When driving out near my fave watering hole a few days ago, while driving through Shustoke, we spied a bus. We have never seen a bus in this village so when I got the chance I looked it up on BusTimes.org and there is a very limited service running between Coventry and Colehill. By very limited, I mean, like, one a day in each direction.
As the crow flies, it’s four and a half miles from my house to The Griffin. My, rather convoluted, route was sixty four or nearer sixty five and a half with the walking !
So why, I hear you ask, did I concoct such a circuitous route ?
Thinking back to my thought process, this is the best explanation I can think of …
- I had to be at Coventry Pool Meadow at 13:30 to catch the only 375.
- I wanted to leave at 09:30 from when my OAP pass was valid
- I had seen another bus in Balsall Common which went between Solihull and Coventry, so thought I’d give that a try.
So at 09:45, I caught the X12 which would take me to Solihull. I’ve travelled on this many times so haven’t got much to add apart from the fact that this is not the most direct way (could be the theme of the day).
At Solihull, I had a bit of a wait for the 188 which I caught from outside the Cat Café. It’s like any other café except that there are cats all over the place. Apparently, some people like that sort of thing.
Just after 11:00, a single decker 188, operated by Stagecoach, pulled up and on I got.
A couple of weeks ago, I travelled the other direction from Coventry on the 87 service which is more direct than this one – by a long stretch.
The windows of the bus were filthy and if not for a limited view through the windscreen, I wouldn’t know where we were going.
After a loop of Dorridge and another of Balsall Common, we finally arrived in Coventry around half twelve, leaving me just under an hour before the last bus (or in my case the first and last bus) to Shustoke. This gave me enough time to nip into Hobby Craft to get something that Sue was looking for, before walking across the city centre to Pool Meadow Bus Station.
I was still a bit early so took a short diversion to get a Vegetable slice from Greggs – Yum !
At half past one (13:30 in the new money) another Stagecoach single decker pulled into stand M and I and one other got on. We picked up another four at the first stop and that was probably the most people that were on the bus all afternoon.
The route was fairly straight forward through Kereley, Corley and Fillongly. As expected the bus turned right towards the Arleys (New and Old).
Before reaching New Arley, a road was taken on the left which, after a few more turns through Old Arley, lead back to New Arley passing Phil Collins Way. A road named after the much derided drummer of Genesis ?
Alas, no ! This Phil Collins was a councillor who was much appreciated in Arley. As his wife, Gill, has said on Facebook, “I wish we had decided that Phil Collins way should be Philip Collins way ! Would have saved the confusion”.
From Phil Collins we turned left towards Ansley but at the entrance to the village, the main road was closed due to road works so we had to turn around and go back the way we’d just come (past Phil Collins again) to get to the other end of Ansley before turning left to, finally, head for Furnace End.
There was a bus stop at Furnace End which is probably the closest stop to The Griffin but there is no footpath all the way up the busy, narrow main road so I stayed on board.
After passing The Gate, we ended up in Whitacre Heath. It was here that the driver stopped and turned around. Anticipating his question, I answered, “Shustoke, please”. “That’s what I wanted to know”, he replied and carried on.
Five minutes later, I had left the 735 to start a one mile walk to The Griffin. On arrival, the barmaid asked if I’d walked. “Just from Sustoke”, I explained, “and I got the bus to there!”
“What bus?” she asked – and she lives in Shustoke.
A short while later, my other half arrived and after a couple of jars, drove me home.
Now, I could have caught the bus at Coleshill and travelled towards Coventry but the only one doing that would get me to the pub nearly two hours before opening time !