Derby bus man completes three-day journey to Poland

Andrew Cowell took seven buses and two international coaches to get to Krakow in Poland

A man has completed his 1,148-mile (1,847km) journey to Poland in three days using just buses and coaches.

Andrew Cowell, 47, set off from his home in Derby on Wednesday morning.

He took seven buses and two international coaches before arriving in Krakow at about 19:00 BST on Friday.

Mr Cowell has previously found fame by completing a series of journeys around England using the government's £2 bus fare cap scheme.

He admitted the journey to Poland was not a practical way of doing long-distance travel but it was an "interesting journey" that highlighted more environmentally friendly transport options.

Mr Cowell said it was the first time he had done long-distance European coach travel before.

"I have enjoyed my journey, it was interesting," he said.

"I'm somebody who quite enjoys looking out the window and just seeing how landscapes have changed and just looking at what's out there.

"We went through Austria, Germany, Czech Republic before reaching Poland so it was just interesting to see the different countries."

Mr Cowell took seven buses from his home in Derby to central London.

He then took a coach to Paris followed by another nearly 22-hour coach journey to Krakow.

Mr Cowell was able to spend a few hours in Paris before getting on his final coach

He said the journey was seamless but he might have been a bit too ambitious with the distance.

"I'm not sure I'd do quite such a long journey again," he said.

"I didn't get a great deal of sleep but I didn't expect to so I wasn't disappointed.

"I would consider shorter journeys where maybe I might have flown or maybe even hired a car before."

Mr Cowell has already completed bus challenges across England, including a 320-mile journey from Derby to Cornwall, where he benefitted from the government's £2 bus fare cap scheme.

He said a better network of public transport was needed to make it easier and more appealing to passengers.

However, he hoped his journey would inspire others to try alternative travel options.

"It proves that we do still have these sort of public transport networks and it's worth using and remembering they're there, even if you don't use them to quiet such an extreme way that I have," he said.