good afternoon guys from Wick Northeast Scotland Wick Harbour just behind me there
and yeah this afternoon I am taking probably the UK mainlands
most northerly express bus service the stagecoach x99 all the way down to inverness which is going
to take about three hours uh give or take a few minutes what's it like well I've got no
idea to be honest with you that's why I'm here isn't it so uh yeah we'll go and catch the bus
it's uh it's gonna be coming into uh Bridge Street I think I'll catch it from there and
we'll get on board and uh yeah we'll see what it's like shall we I'll see you on the bus
OK, well I made it up to the ‘bus and coach stop’ as it says here which was right on the bridge that
crosses the unimaginatively named Wick River. I’d made it down here on the train from Thurso
and was only in town about an hour but it seemed like quite a nice little place from what I saw of it.
The bus stop is literally on the bridge
a bit nervous about these kind of bus stops as opposed to bus stations because
I'm never quite sure which side of the road the bus is going to come I'm pretty sure
I've got the right the right side otherwise well I think the other side of the road
that goes to back up to Thurso so it should be all right it's just a matter of waiting now and hopefully it'll turn up on time
Yep, there was nothing here apart from the old sign, no bus numbers,
timetables or anything. But after a while a small number of people started to gather which gave me
some reassurance that I was in the right place. And then the bus turned up - YX63NGN a 2013 Volvo
B13RT/Plaxton Panther looking really smart in the yellow Stagecoach livery I thought.
I find this quite irritating right. You know when there’s a queue of people leading up to the first
in line and someone turns up and instead of going to the back of the queue they hang around at the
front. And then they decide they must get on first - basically pushing in aren’t they.
And then they sit in the front seats too. I dunno, maybe it’s me, maybe it's a british thing but yeh Ijust find it a bit irritating that's all
The bus was fairly quiet and I made my way down choosing a seat on the left-hand side
facing forward so I could get some decent views of the coast. First
impressions were, well clean and fairly standard Stagecoach interior really. The seats were,
if anything, a little bit tight but we’d see how that went by the time we got further down the road.
We left Wick, Bridge Street pretty-much on time. I reckon about dozen people got on here
and we headed south towards our first main stop on the timetable which was Lybster. This bus
had originated from Thurso at 11:50 although it’s worth pointing out that some services start from
Scrabster - presumably to connect with the arrival of the ferry from Stromness in Orkney. As always,
I would advise checking the bus timetables for the best bus for your specific needs.
After about 7 miles down the road we’re at Ulbster Alpaca Trekking which I didn’t even think was a
thing but it obviously is if you feel the need and you can see the alpacas here in the field. And even on a fairly cloudy day like today,
there’s still some great sea views to be had from our high-up vantage point on the bus.
And talking about stopping,
although this is an ‘express bus service’ it stops wherever you want it to really and I can
see the need aswell. Many people getting on at Thurso and Wick were just going back home I
figured. Maybe they’d done their shopping and for a lot of people - especially the
elderly living in these remote communities, this bus service is an absolute lifeline.
We turn off the A99 briefly at Lybster - the first sizeable community we come to. As usual,
I tried to read up about the place on Wikipedia and found that it used to be
an important fishing port - Herring mainly back in the 19th century. The harbour in-particular
looks a really nice place to explore but unfortunately, all we see from the bus
is a rather bland looking housing estate before turning around and heading back to the main road.
we’re at Latheron now, which is where we meet the A9 coming down from Thurso. We continue past
the junction but our road now becomes the main A9 which will take us all the way down to Inverness.
The sea views continue as we head down into Dunbeath crossing Dunbeath Water just before
it heads out into Dunbeath bay. Interesting fact from Wikipedia is that Prince George, Duke of Kent
was killed when the Short Sunderland flying boat he was in crashed into the hillside near here back in 1942.
Right so let’s have a look at the seat and first thing to note these tiny kind of leather
antimacassars on the head rests and a fairly firm back support though it felt comfortable
enough at this point in the journey. Lap belts are provided as you can see here and yep quite
a firm lower area on the seat too. Note rubbish bags are provided at every aisle seat and the
leg room well, like I said it looked a bit tight initially but once I’d settled in, wasn’t too bad.
There’s a retractable arm rest between the seats,
above which are individual air vents and reading lights.
The seat backs have integrated handles and coat hooks - note there is no fold-down table and
also no usb charging so, as always, make sure you have a charged-up battery pack if you need power.
Right, enjoy the scenery with me as we head down the sharp corners into Berriedale,
and then Helmsdale where we meet the fantastic Far North Line railway (link to my
video on that here) and I’ll speak to you again when we get to Dornoch.
OK two hours in and the weather’s deteriorated a bit as you can see. But we’ve made it to Dornoch
where a handful of passengers have been cowering in the bus shelter waiting for us to turn up!
Dornoch (population about 1400) looked an interesting place. This building here is
Dornoch Jail (which is as bit of a tourist attraction these days),
it’s got a castle and a cathedral and it was in the latter that the queen of pop
(and lip-syncing specialist) Madonna had her son christened back in 2000.
At this point, it was time to visit the loo on this bus. Yes I was pleasantly
surprised to find a toilet tbh but here it was located right at the back of the bus on
the same level as the seats (a bit like your typical National Express coach I thought).
There was a small mirror here above the sink, inside which I found a very large toilet roll.
Next to the sink was a bin which didn’t have a liner in it and someone had lobbed an empty
bottle of something in it - not sure why they couldn’t use the plastic bags by the seats tbh.
The tap worked, there was no liquid soap available but the air dryer worked. All-in-all well, it was
good that this bus had a toilet, shame it wasn’t properly stocked but ok for an emergency I guess.
Returning to my seat I tried the WIFI which tried to connect to the Citylink WiFi. This appeared to
be the only option available but although the symbol appeared, nothing actually happened.
If anyone can figure out whether this is normal or not,
or whether I was doing something wrong then please let me know in the comments below.
Right, let’s crack on, we’re just crossing the River Everlix here heading west and at Skibo
Castle (where Madonna married Guy Ritchie the day after the Dornoch christening btw)
we turn south and cross the Dornoch Firth by means of the bridge of the same name.
And this is the difference really isn’t it. The X99 takes about three and a half hours
to get from Thurso down to Inverness, whereas the train takes four hours.
The bus will cover 124 miles whereas the train is 153 miles, the difference being that the road
bridges on the Dornoch, Cromarty and Beauly Firths effectively cut corners. The train
has to take the ‘long way round’ heading inland at each of these points instead.
The bus is considerably more expensive though unless you’re taking the train last minute.
This ticket, joining the bus at Wick cost me £23 adult single to Inverness. The train can
be booked, just a day in advance for £14 from either Wick or Thurso and, if you’re lucky,
you may even get a trolley service on board too. So if I had to choose then yep,
the cheaper cost of the Far North Line and it’s spectacular route (including
it’s forays inland) wins it for me - even with the extra half an hour journey time.
Having said that, I was really surprised at how beautiful the coastline is up here - particularly
in the areas the train doesn’t reach. Between Wick and Helmsdale there are lots of hidden coves,
fishing villages, cliffs and beaches. Dornoch is another example of somewhere
I’d love to spend more time at and so even on a day like today with the weather as it is,
I’m wishing I could have got off at several places along the way.
We cross the last of the bridges - the Kessoch Bridge just north of Inverness
and pass Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club’s ground on
our left before heading into the city centre and the bus and coach station.
The bus pulled onto stance 2 at 15:17 - 6 minutes early (which was a bonus) and as quickly as I’d
disembarked, the bus was off - not sure where to but it wasn’t hanging around that was for sure.
And neither was I. I headed off for my hotel for the night (which was only round the corner) where,
after settling in, I took a minute or two to just reflect on the journey
Right then guys and that was the stagecoach x99 express bus service all the way down from well
it originates in Thurso this particular one going down to Inverness I caught it uh on
Bridge Street in Wick and yeah what did you think uh for me it was what was it um about well just
under three hours in in total um so it's a little it's a little bit quicker than the train and the
other thing is it's more expensive than the train as well and so given the choice and um looking at
the facilities on board the bus oops nearly said coach then and compared to the train
um I'd pick the train every time to be honest with you the scenery's better
on the train and you may get lucky and get a trolley service on board as well
um no such luck on the bus um so yeah like I said let me know what you think in the
comments Below have you done this trip or something similar uh what did you
think of it and would you take the bus as opposed to the train thanks as always for
watching guys and please join me on another adventure soon and as always cheers for now