So, Mr William Arnold, arty photographer, Falmouth College lecturer and phone box enthusiast seeks to publicise, possibly save, the box at Enaclete, Isle of Lewis.
fbb reckons that his possible journey by public transport would, realistically, involve two overnight stops. So your intrepid investigator began the tortuous process of planning the journey by public transport. Not knowing where young Bill resided, he started with the National Rail journey planner, Falmouth to Glasgow.
You would't get further north than Glasgow, so a chance to book into somewhere pleasant, enjoy a carryoot fish supper and a good night's kip before day two.
Then fbb discovered that Bill lived at Helston. So, this time, Traveline was used because a bus was required. But a similar result was generated.
He starts on bus 38 at 0647 ...
... enjoys the experience of THREE railway companies; or FOUR railway companies if he leaves an hour later at 0750. fbb will leave his excitable readers to explore the details of his first "leg".
Day two gets him from Glasgow to Stornoway.
The 0629 departure would be fbb's recommended option unless Bill wanted to linger over a "full English" Scottish breakfast.
It should include a potato scone, square sausage and haggis black pudding. It would, of course, start with a huge bowl of porridge. All this, together with toast a-plenty, should ensure that a midday meal was unnecessary.
On the other hand, 2015 may be too late for an ample Scottish dinner at Stornoway.
Tough decision, eh?
Back to the 0629, which fbb thinks is actually a through Citylink coach all the way, over the sea bridge to Skye ...
... and on to Uig. It is from the latter that service CM22 operates ...
... being the smaller big boat to Tarbert. When the fbbs ventured this far, they were in leisure mode and hotelled in Glasgow, Portree, Tarbert and Stornoway.
They stayed in the Tarbert Hotel ...
... opposite which, back then, was the bus garage for the service to Stornoway. It is now a car hire emporium.
The minibus was not in service - it was just leaving its home next to a church.
But the maitre d' at the hotel nipped across the road and arranged for the fbbs to be picked up outside the gaff and conveyed back down to the pier, the official start of the route. That operator (can't remember the name) has now gone.
Mr Arnold will be in the capable steering wheel of Lochs Motors of Leurbost for the enjoyable coastal ride from Tarbert ferry pier ...
... to Stowaway. fbb could find no picture of a W10, but it would probably be one of these.
Here is the W10 timetable, the most frequent interurban route on the dual-identity island.
Young Will would be on the last departure of the day from Tarbert Pier, at 1625.
So an over night in Stornoway.
For the record, Lochs Motors have been around for years on Harris Lewis ...
... once using former Scottish Bus Group single decks ...
... almost the standard vehicle for independent Scottish operators.
Day 3 : Stornoway to Enaclete.
The timetable, like most routes on Harris Lewis, is heavily biased to school transport, but as we are, just about, in the long Summer break, Traveline does the sorting out for us.
There is only one through trip from Stornoway, at 12 noon, with others requiring a connection at Garynahine.
fbb guesses that William might prefer the security of the through bus, rather than the fear of a failed connection in a strange place, however minute that community might be.
The interchange at Garynahine is a minimalist affair ...
... and the picture below shows the village centre!
Together with the timetable, Traveline provides intending passengers with a helpful (!) computer driven map of the W4 ...
... which we can enlarge for even more helpful (!) detail.
The Enaclete loop off the main road ...
... is very unclearly shown on the map, lower right. Whether the bus would stop at the more remote phone box is debatable.
But William is there, at last.
The big challenge is how he might get back, at least as far as Stornoway. fbb will leave his readers to do their own research. Surely there is an afternoon bus back, at least to Garynahine.
Sadly for the plans prepared by fbb, but doubtless happily for William ...
... he went by car.
Talking of weird obsessions, fbb has recently taken delivery of two tank wagons, one from Italy, but for the UK market, and one ultimately the creation of Dr Richard Beeching. More in the upcoming Variety blogs.
Meanwhile ...
fbb has found his tub of 'scatter' grass ...
A few scrubby bushes will eventually disguise the join.
But he is having trouble with his electrics. In desperation he has ordered one of these.
Now he has to learn how to use it! He has never handled a testing meter in his long and uneventful life! Lets hope it comes with instructions or ...
... there could be problems working with 12,000 millivolts!
Next Weekend Variety blog : Sun 16th Aug
