EXCELLING ACROSS EAST ANGLIA

​14 November 2021
ABOVE: One of the smart Scania N250UD ADL Enviro400 City vehicles used by First Eastern Counties for its Excel services takes a breather at King's Lynn Transport Interchange on a very warm and sunny Easter Saturday, 16th April 2022. It is working route B between Norwich and Peterborough

​It’s a really wet day… The rain starts as I reach Peterborough and doesn’t let up for the rest of the day.

On this Spring day in May 2021, I have decided to try what must be one of the longest bus routes in Britain; the Excel service from Peterborough to Norwich.

I buy a day ticket, as I’m not sure whether I will be able to hold out for the whole journey without a comfort break! There are four variations of the route – A, B, C & D. I take the B route to get the full effect of this 85-mile, 195 minute journey. Only the B and D variants call into the lovely market town of Dereham, but the D doesn’t venture any further west.

Only one other person boards the 11.10am departure from the scruffy and unattractive bus station at Peterborough, and theirs is a fairly local trip.

It’s very flat, Norfolk, as is the eastern end of Cambridgeshire. Long, straight roads are a feature of the Excel route. On blustery days, passengers on top of these smart double-deckers must feel a bit vulnerable. A few gusts at right angles to the bus create a noticeable wobble even on this relatively calm day.

If only it would stop raining. I wish bus manufacturers would put windscreen wipers on the top deck front windows!
We drive into King’s Lynn, where we change drivers. Not many round trips will be covered by the drivers of this route in one day. I have now officially been on this bus longer than anyone else. We’re 90 minutes in, and less than half-way!

Coming out of King’s Lynn, we retrace our steps for about a mile-and-a-half before turning east once more. We lose a few minutes doing this, and consequently, when we come to the pretty Market Place in Swaffham, we only stop for the briefest of moments.
The trip to Dereham takes us on a detour that the A and C routes presumably do not undertake, and it’s the best part of the ride, through pretty villages and winding country lanes.

Eventually the landscape changes and Norwich comes into view. There’s a solid traffic jam in front of us, but fortunately the route now pulls off the main road to serve the Cringleford Interchange. We arrive in Norwich Bus Station bang on time at 2.25pm.

I have managed to cover the full journey in one go, and it’s been lovely. I wanted to be able to say that I had done the whole Excel route, and now I can. The only other thought as I step off the bus in Norwich is that it’s time for lunch; I want to go to Lowestoft and back before nightfall!