The man bussing from Land's End to John O'Groats

A man who is travelling across the UK using only local buses to raise money for charity says "everyone I've spoken to has been overwhelmingly positive".

James White, 42, who lives in Richmond, south-west London, expects the 49-bus trip to cost less than £250 in total, thanks partly to the £3 fare cap in England.

All money raised will go towards the suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm).

He said: "I don't think people really took me seriously at first: it's a bit of a strange thing to do isn't it? I have zero interest in buses."

He added: "The first trip [Land's End to Penzance] was pretty spectacular scenery. It's an interesting way to see parts of the UK I'd never usually have seen.

"Ultimately it is pointless. It's the great debate: is it pointless or useless?"

The mission was inspired by a trip to Cornwall where the chartered engineer spotted a bus stop at Land's End and wondered if there was another at the other end of the country.

After the 42-year-old had researched and created a spreadsheet, his sister spent 90 minutes explaining how to use Instagram and he has since been posting updates since setting off on Tuesday night on a sleeper train from Paddington to Penzance.

Starting with the number 1 bus last Wednesday morning, and finishing with the number 80 on Wednesday afternoon, his journey takes on a dizzying array of bus companies and English counties.

He will cross Cannock, weave through Wolverhampton, take in Truro and Taunton and has already left Liskeard and Launceston behind.

He spends each night in a hotel, although stayed at his parents' place in Middleton on Saturday night.

After taking the 40th bus starting in England - from Berwick-upon-Tweed on Monday at 08:20, he will use nine services in Scotland taking in the capital Edinburgh, as well as Arbroath and Aberdeen.

What's the strangest thing to happen so far? "A man tried to sell me a pigeon in Bodmin," he says.

"Nice little town. He had a load of pigeons fly into his flat as he'd left the window open. He was offering them for sale, which is odd."

Mr White has kept his quest to himself for the most part although he enjoyed a conversation with a "larger-than-life" driver in Okehampton, Devon.

He added: "I live in London where if you even look at someone on the Tube you're thought of as a complete weirdo and so the idea of interacting with someone on the bus is not something I'm used to.

"To most bus drivers, I look like a guy who's walking around with a rucksack."

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