Coach Travel – African Style

Virtually our entire Ugandan journey has been via Public Transport, the exceptions being a specific safari vehicle hired to take us to and from Murchison Falls. The rest of our journeys have been on public coaches. Even our organised trip to Junja made use of hired coaches. This takes me back to the Summer of 2013 when Inaccompanied a group of sixth formers on a three wrk world challenge trip around Vietnam and Cambodia. In lots of ways it’s the same , though there are differences.  

Coaching it has generally meant getting up early, tickets can be bought in advance, there is no allocated seating, but arrive early enough and you’ll be fine. Often we have been one of a small number of ex-pats or just ourselves. We have been careful where possible to use recommended coach companies, where not possible a quick glance at the exterior tells you a lot, the interior also.  

  

Main luggage is stowed in low lockers. Hand luggage aboad, though we have been warned to keep it with us rather than stow away overhead. Once seated it can be a little cramped but no worse than an EasyJet/ Ryan Air flight!  If the coach stops it is descended upon by tens of traders selling foods of all sorts, chicken on a stick, mishkaki, grilled cassava or plantain, chapati, fruit, sodas etc etc 

 

  

  

At some locations a person might board the bus and walk up and down selling their wares. The most unusual combo to date was mobile phone vouchers and hankies! A few times one salesman has boarded  and preached a  sermon  to the  bus, before launching into a sales pitch for some medicinal product. 

Most buses we have been on have not made loo stops, but for those who do it’s a bush toilet.

So far we have travelled from Mwanza to Bukoba, Bukoba to Kampala, Kampala to Jinja and Kampala to Mbale. Many hours on coaches gone and many more to come. 

Having said all of this our coach today actually arrived 4 hours early! Unheard of!

Weekly Photo Challenge: On The Move

New Week, New Challenge…..

….. and a chance to display photos taken on the long journey from Banlung to Siem Reap last Summer – over 12 hours in a coach as we crossed nearly the whole of Cambodia

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/on-the-move/

 

Green and Gold

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I think this is probably the best time of year on my journey to and from work. Spring is in full flood. This morning the scenery was shrouded in mist; shades of grey surrounding the world as I passed by.

This made the journey home this evening all the more impressive as I passed by a patchwork of golden yellow rapeseed infiltrating the vibrant green of conventional crops.

Unfortunately I never really get a chance to photograph it on my journeys to and from work so this is a written memory (photo  below is a Stock Photo).

The journey from Long Crendon to Waddeston via Winchendon Hill gives fantastic views on a sunny day. As well as the fields the verges are in harmony with dandelions peeking through the long grasses. In Whitchurch the palette changes with blue Wisteria and Ceonothus bushes against the walls of the houses. These are slightly ahead of our own which will soon come into bloom. Then it’s back to green and gold as I head down to Swanbourne. On the other side it’s fields full of lambs and on to Drayton Parslow, Bletchley then home.

I will definitely miss this journey in years to come. 🙂

Familiar yet Unknown

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Every day I see her. Depending on which time my car reaches Long Crendon, depends on where along the road she is.

Foggy Road Ahead!

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Today’s journey to work was interesting. The familiar journey was shrouded in thick impenetrable fog – like much of the Southern England. This was probably the thickest fog I’ve travelled through for a few years. Luckily I was prepared (a tweet from the met office at 6:15am helped) and left earlier than usual. Even so it was tight timing!

Travelling across  Buckinghamshire along country roads it was often hard to see more than a few metres ahead. Amazingly some drivers didn’t have their lights on which was a surprise but I think this has something to do with having automatic lights.  One of the problems with automatic lights is that they respond to light levels – which means they don’t switch on in daylight even if fog is really thick. I’ve been caught out myself before now. To use the fog lights you obviously need to have the main beams on too. In my car I do this by switching the beams from automatic to manual.

I doubt there’s much fog in Mwanza – though living by a lake you never know. However, as I travelled this morning I  thought about the metaphorical  foggy road ahead for us in the next few years.

A Different Road

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For almost 11 years I have travelled daily from Milton Keynes to Thame.

In essence the route takes me from Milton Keynes to Whitchurch (via Stewkley or Drayton Parslow / Swanbourne), then on to Oving, Waddeston before ascending Winchendon Hill and going over the top via Upper Winchendon and Chearsley, arriving in Long Crendon before descending to Thame. The journey takes about 50 minutes and takes in some great countryside. The main thing is to avoid Aylesbury and it’s traffic jams.