Author Topic: Ditching the Car  (Read 3914 times)

Requiem

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Ditching the Car
« on: 13:56:25, 22/05/18 »
Lee in Doncasters walk reports in the Peak District section, where he uses mainly public transport to get to his walks have really inspired me to try and use the bus and train a little more often. For the past 20 years since my late 20s I've had cars and they've transported me to some wonderful places, but after six walks in various areas of the UK in the past three months I can really see the benefits of sitting back and letting some looney at the front take the strain.


Has anyone got good/bad memories of bus / train journeys at the start of a walk that really turned a good walk into a brilliant/horrendous one?


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pleb

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #1 on: 15:32:17, 22/05/18 »
Sure if I wrack my brain cell............summat will come.
Peaks has the Hope valley line, very scenic.
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pauldawes

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #2 on: 15:38:37, 22/05/18 »
Public transport opens up a wealth of more flexible walks because patently there's no need to start and end at same place.


It obviously works really well if you walk areas with good rail and bus services.  One example is Edale valley where it's easy to get off train at Chinley say, and walk through to Edale, etc. (Walking that area midweek, it often makes sense to end at Hathersage..good cafes, pubs, and bus service back to Sheffield as well as rail.)


Another example is Amber Valley (Matlock to Derby) where there's a lot of good walking and excellent road and rail links.


Once you decide on area/s you're interested in...usually worth doing a bit of research into best way to get cheapest ticket. For example if you try either of areas I've mentioned Derbyshire Wayfarer may be best ticket to use.

pauldawes

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #3 on: 15:45:49, 22/05/18 »
A ton of good memories about this type of walking..once you've got a "feel" for public transport times in area, it's surprising how often things go smoothly.


Worst experience was on a train in Amber Valley that was delayed because of a fatal accident.


It wasn't the delay itself (I simply walked a couple of hundred yards from train station to a bus stop)...rather sadness that accident had occurred, and one passengers reaction to accident which was breathtakingly callous.

ninthace

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #4 on: 15:50:03, 22/05/18 »
Not quite ditching the car, but I have parked up at one point, caught the bus to my start point and then walked back to the car. Especially useful for the SWCP and the Tarka Trail. The same trick works well using the Settle Carlisle line in the Dales.
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RogerA

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #5 on: 16:32:30, 22/05/18 »
Theres only one bus in one bus out every day to where I live so I realistically have to use a car to get anywhere. I know I could drive to the nearest station but by the time I'm in the car and on the way why would I then switch to public transport?
I do however like the idea of a 1 way route and catching a bus back to the start point - oddly enough (and entirely seriously) that had never occurred to me. *wheres the lightbulb emoji*
« Last Edit: 16:44:20, 22/05/18 by RogerA »

pauldawes

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #6 on: 17:12:20, 22/05/18 »
Theres only one bus in one bus out every day to where I live so I realistically have to use a car to get anywhere. I know I could drive to the nearest station but by the time I'm in the car and on the way why would I then switch to public transport?
I do however like the idea of a 1 way route and catching a bus back to the start point - oddly enough (and entirely seriously) that had never occurred to me. *wheres the lightbulb emoji*


An even more flexible "variant" if walking with friends is to use two cars, drive to end point in both cars, park one up, all get in other car and drive to start of walk.


Not terribly "green", of course.

Islandplodder

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #7 on: 17:56:42, 22/05/18 »

I did the Dales Highway as a series of day walks and managed to use the train for most of it, though we did need to hitch from the station at Garsdale to Sedbergh as the bus we planned to catch turned out to be a myth.  And the hill up to Dent station is a challenge after a long day.
When I do LDPs 'properly' I always really enjoy the journey home on trains and buses etc.  It gives you breathing space to get back into normal life mode between the walk and getting back home.   I can still taste the large glass of wine on the train back from Carlisle when I finished the Cumbria way.  The only thing is if you sit on a train all day after walking for a week or to it is awfully easy to seize up.
Which brings me to a gripe.  It always annoys me how many Long distance walks are really difficult to get to and from by public transport.   We gave up on both Peddars Way and the Ridge Way at the early planning stage because we couldn't work out how to get to the start.


Ridge

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #8 on: 18:19:59, 22/05/18 »
I do however like the idea of a 1 way route and catching a bus back to the start point - oddly enough (and entirely seriously) that had never occurred to me. *wheres the lightbulb emoji*
If you take public transport from your car to the beginning of the walk in the morning there is no pressure to be back for the last bus.

Mel

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #9 on: 18:47:17, 22/05/18 »
... I have parked up at one point, caught the bus to my start point and then walked back to the car...


If you take public transport from your car to the beginning of the walk in the morning there is no pressure to be back for the last bus.





^^^ This  O0


Owen

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #10 on: 19:06:00, 22/05/18 »
Love going on holiday and not driving, I drive for a living and really hate it. It makes long liner walks easier as you don't have get back to your car. Plus, you don't worry about it being robbed while you're away.

Mel

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #11 on: 19:25:34, 22/05/18 »
The Esk Valley Walk could be done as a series of linear day walks using the NYM railway.

BuzyG

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #12 on: 19:50:17, 22/05/18 »
Public transport in Cormwall is very restrictive.  Fine if you can keep to a shedule, assuming the transport does too.  But useualy one or tuther is out of synce and can spoil a good days walking. Sticking with my little car for now.  Else where I do use trains where they can be used but seldom buses.  Just not reliable enogh in my limited experiance.

Dovegirl

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #13 on: 20:01:33, 22/05/18 »
Being carfree and using public transport I do many linear day walks and I'd find it so restricting if I limited myself to circular ones. And after a long day's walking it's nice being able to sit back on the bus or train and enjoy the scenery and unwind from the walk instead of concentrating on the driving.  I often find that walking to or from a bus stop or railway station takes me along a scenic route I'd have missed out on if I'd started the walk from some car park.

gunwharfman

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Re: Ditching the Car
« Reply #14 on: 20:11:34, 22/05/18 »
I plan to ditch my car for good this year. My wife and I have been a two car family for years and I've reached the view what is the point! I live in a city, I have a bus pass, the train station is just around the corner, the ferries to France and Spain are just up the road, our city has a well developed taxi service, I can walk, I can cycle, why do I need a car! My problem of course is the habit of it all and all that the car represents. I like so many other people was bought up in an era in which, as a working class person, it was what you aspired to, including buying our own house. We never questioned it, it was aspirational, success, I've made it and so on. Of course it helps to be retired, I've no doubt I would be thinking differently if I was still working.

I did a fairly long cycle ride yesterday and today. I was happy when pedaling along cycle tracks but as soon as I came to ordinary roads, even the small ones I was constantly hassled by cars and vans. I don't think it was my imagination, but I sensed that there are so many more 'white vans' on the road, drivers were were whizzing past as if their lives depended on it, desperate to get so mewher at all costs. During last evening I cycled through an area just south of Tunbridge Wells which I knew well as a child and teenager. It may be my imagination but I do not remember in past years seeing so many 'white vans' parked in very expensive house driveways. A sign of the times perhaps, do you think Ian Hislop has one, or is it that there are more people than I think on zero contract hours, I mean how do we, or what can we 'read' into what we see or think we see?  I had hoped that cycling could be an alternativeforward for me but after yesterdays experience I'm now not sure if it is? The overnight camp was fine but I need to give cycling further thought, which includes how to solve sore bottom syndrome, I now seem to have swapped sore feet for a sore backside.

I caught the train back home at Gatwick Airport today, the polltion standing there on the platform was awful! By the time I arrived at Chichester, to save me embarrassment, I jumped off the train an 'threw up' in the station toilet. I came home, slept for an hour and feel much better now.

 

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