“Going South” was the cryptic cable Roald  Amundsen sent to Robert Falco Scott after Amundsen changed his mind about going to the North Pole when he learned it had been reached and instead decided to try and conquer the South Pole.

In our own little way we are “going south” on a big bus from London to Paignton and then a smaller bus to Brixham. Strictly speaking we are going more south west than south and definitely somewhere warmer than the pole.

Today was supposed to be a relaxing repositioning day. Our original plan was to get the 9.37am train Paddington to Paignton, 3 hr 20 min, then a 15 min local bus Paignton to Brixham and a 15 min walk to our B an B, arriving there early afternoon. However the two day train strike put the kybosh on that. We now had a bus leaving Victoria Coach Station, 6 hr 40min, to Paignton then the local bus and walk as before, getting to our B and B in the evening, arriving at 8pm.

We had a very lazy start for us not leaving the hotel until after 10am and getting two tubes to Victoria Train Station, another one of those fabulous cavernous 19th century engineering wonders with a vast arched roof. From there a 200 hundred metre walk to Victoria Coach Station. This place is not huge and has two bus departure areas, both absolutely packed with people and bags. It was Friday so lots of people travelling for the weekend, it was the last weekend of the school holidays and of course no trains so everyone was after a seat on a bus. Thank goodness as soon as we heard of the strike we got online and booked our two seats. All the buses leaving were fully booked.

Our route had very few stops, the first being Heathrow Terminal 5 which should take 30 minutes but took just over an hour. The next was Taunton, way down south and should have taken about 3 hours however the motorways out of London were absolutely choked with traffic and we crawled along. The driver was getting real time information on traffic volumes, hold ups and which roads were clear. Instead of going south west through Salisbury and Winchester he went west all the way to Bristol, through a back route in the suburbs to Western sur Mer and then south and east back along small country roads to Taunton, A longer route but much quicker today. We did see many beautiful little Devon villages, not just endless motorway At the driver change at Taunton he told everyone this had put us back on schedule, for which he got a round of applause.

He was lying! But not by much, we arrived in Paignton half an hour behind schedule. As we were inching our way out of Heathrow I had been imagining sleeping in a bus shelter after midnight in Paignton, long after the last local bus to Brixham had gone. It was interesting that the bus driver could react to real time traffic conditions and use alternative routes as necessary. This only works on a route like ours which had no drop offs or pick ups for 5 hours between Heathrow and Exeter. If there are many stops all along the way then I guess you can’t change the route. We had good timing at Paignton, less than a minute after getting off the National Express bus the no.12 Stagecoach Southwestern bus pulled up and for £2 each we were off.

At Brixham we bought some food at Tesco and trundled up the hill to our bed at Ranscombe House. This is a rambling 18th century house with eight rooms to let. Our host Pip (Phillip) gave us a very warm welcome and showed us to the Admiral’s Suite, a spacious room with views out over Torbay and its own deck. We settled in and went out onto the deck to relax and eat our food. The sky to our left was orange then pink as the sun set. The lights across the bay from Torquay and Paignton appeared as it got darker. It was so still, peaceful and quiet, just so quiet save for a distant muffled conversation from someone’s garden (and the Tinnitus in my head). We were very happy to shed the layers of stress and be far away from the noise and crowds of London, the tubes, buses and trains, and to be safely here. Tomorrow we just walk, I can’t wait.

We are still to get our train refund from Great Western Railway but think we are making progress. Two weeks ago now we were advised by email that our train was cancelled but we could apply for a refund. Because we bought on line we had to apply on line and the refund would go to our credit card. A few days ago I went on line, accessed our account and started the refund process. This is an eight step progress but couldn’t get past step 2, there was no next or continue button. I tried again another day and same result. On our way back from Greenwich we called into the GWR booking office at Paddington Station to see if we could sort it. The very kind lady selling tickets explained she could not refund us as we bought on line. If we had bought at a ticket office she could. She gave us her cell phone and a number to try and get further help. I made the call and it was to a call centre with a very bad connection and a slight delay. We were in a very noisy booking hall and I couldn’t understand the accent of the woman on the other end and she couldn’t understand mine. Every sentence had to be repeated 3 or 4 times and in the end I just gave up.

I tried again this morning while filling in time before checking out of London. Got to step 2 again but this time a little box popped up in the bottom right corner asking if I wanted to chat to an expert. It was an email chat, so I typed yes. The instant reply was that I was next in line and an expert would email me in a moment. And sure enough Agnieska emailed wanting to know my problem. So back and forth we went as I explained what i wanted to do. She asked a few questions and eventually informed me that even though my train was cancelled weeks ago I can’t apply for a refund until after the date and time that the train would have run. I guess in a way it makes sense in that if the strike was called off, right up until the last minute, they could still have run the train. She also said I have 28 days from the train date to make an application. So I will try again in a few days.

I saw on the GWR site that you can apply for compensation if there are train delays. Of course there are loads of conditions but there is a graduated scale of compensation depending on the delay, starting at 15 minutes. GWR claim to shell out millions of pounds each year because of delays. Might be good system for our Wellington buses.