Best British Bus Journeys - Sunday Express

MOST BEAUTIFUL WELSH BUS JOURNEY S97 – BETWS-Y-COED TO PORTHMADOG I'm looking forward to setting off on my bus ride though Snowdonia, but the attractions of Betws-y-Coed are making it quite difficult to drag myself away. It's a beautiful little town, made up of gracious granite houses nestled in a wooded valley. It's been popular with visitors since Victorian times, when the railway was first built and in the row of shops beside the station there are plenty of opportunities for retail therapy. And if you'd like a fortifying pot of tea before setting off, the Buffet Coach Cafe attached to the Conway Valley Railway Museum on the far side of the station is recommended. It's converted from a 1950s buffet carriage and full of retro charm. You can even get a Welsh Tea there, with Welsh Cake and Bara Brith (a sort of buttered fruit cake) replacing scones, jam and cream. The bus stop is just beside the railway station, and I wait there for the S97 – the bus from Betws-y-Coed to Porthmadog. From the timetable I can see the journey takes about an hour and a quarter in total, but I'm planning on making a day of it and hopping on and off for walks and sightseeing. The S97 is one of the Snowdon Sherpa buses, a network of interlinked bus routes joining coastal resorts like Llandudno with various beauty spots in the Snowdonia National Park. A £4 explorer ticket will let you ride all day and you can either buy it on the bus or get one free when you pay for a full days parking at any of the Sherpa car parks. These buses aren't just for tourists though – they're very much used by local people. All the passengers getting on before me speak to the driver in Welsh – it's the language used by 65% of the local population, though fortunately the driver is happy to sell me my ticket through the medium of English! The journey out of town is a pretty one, winding through a wooded valley. Soon however the scenery becomes more mountainous and the bus reaches the village of Capel Curig, a popular destination with walkers and climbers. Just beyond that is the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel, which is where Edmund Hillary and his team trained for their 1953 conquest of Everest. Then the Snowdonia range looms in the distance, snow-capped even on this bright spring day. The view down the side of the bus, where the steep cliff face falls away is vertiginous, whilst beyond that a dramatic view of the Gwynant valley, a sweeping shape sculpted by huge glaciers during the Ice Age unfolds. The effect is jaw-droppingly gorgeous and it's wonderful to be able to just gaze at it without the responsibility of being at the wheel. The bus stops at Pen-y-Pass, the starting place for two of the main walking routes up Snowdon. I call in at the Information Centre and chat to Aled Taylor, one of the Wardens who gives advice to visitors. Aled has just retired from the mountain rescue team after 40 years, and his great-grandfather Moses Williams was one of the first guides who used to take visitors up the mountain on horseback in 19th century. 'It can be very difficult or even impossible to park here in the summer,' says Aled, 'so coming by bus is a great idea.' We talk about the walking options and as I've got two hours before the next bus he suggests I go up the Miner's Track as far as Llyn Lydaw, the second highest of the three lakes on this path. I set off and am pleased to find that this section is a very gentle upward slope which most people and children of reasonable fitness could do, though obviously it gets rather more serious further up. The views are amazing, a volcanic jumble of screes and cliffs rising to razor-edged summits, and the air is fresh and clear. It gets very busy in peak season but right now there are only a few other walkers, some sheep and a couple of wild mountain goats. By the time I get back it's lunchtime. There's a licenced cafe at Pen-y-Pass, but I catch the next bus and press on to Beddgelert. This is a picturesque village with an abundance of shops and cafes. I buy a sandwich, followed by an ice-cream from the award-winning Glaslyn Ices. There's enough time for a walk to the most famous landmark, Gelert's Grave, a memorial to a loyal dog which legend has it was mistakenly killed by his master, Prince Llewelyn in the 13th-century, before catching the bus again. This time we travel through countryside which grows gradually more gentle as we approach the coast. Porthmadog, where the bus terminates is a bustling town. I take the short walk from the bus station to the harbour area and The Cob. Walking along here it's possible to check out one of the most well-known and perfectly-framed views of the Snowdonia mountain range. In the foreground is the tranquil Glaslyn estuary and behind it the panorama of Snowdon, Cnicht, (sometimes described as 'the Welsh Matterhorn' because it has a pointed peak which is similar to the Swiss mountain) and the Moelwyn mountains. This is a view which travel writer Jan Morris describes as 'the classic illumination of Wales' and a great spot for a memorable photo. Then I visit Porthmadog station, the base for the narrow-gauge Festiniog Railway. It's one of the most famous railways in the world, originally intended to provide a cheap form of transport for roofing slates being quarried in the area. As the slate industry declined it became neglected but in the 1950s it was revived by volunteer enthusiasts and now it's a popular tourist attraction. It's worth calling in to see if one of the steam trains might be on the platform – and if you want an alternative route back to Betws-y-Coed it would actually be possible to take the narrow gauge railway as far as Blaenau Festiniog Railway and then change to the (Conway Valley Line train) main service for the rest of the journey. But instead I enjoy a glass of wine at the CAMRA award-winning Spooner's Cafe Bar attached to the station, knowing that I can rely on the bus to return me safely to Betws-y-Coed. MOST BEAUTIFUL WEST COUNTRY BUS JOURNEY NEWQUAY-PADSTOW 556 Sun, sea and surf make for a fabulous holiday – and they make for a fabulous bus ride as well! The 556 is just minutes out of Newquay bus station when I get my first stunning view of the Atlantic at Porth Beach. The bus stops so close by you could almost step directly from it onto the sand. This is a theme for the rest of the journey as the route hugs the coast, one minute riding high along the clifftops with the sea shimmering in the distance, the next dipping down into some delightful little village or sandy cove. My first stop is Watergate Bay, and I'm just in time to catch last orders for breakfast at Jamie Olivier's Fifteen restaurant. The menu at this time of day is very reasonably priced and covers all the bases from bacon sandwiches to fresh fruit smoothies. I sit at a window table, drink my coffee and watch the surfers before taking a walk along the sandy beach – a two-mile expanse at low tide. Then it's on to Bedruthan Steps. En route I get chatting to Mike and Chris Gaskell from Cheshire who are making the most of their over-sixties bus passes, 'I used to drive a lot for work,' Mike explains, 'so it's great to be able to just relax and take in the view.' The bus stops outside the Bedruthan Steps Hotel and from there it's a short walk to Carnewas, a National Trust property comprising of a car park, shop and tea-room. From here you can stroll along the coastal path to a viewing platform and look at the Steps - giant pinnacles of granite studding the beach. These rocks, together with the treacherous tides are responsible for numerous shipwrecks and one of the rocks is even named Samaritan Island after the ship of that name which foundered on the rock in 1846. At high tide they're surrounded by water, but at low tide it's possible to climb down to the beach and walk around them. Access is via a steep stone staircase, closed between November and February for safety reasons. The steps can get wet and slippery so you have to be reasonably fit to get down – and more significantly, to get up again. I find it well worth the effort though – the Steps are even more impressive when they're towering above you, and because of the effort involved in getting down there the beach is almost deserted. By the time I reach Padstow I've really worked up an appetite for lunch. But fortunately Rick Stein's Fish and Chip Shop is situated just opposite the bus stop and the hake and chips I have there are the best I've tasted in a long time. The centre of Padstow is a couple of minutes walk away. It's incredibly pretty and a real tourist honeypot in the summer months. There's a working fishing harbour surrounded by an beguiling jumble of inns, craft shops, galleries, and gourmet food shops and I wander round, indulging in some retail therapy. I time my return journey so I can travel on one of the double decker buses that run along this route on weekdays. The journey takes about an hour and twenty minutes and the views from the top deck are even more glorious than they were on the outward trip. It's fantastic to be able to see so far over the high hedges and experience the roller-coaster sensation when going down into the villages - a visual feast to rival the earlier gastronomic ones at Jamie Oliver's and Rick Stein's.

Dan and Michael Smith - Charity bike ride/Sunday Express

It's 5.30am on a bitterly cold Friday morning. On the Millennium Bridge just near St Paul's Cathedral seven men and one girl are preparing to set off on a bike ride to Amsterdam in aid of the charity Blind in Business. The driving force behind the venture are 20 year old twins Dan and Michael Smith, who have themselves recently lost their sight because of a rare genetic condition. 'It's a 350 mile trip,' says Dan, who is the older twin by one minute, 'and though normally it takes six days our schedule is three and a half because we wanted it to be as physically challenging as possible.' This approach epitomises the attitude of the boys, who are determined not to let their disability hold them back in life. After being filmed for Dutch TV and posing for photographs they and their friends, who are a mix of medical and dental students get ready to set off. Dan and Michael will each be on racing tandems, with sighted cyclists at the front. 'Riding a tandem is very different from a regular bike in the sense that you have to keep communicating with each other all the time so the person on the back knows that a corner or a hill is coming up and is prepared for it,' explains Dan. 'And although it can move quicker on the flat as you've got extra pedal-power, it's much tougher going uphill, because there's double the weight.' And since there are plenty of hills between here and Dover, which is the initial destination, it's important to be punctual in order to catch the ferry. As the St Paul's Cathedral clock chimes six, the group sets off on their sleek racing bikes. They cycle through the early morning London streets, past London bridge, where early morning workers are mixing with late returning clubbers and then towards Blackheath, where the grass is crisp with frost. There are two support vehicles accompanying the ride. Steve Smith and his wife Su-Jan are in one driving a hired van bringing food, luggage, spare bikes – and of course lots of moral support for the gruelling journey ahead. Steve 63, a Chartered Engineer and Su-Jan, 55, an ex-nurse originally from Taiwan are saddened by the challenges they've seen their sons face but also tremendously proud of their achievements. Both boys went to the academically high-flying City of London Boys' School. Then Michael went to study medicine at Bart's whilst Daniel embarked on a degree in Aeronautical Engineering at Bristol University. 'They were such bright, active children and so easy to bring up,' says Su-Jan. 'When they went to University we felt delighted that they'd embarked on careers they loved and looked forward to seeing them enjoy life.' But then during his first term studying medicine Michael realised he was having trouble reading his notes. Soon afterwards his sight deteriorated so much he was forced to give up his course and finally in Feb 2010 DNA tests revealed that he was suffering from a rare genetic condition called Leber's Optic Neuropathy, which only affects 250 people in the UK. The main symptom is a sudden loss of vision which is caused by the death of cells in the optic nerve. Because the boys are twins there was a 60-70% chance that Daniel would develop the same condition as indeed he did in late 2011. The twins now have only 7% vision and have needed to re-learn everyday tasks such as cooking or doing laundry. Michael was forced to give up medicine and is now in his second year at King's College London studying Geography whilst Daniel is doing his final year in Aeronautical Engineering but studies part-time in order to allow him space to adjust. Soon it's time for the first break in the historic town of Rochester. The weather has warmed up, and the group has been joined by Jamie Murison, a colleague of Steve's and five members of a local cycling group he belongs to nicknamed The Fat Boys. 'Though all this exercise is slimming us down now,' admits Jamie. The group will be joining the charity cyclists for a section of the journey to offer companionship and support. Until leaving home for University the twins were inseparable and still speak on the phone every day. They're lively, positive guys but very much acknowledge the tough times they have faced. 'I'd wanted to do medicine for a very long time and it was devastating to realise I'd have to give it up,' says Michael. 'I felt as though my future was falling apart. And after my diagnosis the one thing I wanted was for my brother not to have to go through this as well, but sadly that wish wasn't granted.' Dan recalls what a difficult time that was, ''When I learned that I might go blind as well, it was effectively like sitting on a time bomb that might go off at any moment. At least now I feel relieved because I know where I stand and can move on. I've had to work really hard and show such dogged determination just to live a normal life, but I really do believe that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' Both boys have experienced changes in their social lives. 'I've made some fantastic new friends but I've lost friends as well,' says Dan. 'Some people can't handle the change and drift off but your real friends stick by you.' 'It can be hard for young, high-achieving people to understand disability,' Michael adds, 'and we don't expect anyone to fully understand. But although we have suffered and in many ways are still suffering, overall we want to tackle what life has dealt us with confidence and humour.' Soon it's back in the saddle for another challenging session. By 12.00 the group have covered 55 miles and stop for lunch in a field outside Faversham. Already everyone is feeling very grateful for the lycra in their cycling shorts 'I'm aching in places I didn't know existed,' admits medical student Joe Masters, 18, who is on the front of Dan's tandem. The entire group has been training hard for this challenge. Joe, Ollie Sohan, 21 and Christopher Millward,26 who are piloting the tandems have also practised both riding on the front and and riding on the back when blindfolded to give them a sense of how Dan and Michael experience the ride and what guidance they might need from their pilot. Dave Brooke, 23 is the navigator for today and is liaising about the route with Steve in the support vehicle. Jonathan Hatton, 23 is checking over his bike and bantering with the others. The challenge was originally named sevenmenfivebikes but medical student Catharine Denning, 25, was a later and very welcome volunteer to the group. Despite not being as experienced a cyclist as some of the guys, she's enjoying the ride. Meeting the twins, together with a placement at Moorfield Eye Hospital has been inspirational for Catharine and she's planning on specialising in treating eye and sight problems. Her boyfriend, Fred , another medical student is driving the other support vehicle. Dan is called up by Radio Bristol and steps aside to do an interview with them on his mobile. Good-looking, intelligent, witty, the twins have generated a lot of media attention including an appearance on BBC breakfast news and although it can be time-consuming, they've been willing to make the effort in order to raise charity funds and help change misconceptions about visually impaired people. Then it's off for the next section of the journey – the scenery is becoming more rural as the cyclists travel over the Kent Downs, past hop fields and oast houses and through pretty villages. The terrain is rather less idyllic if you're on a bike however as there's hill after hill, some of them punishingly steep. But the gang is in good spirits and there's a tremendous sense of bonding and camaraderie. They arrive in Dover two hours early, to whoops of triumph. Two and a half days and 250 miles later the group finally arrive in Amsterdam to photographers, a television crew and a rapturous champagne welcome. But getting there was a gruelling slog. The first section had been by far the easiest and once on the continent that they were battling against bitterly cold weather, rain, muscle strain, injuries, punctures and roadworks adding lengthy detours to an already demanding schedule. Daniel suffered from dehydration and hypothermia whilst Michael had to take heavy-duty painkillers to overcome knee pain. But their efforts have already raised over £16,000 for Blind in Business, a charity which is close to their hearts. Set up 18 years ago by three blind graduates it helps other partially sighted and blind graduates to compete equally with sighted candidates for good jobs. Both Dan and Michael are full of drive and ambition to make successful careers for themselves. Dan is going into engineering or finance, whilst Michael plans to study law and already has an internship lined up with leading international law firm Ashurst. 'There are hurtful stereotypes out there of disabled people and Dan and I have a huge drive to break them down,' says Michael. 'Whether it's our careers, sporting activities, relationships or social lives we are determined to prove that we can be every bit as productive as able-bodied people and just as capable of living our lives to the full.' To support Dan and Michael Smith, please go to www.justgiving.com/sevenmenfivebikes