As is becoming a habit for a Friday, I was out of the house just before 09:30 and on a number 94 bus by 09:35, heading for Birmingham.
I arrived just after ten but had a wait of around twenty five minutes before my next omnibus.
Time to use the facilities in Wetherspoons and grab some provisions from Tesco.
Just after half ten, the X3 pulled up and on I climbed. I had a journey of over an hour so decided to sit upstairs for a better view.
The first stop was just around the corner, on Corporation Street, where most of the passengers alighted, leaving me with a choice of seats.
I went for the childrens’ favourite – at the front, upstairs (I could pretend to drive the bus!)
The X3 made it’s way along the Expressway ( A38M ) before negotiating Erdington, Pype Hays and on to Sutton.
Out on the other side of Sutton and once clear of Four Oaks, the views took on a more rural aspect as we passed the two hundred and seventy metre tall TV mast.
On the outskirts of Lichfield we passed a Dobbie’s Garden Centre that I didn’t know about (old people go to garden centres) so may well have to have a drive out with Sue one day.
After a comfort break at the bus station, I was onto my third bus of the day, The X65 to Tamworth.
The Arriva bus was fairly new and sported USB charging sockets between the seats.
After a short ride, I was in Tamworth from where I caught another Arriva bus – number 65 (no X).
This time the blue bus would take me via Polesworth to Nuneaton.
I recalled an Adventure Lab in Polesworth so decided to break my journey there, do the AdLabs and get on the next 65.
Checking the map, I got off the bus on the outskirts of Polesworth, a couple of hundred metres from my first Adventure Lab location. The clue was just off the canal towpath and was soon spotted.
The next part was arrived at following a short canal-side stroll.
The remaining locations were visited and the questions answered. With all five locations visited, I had nearly an hour until the next 65 bus out of town. Luckily the final site wasn’t far from the Poleworth Fish Bar, so I called in for a sneaky mini fish ‘n’ chips.
Eventually, the 65 arrived and I boarded and settled down for the ride to Nuneaton via Atherstone.
Whilst proceeding through Atherstone, I noticed a dog groomers called … wait for it … Short Bark and Sides – clever.
On reaching Nuneaton, I fired up the Adventure Lab app and noticed that the first part was only a few metres from the bus station so off I went.
The remaining clues were dotted around the sad looking town. Although it was only around four o’clock on a Friday, the place was not at all busy and the abundance of boarded up shop gave me the impression of a ghost town.
With the adLab completed, I caught a posh 148 bus into Coventry. I say posh as there were faux-leather seats, USB ports and snazzy little downlighter on the backs of the seats.
The 148 went through Bedworth (Beduff), where I lived for a short while, passing a few of my old haunts, including The Miners Arms where many a night was spent.
Heading into Coventry, we passed a lot of 148s going in the opposite direction, back to Nuneaton and onwards to Leicester, so it’s a pretty frequent service. One for a future adventure ?
In Coventry, I made my way to the railway station from where I caught the train to Birmingham International. I travelled on an Avanti service – I’m not sure whether I was allowed on my travel pass but it was a short trip and no-one asked for tickets.
At International, I arrived just in time to see my connection pull out meaning that I had around thirty minutes until the next one.
I spent the time riding the Air-Rail cablecar to the airport where I was surprised to see how much it had changed. Coming from the railway, it used be be a big, open concourse with escalators down to the ground floor but now it’s all enclosed with massive lifts doing the job.
After a bit of a wait, the X12 arrived which took me home, stopping off to pick up my prescription.
A dunk in the hot tub, an episode of Severance and off to bed rounded off the day.