ceramics, both have lakes, and both were impacted by the Easter Rising… #GoWest

Interesting thing about Lowestoft: the northern half of the town is technically on an island, known as Lothingland. Bit of a stretch of a definition of an island (three sides are rivers, dykes and broads), but my debut novel Fear and Paranoia in Lothingland drops soon. #GoWest

The two halves of town do feel a bit like separate islands: the northern, island side is a workaday port, the other retains traces of long-gone gentility along its promenade, once you are past the Sunday night pub fights spilling into the London Road. #GoWest

My only previous experience of Lowestoft was hobbling, blistered, aged 12 along this prom, at the end of the Suffolk Coast Path, my first long-distance walk. Cruelly, the last 5 miles from Kessingland are along a shingle beach where you sink half a foot with every step. #GoWest

Appropriately, and entirely coincidentally, my hotel room has a fantastic panoramic view of…a bus stop. Unfortunately, it is not the most easterly bus stop, so there is no rolling out of bed straight onto the bus in the morning. #GoWest

#GoWest DAY 1: THE FLATLANDS The UK’s most easterly bus stop is ‘High St, opp St Margaret’s Road’, where Lowestoft merged into Gunton and a one-way system pushes it marginally east of other contenders. A dumpy lighthouse a few steps away distinguishes it from most bus stops.

And here it is in all its glory at 1°45'22.003"E. Having fought off a large gull for custody of a Tesco’s hot cross bun (the only sustenance available in Lowestoft at this time of the morning), Turtle is raring to go. #GoWest

The first bus of the day from the UK’s most easterly bus stop, and the first bus of our #GoWest journey is, appropriately, the number 1, operated - of course - by FirstBus. This is probably the shortest bus ride of the entire trip: 2 quick stops back to Lowestoft Bus Station.

Lowestoft bus station is a pretty standard seaside bus station - i.e. a row of seagull-splattered bus shelters shoved round the back of a near empty shopping centre and a derelict church. But we’ve made our first tight 5-minute connection, so all is forgiven. #GoWest

We’ve got the best seats in the house, for the first of many times hopefully - as we head along Lowestoft’s weird racetrack-style roads and along the seafront on the X21 to Norwich. #GoWest

An ‘X’ numbered bus normally means an express. In the case of the X21, it’s more a promise of express-ing to come, as we meander around Lowestoft’s sprawl, providing every back street of Carlton Colville with a direct bus to Norwich. #GoWest

Down Smallgate and into Beccles’ market square where we wait for the timetable to catch up with us. Been travelling inland for 30mins, yet Beccles was once a rich fishing port. As the coast silted up, the burghers swapped herring for sheep and got rich on wool instead. #gowest

All clearly demonstrating what a liminal space the East Anglian coastal lands are. It is compulsory to use the phrase ‘liminal space’ in a travelogue, so I’m getting it in early. #GoWest

Over the River Waveney and our first county line - crossing from the bit of Suffolk that is confusingly in the Norfolk Broads National Park, into Norfolk proper. Then across the marshes to Gillingham. The lack of a station means I’ve no idea if that’s a hard or soft G. #GoWest

The gentleman waiting in the bus shelter in Loddon (not a typo) was lucky that he blew a huge cloud of vape out as the bus approached, or we’d have sailed straight past, oblivious to his presence. #GoWest

Not so flat, this bit of Norfolk. The Coastlink X21 seems to have a very generously padded timetable (I guess there’s more traffic outside holiday time) and we’re doing lots of waiting for time while enjoying the golden corn field vistas. #GoWest

Having made a faster-than-planned connection at Lowestoft, and with the X21 sailing through non-existent Norwich peak hour traffic, I could consolidate the gains and hop on a bus half an hour earlier than planned from Norwich’s petite bus station. But coffee calls… #GoWest

…as does a quick tour of Norwich’s sights. Like the castle that looks like a nuclear power station, complete with flint-knapped electric charging station… #GoWest

…the very lovely Royal Arcade… #GoWest…

…and of course a quick check on the works to pedestrianise Norwich town centre, on which I have no opinion. #GoWest

Twice an hour, one of these big red galleons, branded ‘excel’, sails out of Norwich bus station to cross the vast, (rail)trackless wastes between Norwich and Peterborough. They get letters rather than numbers, just because. Great service, but I’m all by myself on here! #GoWest

Phone charging *and* a generously sized Turtle shelf. Just great buses all round.

Was going to be sceptical about the value of the excel’s long deviation to the grandiosely-named Cringleford Bus Interchange (reality: some spartan shelters by a load of new-build homes), but we picked up a passenger, doubling our numbers on board*. #GoWest

(*: Turtle does not count for these purposes as he is not fare-paying.)

A Premier Inn, which according to the bus stop name was formerly a ‘Travel Inn’ just off the Norwich by-pass? That seems a bit familiar. #GoWest

It’s 09:18, so obviously we’re being held up in Easton by someone arguing they should definitely be allowed to use their bus pass a bit early. #GoWest

This is why you should avoid bus routes that deviate to serve villages on the right hand side of trunk roads. I hope the lady we picked up in Hockering is suitably grateful. (Bus-activated traffic lights would be a fine idea…) #GoWest

Pulling into Dereham’s market place. A low-key market town of modest but proud red brick buildings, a church tower used to imprison Napoleonic POWs in transit, and the geographical midpoint of Norfolk in Tescos car park. #GoWest

The grandmother next to me is saying ‘wheee! down the hill we go!’ to her granddaughter at every slight dip. I think ‘hill’ is defined differently in Norfolk. #GoWest

Solid bit of Norfolk flint-knapping on Scarning church #GoWest

You might think that the Canary & Linnet pub in Little Fransham is a purely ornithological name. Until you realise it is exactly half-way between Norwich City (the Canaries) and Kings Lynn Town (the Linnets) football clubs. #GoWest

Sounds dangerous. #GoWest

Another town, another market place. This is Swaffham, in the heart of Liz Truss territory. South West Norfolk is where, as a Cameronite A-lister and Greenwich councillor, she resisted the push back of the local ‘Turnip Taliban’ to be selected for this safe seat. #GoWest

Descending Constitution Hill towards King’s Lynn. All of 22m in height but will be the last thing of that altitude for a bit. Putting the breathing apparatus always. #GoWest

Awfully considerate of the 15th century builders of King’s Lynn’s South Gate to build it *exactly* the right size for a double decker bus. #GoWest

A quick change in King’s Lynn (at confusingly named Vancouver Bus Station), so will merely note that until the Reformation this was called Bishop’s Lynn.
We’re leaving First Eastern Counties land here, and joining Stagecoach 505. The bus feels rural (i.e. dust-caked). #GoWest

Passing King’s Lynn railway station. For decades, this felt like the very furthest extent of London commuter land. House prices mean it goes much further out now. Has left the station primarily known for having a side entrance only opened when HMQ comes to Sandringham. #GoWest

Not sure a small town in West Norfolk is where I expected to find a lengthy new bus and bike only road, but here it is… #GoWest

Proof Hardings Way really is very restricted in who can use it. Wasn’t sure we were included for a moment! #GoWest

Over the Great Ouse, leaving King’s Lynn. These feels like the point where the Fens seriously start. #GoWest

Squeezing though Terrington St Clement, allegedly the country’s second largest village by area. This seems a disputable accolade. Every other house here is selling something on tables outside - fuchsias, potatoes, bunched beetroot. #GoWest

Next squeeze: over the swingbridge across the Nene at Sutton Bridge. When built, this was a combined road/rail bridge. Somewhere around here, King John’s baggage train lost the Crown Jewels while trying to ford The Wash. Never found. Not everything comes out in The Wash. #GoWest

Firmly in our third county, Lincolnshire, now. Long Sutton seems a prosperous, surprisingly grand Fenland town. It’s church has four subspires arranged around the main spire. In Transylvania that signifies a town with the right to inflict capital punishment… #GoWest

A great big tulip for Holbeach’s town sign, here in the heart of Lincolnshire’s bulb fields. For an east-west traveller, Holbeach has significance - we’ve just crossed the prime meridian. Uncoincidentally, there’s a Greenwich Avenue on a new estate just west of the line. #GoWest

Something a touch hypnotic about the sun-illuminated wheat fields, the straight road and the glowering clouds. #GoWest

Not sure whether to award points for the ontime arrival at Spalding’s minimalist bus station, given road closures meant we couldn’t serve 2 villages. Apologies to the inhabitants of Moulton and Weston, but my connection would have been pretty tight if we’d gone your way. #GoWest

That huge great monolith towering over the bus station is a water tower. You start collecting water tower designs around here.
Was just accosted by an angry old lady about how ridiculous the buses are. Apparently they keep changing the numbers. #GoWest

First single decker of the day, as we enter the bizarre numbering of local operator Brylaine and their B3 to Boston. Brylaine have been hit so hard by staff shortages, they’ve cancelled all Saturday services. Could get to Boston faster on the 57, but it has broken down. #GoWest

Find it fascinating how, in this pancake flat landscape, the old roads still twist and turn, memory maps of disappeared field boundaries and watercourses, while a few miles away, parallel, a modern trunk road slices along straight as a die. #GoWest

Consoling turtle that the entire journey won’t be on double deckers. #GoWest

Actually, these very window-y single deckers are a really nice way to get the full Lincolnshire panorama. #GoWest

Think the 3 other passengers on this bus were a bit perplexed by the enthusiastic exchange of waves with a former colleague whose house we worked out I was passing by total coincidence a few minutes ago. Of all the Lincolnshire by-ways… #GoWest

You can’t accuse Boston of hiding its highlight. The Stump, the truncated tower of England’s largest parish church looms over everything. Including the bus station. Apparently, you can see it from Norfolk. #GoWest

See, it is big. #GoWest

Such a handsome setting for this town beside the River Witham. Glad to have ended the silly situation whereby I had visited Boston, Mass., but never Boston, Lincs. #GoWest

This may be Brexit central (75% Leave, the highest in the UK), but you can certainly still source some very impressive artisan Polish pastries from the shop by the bus station. That will keep me going for the afternoon… #GoWest

And after an hour’s break, we’re off again, with another smart Brylaine bus, to head north to the county town. When I was planning this journey, this was bus IC5. As of this morning, it’s the B5 and is 6 minutes quicker… #GoWest

Something you quickly learn in Lincolnshire: things called ‘drains’ are often much prettier than the name suggests. The B5 rattles along a minor road beside Frith Bank Drain. #GoWest

A lady getting off the bus at Gipsey Bridge just tipped the bus driver. Is this a thing round here? Have literally never seen it happen on a British bus. #GoWest

Just passing through New York. Barely 30 minutes after leaving Boston, that’s a lot faster than the Acela. #GoWest

One of the world’s more useful roadsigns #GoWest

Ducking as we pass the runway end at RAF Coningsby, in case the PM decides to go for another joyride in one of those Eurofighters. Remarkably, little Coningsby hit the headlines twice last week, with both PM Biggles and being the hottest place in UK recorded history. #GoWest

Woodhall Spa is a delightful bit of Victoriania plonked in the Lincolnshire woods. I’ve a soft spot for these forgotten spa towns (this one resulted from an unlikely attempt at coal mining), like the somnambulant ‘les Bains’ you find all over deepest France. #GoWest

Starting to get some contour lines back again now. I mean, mainly the 10m contour line, but that is something. #GoWest

And suddenly the villages are built of warm Wolds sandstone, not the red brick of the lowlands. #GoWest

Up on its hill, the silhouette of Lincoln cathedral hoves into view as we descend the Lincoln by-pass. Why is a bus going to Lincoln using the Lincoln by-pass? Because the B5 is a bus that must never, ever, take the direct route to Lincoln. (It’s to serve the hospital) #GoWest

Lincoln Jail is just across the road from the hospital. Presumably security has improved since Eamon de Valera escaped from here with the help of fruit cake and candle wax. #GoWest

Down the steep hill (yes, really) to Lincoln bus station. Lincoln is a lovely place to spend some time. Alas, today is not that day. And with a 107 doing a disappearing act, we need the next bus to be pretty punctual. #GoWest

Actually, it turned out the 107 hadn’t disappeared. It just wasn’t shown on any of the bus station screens, and was 5 minutes late. Lucky I had my eyes peeled for its appearance at a random bay. Onward! #GoWest

Turtle is delighted to be back on a double decker again. Especially an old-fashioned one where he can stare down the viewing tube at the driver’s receding hairline. #GoWest

Bounding along the Saxilby Road, beside the Foss Dyke, Britain’s oldest canal. Probably built in the 2nd century AD by the Romans to link Lincoln (Lindum) to the Trent and thence to the sea. And still in use as Lincoln’s waterway today. Probably finished depreciating. #GoWest

An (unwarranted) diversion into a retirement village yields the increasingly rare view of power station cooling towers at Cottam. Probably retired too. Or not long for this world like most of their comrades. #GoWest

And so to Gainsborough, a county border town on the Trent and our final changing point of the day… #GoWest

Our last bus (because this counts for late evening here) isn’t great for those like me who are a bit socially awkward. If there’s no one left on after Bole Village, the driver can go home early. But I want to go the whole way. What if I end up being the only passenger? #GoWest

Of course I’m the only passenger. And for a bit it looked like I wouldn’t even pay, as the ticket machine was on the blink. Fixed now.
Interestingly, this route was municipalised last week by Nottinghamshire County Council. Given the ridership, probably the only way. #GoWest

Over the Trent and into the fourth county of the day, Nottinghamshire. Gainsborough’s wharfs from when it was a major river port sit largely empty now. #GoWest

I am saved from total embarrassment. At the penultimate stop before it becomes a request-only bus, someone else gets on for Retford. Not that the driver seemed other than delighted to take me there anyway. #GoWest

Somehow, we manage to meet a double decker in tiny, dead-end Bole. ‘Bloody stupid,’ says our driver. ‘About four buses a day and they end up meeting here.’ #GoWest

Retford, end of today’s line #GoWest

I first visited Retford on another bus adventure. Previously, it was just an occasional non-descript halt on the East Coast Mainline. Then I found it was a really rather perfectly formed Dukeries town, in particular this fab town hall which would grace any French town. #GoWest

Idyllic Retford beside the River Idle. Yes, really. #GoWest

Glad everyone has enjoyed following along with Day 1 of #GoWest. Here’s a little map showing progress so far, in case of interest. See you tomorrow for Day 2! arcgis.com/apps/instant/b…

DAY 2 LAST OF THE WUTHERING HEIGHTS There’s a pleasant sunrise over the grounds of my Retford hotel. Up a little bit earlier for an anxious check on the swathes of staff shortage cancellations on @StagecoachEMid. But we seem ok for the two crucial legs this early morn. #GoWest 🥱

As the sunrise fades, I’m waiting at the tree-hung bus stop next to the bone-dry cemetery of St Michael’s church, Retford, trying to remember the exact form of words for the ticket I need. Is it a Plus Dayrider Worksop? A Worksop Plus Dayrider? A Plus Worksop Roverday? #GoWest

Going to take a moment to pay tribute to the brilliant bustimes.org site. Not only for being a great timetable repository, but also for the expanding number of live tracking maps. At silly-o’clock, it’s wonderful to see your bus is on its inward journey. #GoWest

So here’s our first bus of the day, the 43. For your average Yorkshireman, it’s a bit confusing to be getting on a bus in Nottinghamshire with ‘Wensleydale’ on the front as the destination. I’m assured it’s a suburb of Worksop. #GoWest

My failure to properly scout out the route of the 43 meant I was somewhat surprised to find us suddenly bucketing along the A1, and southbound at that. Turns out just for one handy junction hop. I’m not being spirited back to London. #GoWest

These seemingly endless, if a bit lorry filled, woods are part of Clumber Park, once ancestral home of the Dukes of Newcastle, before it burned down in 1938. This Sherwood Forest triangle is called ‘the Dukeries’ thanks to housing four ducal seats. #GoWest

A feature of bus journeys in this part of the world is regular diversions into vast industrial/trading estates on the sites of former collieries. This is Manton Wood, once a deep pit, now home to Wilko, Solway Foods, Greencore. We’re a busy, multilingual bus now. #GoWest

This bit of the 43’s route, around the semi-detached ex-colliery worker estates of Manton, has to be a contender for the ‘how many corners can a bus turn in three minutes?’ prize. #GoWest

Huge kudos to the designers (and particularly the typeface choosers) for Worksop’s new bus station. Now to convince the driver of the 19a that the screwed up piece of paper issued by the 43’s ticket machine is indeed a Worksop Plus DayRider MegaTicket #GoWest

Though Worksop bus station, lovely as it is, is suddenly rather devoid of buses. In particular, my bus. #GoWest

I take it all back. Here it is, empty from the depot, spot on time. Don’t be such a nervous bus rider, Jo!
‘How did he manage that? He’s ripped it all to shreds!’ was the driver’s response to my mangled DayPlusRiderSuperWorksopRover thing. #GoWest

Turtle doesn’t get out of bed/his shell for less than the front seat of a double decker. So he’s wide awake as we edge out of Worksop. #GoWest

Wheatfields, woods and horses as far as the eye can see as we twist along the plateau towards Woodsetts, crossing the border into our fifth county - South Yorkshire. Where the bus stops are blue. #GoWest

North Anston may be the most obscure place I will change buses, but there’s a link between this stop (Quarry Lane) and my day job. The coloured limestone for the Palace of Westminster came from said quarry. (It turned out to be poor stone and had to be largely replaced.) #GoWest

(Other link to the day job and previous day job: North Anston is now in the somewhat unlikely parliamentary seat of a former Tory councillor for Ealing Broadway). #GoWest

Out of the grey drizzle, brightened only by our fellow passenger’s excellent hair, comes the next bus. Proper commuter service this - the X5 to Sheffield. As before, the ‘X’ is a promise of a future burst of speed. Much wriggling round villages and colliery towns first. #GoWest

Genuinely surprised to find a ‘Leeds Arms’ in the pretty South Yorkshire village of South Anston. This kind of acknowledgement of the existence of the other bit of Yorkshire is rarely reciprocated. #GoWest #GoWestYorkshire

For those offended that #GoWest is including three of the UK’s constituent parts, but missing a fourth: I have heard you. I am now in Wales. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

(OK, that’s the village of Wales in South Yorkshire, but that counts, ydy?)

Sun picking out some of Sheffield’s seven hills as we descend towards the Rother valley. #GoWest

Climbing through Orgreave. Now a quiet Sheffield suburb, but a name that for many is indelibly associated with the Battle of Orgreave during the 1984 Miner’s Strike. ‘Almost medieval in its choreography’, according to Tristram Hunt. #GoWest

A bit of speed from the X5 at last. The painfully slow boarding of commuter buses in places without widespread contactless cards has put us behind schedule and the connection in Sheffield in jeopardy. #GoWest

Park Square sounds like it should be lovely. In Sheffield, it’s a vast roundabout with lots of traffic lights. We’ve minutes to spare, and the next connection is a must make. Lights in our favour, please… #GoWest

A bit of careful cunning - not going all the way to Sheffield bus station (which is a shame, because it looks like a Victorian fernery), but instead hotfooting it down a back street to the second stop on the 29’s journey. And so we wait while trams trundle overhead. #GoWest

You can see why I was keen to make this one. It’s the only direct bus of the day from Sheffield to Holmfirth… #GoWest

And here is the dinky little 29. Panic over. #GoWest

You don’t even have to leave the confines of Sheffield before the 29 becomes a rollercoaster ride. Up and down, through Pitsmoor, Firth Park, Parson Cross and Ecclesfield. #GoWest

Finally breaking free of the South Yorkshire conurbation… #GoWest

Quiet flows the Don. Down there. Somewhere. In the mist. #GoWest

Arriving in Penistone. Back in the days when this was a busy railway junction.m, the signallers amused themselves by hanging their bags over the ‘t’ on the sign on the front of the signal box.
Speaking of organs, the Paramount cinema still has a rare working one. #GoWest

The 29 waits here in Penistone for ten minutes, by the church, to give time for the driver to eat his yoghurt, and more crucially, to let the clock tick over to 09:30 so passes are valid on the really rural bit of the route where we are the only service. #GoWest

The chat on the bus is about whether to watch the womens’ football from Bramhall Lane tonight. Lengthy discussion as to whether the women are better than the men. Very Yorkshire compromise reached that they are, in fact, ‘no worse’. #GoWest

Turtle not convinced he is a fan of this high moorland. Announced he is more of a sea level creature. #GoWest

Drystone walls, sheep, wildflowers. Does the heart good. #GoWest

A deviation to the tiny village of Dunford Bridge. Would have been v different when this was a station on the Sheffield-Manchester rail artery, carrying Yorkshire coal through the Woodhead tunnel which came out here. Tunnel now being repurposed for high voltage cables. #GoWest

It may be drizzling now, but the lower of the two Winscar Reservoirs is certainly showing the impact of a very dry spring. #GoWest

Over the hill and we’ve crossed the border into West Yorkshire. I would like to commend my natal county for the provision of such informative signs as ‘Buses toward both sides of the road.’ #GoWest

Total gridlock getting into Holmfirth thanks to lots of people believing that hazard lights trump parking restrictions on narrow streets. But rewarded by this fine cantilevered bus station… Never mind last of the summer wine, time for third of the morning coffee. #GoWest

Big fan of the independent, slightly anarchical air that the smoke-stained West Yorkshire mill towns, deep in their green valleys, seem to have engendered. Probably more gentrified than two decades ago, but still pleasing. #GoWest

And most importantly, excellent bakeries. This fat rascal should power me through plenty more of the West Riding. #GoWest

Onward along the Holme Valley. I can tell I’m in West Yorkshire now, because the rover tickets are cheap and cross-operator (£5.50, any bus, all day, across the whole county). That old Passenger Transport Executive does a decent job. #GoWest

‘I like this ride’, says the little girl in the front seat (doesn’t she know that’s Turtle’s priority seat?). It’s not the 29, but she’s right, there’s some lovely woods on the 310 to Huddersfield. #GoWest

Into cotton mill land now as we edge into Huddersfield’s traffic jams. Growing up in West Yorkshire, every former mill seemed to have become a kitchen showroom (apart from those that were David Hockney galleries, obviously) and I see that hasn’t changed. #GoWest

Little girl quoted earlier has a new favourite line: ‘It’s the busman’s rules, not his.’ This gets repeated every time someone tries to pull in front of the bus in the traffic jam from a side road. It should be written in Latin on the front of every bus. #GoWest

Something of a substandard Preston about Huddersfield’s bus station. #GoWest

Can’t come to Huddersfield without coming to pay homage to Britain’s finest bit of political sculpture outside the station. Not just because of the subject - dear old Harold - but because it eschews faux-heroism. And yes, the pipe would have been tacky. #GoWest

It would be a stretch to say the vast bus stations of the north have a ‘sense of occasion’, but they do more to engender a sense of travel than a row of shelters more common in the south. After our valley ride from Holmfirth, waiting for the bus over the next hill range. #GoWest

Here is our mountaineering bus, the 901 to Hebden Bridge, run by little local outfit TLC Travel. It’s a reassuring name, because some of the roads the route uses will require some TLC on the part of the driver. #GoWest

Been climbing steadily up the New Hey Road ever since leaving the bus station, so I like that the suburb at the top of the hill just goes by the name of Mount. #GoWest

Plunging down from the village of Stainland to the valley of Black Brook #GoWest

Didn’t particularly want to meet him coming the other way just here. #GoWest

And straight back up the other side of the Black Brook valley. We’re the little bus who could! #GoWest

Handsome beasts. #GoWest

Plunged down into another valley and the cramped mill town of Ripponden, squeezed beside the River Ryburn. #GoWest

I find these gritstone south Pennine edgelands fascinating. They have that slight scruffiness, the little imperfections like marching pylons or huge dams, that mark them out from, say, the Yorkshire Dales, but give a lived in feel. #GoWest

The 901 climbs to the Pennine ridge line at Blackstone Edge, a strategic position held by 800 parliamentarians against Royalist cavalry in the civil war. On this old turnpike we briefly enter county 7 - Lancashire - before rightly fleeing promptly back to W Yorkshire. #GoWest

Dropping down towards Cragg Vale and the Calder Valley, we are now on what is supposedly Britain’s longest continuous road descent or ascent, at 5 and a half miles. It’s no Alpe d’Huez (the gradient is actually quite moderate) but it has featured in the Tour de France. #GoWest

Down to the valley of the River Calder at oft-flooded Mytholmroyd. Ted Hughes (born here) could pronounce the place name properly. One of the more positive sides to him. #GoWest

Ah, Hebden Bridge. Lovely spot. In the 80s, it was generally known that merely drinking the water here would cause lesbianism. Like Holmfirth, all gentrified a bit now, and the Piers Corbyns of this world congregate further upstream in Todmorden now. #GoWest

Turtle considers getting in on the duck and pigeon feeding frenzy below the packhorse bridge. #GoWest

Half an hour between buses in Hebden Bridge provides the perfect amount of time to scuff a fantastic cheesemonger’s choice cheeseboard at Goo Cheese. Very handy for the bus stop, which is obviously important for rolling towards the next bus. #GoWest

One of the joys of taking the B3 Brontë bus from Hebden Bridge to Keighley (via Haworth, obvs) is guessing which of the buses named after the sisters will turn up. I’ve got Charlotte today.
Good job service only requires 3 buses so there’s no need for a Branwell. #GoWest

Squeezing out of Hebden Bridge. And it is a squeeze… #GoWest

Everything’s very green. The trees are green, the wall is green. The bus interior design is green. #GoWest

Climbing away from the Calder Valley and towards the heights, wuthering or otherwise. #GoWest

And so we reach Cock Hill (stop sniggering on the back seat there), the highest point on our journey, at 432m. #GoWest…

…and begin to descend into the Worth Valley. #GoWest

Can’t believe the B3 doesn’t go up Haworth’s cobbled high street and do a 3-point turn in front of the Parsonage, skittling tourists. I mean, call yourself a Brontë bus? #GoWest

Keighley still seems to be the same mix of dilapidated grand and just plain dilapidated as it did when I last spent much time here a few decades back. But also still ferociously friendly and well mannered people… #GoWest

…as demonstrated by the neatest unforced queue that I’ve seen for many years to wait for the 66 to Skipton. #GoWest

Ewe can get your kicks on Keighley & District Route 66. #GoWest

Another hour, another major Yorkshire river valley, this time the Aire. I sort of lived on-and-off in Steeton for a year, so believe me when I tell you that this is what ‘parched landscape’ looks like round here. #GoWest

Pretty Sutton-in-Craven, first village in North Yorkshire, though purists will note this is still definitely the West Riding. Technically my West Yorkshire ticket runs out here, but the driver seemed distinctly uninterested in taking any additional fare. #GoWest

A very comfy ride along Airedale. The only problem with these leather seats is you tend to slide forward as the bus brakes. And what with tractors, concrete mixers and villages barely built for motor traffic, there’s a lot of braking on the 66. #GoWest

Skipton bus station is pretty minimalistic, but at least the setting is alright. I’ve got myself too conditioned to narrow canals. Seeing clunking great broadbeamers like that is giving me a double take. #GoWest

Thread seems to have broken, inevitably. Continues here: #GoWest