There is now a new summer Dalesbus timetable online at www.dalesbus.org or you can phone Metro 0113 245 7676 to have one posted.

The Lake District summer buses have been improved considerably particularly the scenic Honister Rambler which is now hourly till early November.
We did some great linear peak-bags last week using it.

Another good set of routes can be done by catching the Keswick Carlisle bus, alighting at High Side and walking back to Keswick. There are several routes over Skiddaw, one via Great Calva, or on a bad day via Skiddaw House - though this is worth doing on a sunny August day to see the heather

My wife and I walked the Cumbria Coastal Way this way, largely thanks to the railway running round the coast. Had to use a taxi a couple of times after Maryport but otherwise buses and the train worked well.

In response to the original post, walking the Leeds Liverpool Canal can be done with a car and public transport- mixture of Trains and Buses. I'm looking at doing it in 5 day sections.
Liverpool to Appley Bridge (Near Wigan, not to be confused with Apperley Bridge which is also on the Canal near Bradford) About 30 miles: train Appley Bridge to Southport, then to Moorfields Liverpool- a few hundred yards from the start.
Appley Bridge to Blackburn About 27 miles: Train Blackburn to Bolton. Bolton to Appley Bridge.
Blackburn to Barnoldswick About 30 miles. Bus to Colne/Burnley, Train to Blackburn
Barnoldswick to Silsden: About 20 miles: Park at Silsden, walk a mile to Steeton and Silsden station, Train to Skipton, bus to Barnoldswick
Silsden to Leeds About 22 miles: Train Leeds to Steeton and Silsden station, and a mile walk to canal.

There are other places with stations and bus services if you want shorter legs.

Another option within an hour of Manchester would be the Leeds country Way, A surprisingly nice walk of 62 miles well served by buses into Leeds (so you can either park in Leeds, or park at the finish of your leg and take a bus in then a bus out to the start of your leg. Information here: http://www.leeds.gov.uk/leisure/Pages/The-Leeds-Country-Way.aspx

You can check out whether their is a useful bus or train for your walk by using http://www.traveline.info/
We often uses buses to avoid bag carrying on trails.
Generally trails in populated areas have good bus and or train services, but even in less populated areas you can be lucky

Living in West Yorks, you can do abt a third of the Pennine Way and most of the Pennine Bridleway in day trips from home

We do not drive so all our trails are accessed by trains and bus. We have returned home form as far afield as Exeter, having done a days walk, and been out walking with our club the next day, as we did the resting on the train. But if you drive, the buses and trains can still add value to your walk

If you book ahead you can get very good fares on the train, and as we are over 60 the buses are free at point of use!
If you are paying you can check out bus company websites for day tickets and week tickets

If you are walking in the Yorks Dales please check our www.dalesbus.org and consider a linear walk.

From Arthur Metcalfe I have done some walking of around 400 miles this year using a cycling from A to B then walked back on the path to A on the walk I had selected ie The Viking Way to the Pedders -Norfolk coast path to my car at A, then drove up by car retrieved the bike, then cycled, Cto D . walked back on the path back to the car drove up to bike stopped the night, where ever?
Same again until the walk was finished. ( app two 7 miles on each leg ) I locked the bike up behind Churches, villages halls, hedgerows hidden in the grass in remote places, and sometimes a supermarket car park and in Thetford the town riverside shopping centre bike rack. I had no bother of it being pinched mainley the bike being an old one and not good looking enough. A most splendid way to see villages and other places of merit on the way from to B ect , a very nice journey through this very sunny and dry summer. Worthy of merit and not to hard a task. I will be using this method again. A metcalfe

Anyone tried cycle plus vehicle combinations for continuous linear walks (suggested by Arthur in last-but-one entry below) ? He implies that he hasn't yet done so.

I had the same idea but I'm not sure of how much extra time it would take, security of the bike, and need to find a cycleable equivalent of each day's walk route (in either direction). Not to mention becoming a cyclist !

Let me know what you think? Cornishbreeze@yahoo.co.uk

Why not do what I am going to do this year, park car at start, cycle up say 9 miles, or what ever your milage is for the day. Find place to hide bike(s) and chain bike (s) up with a chain and a good quality padlock , a chain that can't be cut through with normal bolt cutters, only by big heavy duty ones which most bike thieves won't be carring around. Walk on chosen route back to car, drive drive back to cycle(S) go again. Fold up bike,or normal bike Ihave a estate car and bike can be lifted inside.
The ultermate way is to walk from B/Bs and take a taxi back, If one has sufficent funds to afford.
Or just walk forward say 8-10 miles on chosen path and walk back to start of each day on a different where possible if not walk back on same route. A walk looks totaly different coming back the opposite way.

You could drive ABC at least part of Offas Dyke. Bus Shrewsbury Oswestry - walk Welshpool train back to Shrewsbury. Train Shrewsbury to Welshpool - walk to Kerry Ridgway and into Bishops Castle - bus to Shrewsbury and bus to Bishops Castle, walk to Knighton train to Shrewsbury. There is a limited bus service Knighton to Kington - but then my local knowledge reaches its limits.

Two days ago 11 LDWAers from more than one group joined me on the third of five linear chunks of the new Pennine Bridleway (PBW) extension from near Burnley to near Kirkby Stephen. This one was a 'Drive to A, walk A to B, train back to A' variety. The previous two were combinations of bus-and-drive, the next will be 'Drive to B, train back to A, walk to B', the last either this its converse.

So yes, linear walks using public transport are possible on the PBW through the South Pennines and Yorkshire Dales, though the northerly end might be more than two hours from Manchester. I wrote a piece for last-but-one Strider on the new extension which has websites from which I downloaded the route (it's not yet shown on Ordnance Survey), and there's a Cicerone book for cyclists.

Iain

We've just joined LDWA and live in Manchester. I'm looking for ideas on the following topic.

In addition to our main LDP project (the southwest coast path, which we're walking in sections), we like to get out on fine weekends to walk LDPs in day-sections. We drive to B, get a bus (or train) from B to A, walk from A to B then drive home. Advantages (1) since no overnights we can travel light (2) avoid bad weather (3) the car is always waiting at the end of the walk.

This worked really well for the Dales Way, the Pendle Way, and fairly well for the Shropshire way. Looks as if the Cumbria way might mostly work ok too. Obviously it won't work if the path doesn't divide neatly into day-sections linked by B-to-A bus routes.

So my question to the community is, do you know of any LDPs a within a couple of hours drive of Manchester which divide reasonably well into B-to-A bus sections? The occasional overnight would not be a problem. Any ideas?