It runs much less frequently and has older vehicles than the high profile 555 from the south, but Stagecoach’s 554 provides a useful and scenic link through Cumbria between Keswick and Carlisle. DALE HOWCROFT persuaded his wife and two sons to try it for a day out last August.
Let me start with a confession. I do not use the bus as much as I should. I make some local bus journeys in my home city of Carlisle, but if I am brutally honest I could use the bus more often and I rarely use the bus for trips of any distance.
The easy option always seems to be to hop in the car, but one thing I positively despise about the car is driving to relatively unfamiliar destinations and trying to find somewhere to park. All too often satnav is not as accurate as it should be, or you miss a turn off somewhere, which inevitably leads to you having to complete a tortuous lap of a complicated town centre one-way system.
With it being the school holidays, and my wife and myself having a few days off work, we took our two sons (aged 10 and seven) for a day out in Keswick. Normally we would have taken the car, but it was high time we left it behind and took the bus. When I made this suggestion, my other half greeted it with …
