KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 — A grandmother of four travelled around England for free by using a bus pass.
Penny Ibbott’s journey, that started from the centre of south coast, totalled 3,540 kilometres and it took her six weeks to complete, The Mirror reported.
Ibbott, 75, took the number 700 bus towards the east coast using her free pensioner’s pass and she would spend at least eight hours travelling on different buses to reach her next bed and breakfast.
Her route took her to Berwick-upon-Tweed at the top of England, where she travelled along the Scottish border, down the west coast to Lands End, before returning home.
The penultimate leg was from Portsmouth to Chidham via Havant where her family and friends waited for her in a vintage, open top bus to finish the final 19 kilometres home.
Ibbott had initially started her adventure in March last year, but had to head home after 10 days when the UK entered its first lockdown.
Her second attempt, which began on September 6 and finished on October 16, saw her raising £2,500 (RM14,052) for the St Wilfrid’s Hospice in West Sussex, who looked after her husband Geoff, 81, who suffered from cancer before he died in 2016.
Ibbott, who hails from Westbourne, West Sussex, said the journey was something she had been planning to do for a very long time.
“Just before the pandemic hit I started my adventure and travelled west instead of east.”
“I’d reached Shrewsbury when Boris (Johnson) announced we were going into lockdown and I was forced to return home — it was so disappointing.”
“But I didn’t lose hope, and, almost 18 months later to the day, I set off again — this time raising money for St Wilfrid’s Hospice who looked after Geoff before he died,” she reportedly said, adding the entire journey took her five weeks and five days.
She took a total of 120 buses.
