A SAVVY traveller swung through Chepstow on an epic 1,000-mile trip across England and Wales, spending just £165 travelling on buses using the government’s £2 bus fare cap.

Railway operations planner Andrew Cowell, 48, from Allestree, in Derbyshire, caught 80 buses during his whistle-stop tour of the country which took 13 days.

He left his home in Allestree, Derbyshire, to explore more than 20 counties the length and breadth of England and Wales, firstly heading through the Lake District to Newcastle, than down to Grimsby and the Lincolnshire coast.

Next he headed for Norfolk, down through Kent to Dover and along the south coast to Cornwall before heading east to Brstol and across the Severn Bridge to chepstow and then through Wales before finishing in Bangor.

Andrew said: “I basically wanted to get as close as possible to English and Welsh coast. On the whole the buses were reliable, mostly on time and very comfortable.

“It’s a wonderful way to travel because you can take everything in and when there is a stop in a town or I have to change I have a chance to explore somewhere I wouldn’t normally.

“I used 80 buses in total. The original plan was 81 but in typical bus fashion, some of the routes and times had changed.

He said: “I was able to use predominantly £2 fares. One operator in England wasn’t participating in it, so that was a £6 trip.

“Wales doesn’t participate either, but the prices were roughly the same. You couldn’t drive it for that. Nothing broke down. Everything turned up, although some stuff was late. Usually due to traffic.”

Andrew only had to seek alternative travel twice, once when a free bus along the Somerset coast failed to stop along the main road - forcing him to take a train.

The second was due to Andrew mistaking the times on the timetable, causing him to miss the bus.

He said: “The actual problem I had in my head when I missed the bus, it was a free bus.

“I saw the bus go in a different direction. Because there’s no stop, it doesn’t tell you where it’s going to go."