The photo of the lions at the gates to the mental hospital behind the West Bromwich Central Library isn’t on any bus route but it did feature as I jogged down to tie up some loose ends on several bus routes including a wee bit of the 44 at the nearby bus station. The eyes on the lions look demented and I’m a bit troubled by the goo coating the walls beneath that big, round vent.
Nonetheless, the 44 route was finished this afternoon with the last of the runs overlapping it:
The first completed bus run is now in the bank. I’ve inadvertantly ridden the 47 before but don’t have any emotional connection or baggage with it. True to the spirit of the project, this route is covered by fewer runs than are listed or partially shown, but the first to lick the tarmac of the route makes the claim. I
I’ve been taking photos along the runs but none overlap the bus path. This route has two pubs still to be done on it so I may be linking this run to those write ups. (updated 02 April 2024) –> Such as this map link to the Coach and Horses, across from this park area on Kesteven Road:
Fifteen years ago today we landed at Heathrow with two cats and started this Great British adventure. Since then both cats have died, we’ve lived in 7 houses then bought the 8th one, I’ve had jobs at 3 universities (Cambridge, Oxford, Birmingham), Jackie has become a medical librarian, we’ve got another cat, and I’ve run a little over 25,000 miles in this country stopping at 2676 pubs along the way. It can’t go on forever, but 15 more would be nice.
This year, any run that overlaps a bus route in the West Midlands (that is, on my bus season ticket) will trigger the start of eventually running the full path of said route. For example, Thursday and Friday I did lunchtime runs which overlapped parts of Route 76 — as well as many more — which meanders from Northfield to Solihull (mapped above).
Also, since some of the routes use limited-access/pedestrian-prohibited roads a good faith effort to follow these segments as closely as practical will be mapped; however, rest assured that all runs, including these with alternative run paths, will pass every bus stop.
This will necessarily be a multiyear project and may never be completed. I’ve only run 25 miles since New Year’s Day and have already overlapped segments of all of the bus routes shown here:
Completed so far (as of 12 February 2024):
47 on 2024-01-20
44 on 2024-01-21
30 on 2024-02-04
64 on 2024-02-11
41A on 2024-02-11
79 on 2024-02-18
Endless British Pub Crawl (Part 3) 