Christmas shopping at Salisbury Market for a day out? Want to visit the cathedral or Magna Carta display? Or catch a matinee in the Salisbury Playhouse? Visiting Odstock Hospital? All for just a fiver? Now you can!
When the 265 Bath to Salisbury bus service was reduced to two-hourly in April, getting to Salisbury for a day out was made more complicated for holders of the Senior National Bus Pass. Because the pass is now restricted to free travel over an hour later, travellers cannot get to Salisbury for free until after midday, thus shortening the time available for a visit.
However, there is a way to get over eight hours in the city at very low cost, around a fiver! In order to use this ‘ruse’, catch the 08:36 service from Yarnbrook or nearer (08.54 Haynes Road) but buy only a single ticket to Warminster. Arrival at Warminster is 09:10 when the bus becomes the 09:11 to Salisbury – on which your bus pass is valid. The bus pass on this route is valid from 09:00, so stay on the bus but please remember to validate your pass before going on to Salisbury for free. You will arrive in Salisbury just after 10am, more than two hours earlier than otherwise possible. You can then stay in the city until 18:05 with a free journey home! Eight hours in Salisbury for around a fiver – can’t be bad!
For comparison, the cost of the same journey by rail would be £16.10 and even with a Senior Rail pass, £10.60, which would cost £30 to buy in the first place.
