One the things you need to be for public transport – bus, train etc. – is on time. Unless of course whatever public transport you are trying to get is not on time. But, let’s assume that it often is.

When we head out on a weekend to go walking in the Peak District the bus or train options that we can take are not so frequent. One-an-hour is not untypical. So that means missing the transport you were hoping to catch has the likely consequence that you’re going to be waiting for a while to get the next one.

This situation on the positive-side means that you need to get-up and get-out of the house so you can sqeeze the most out of the weekend. On the negative-side it can make you feel a bit under-pressure when you are likely wanting as relaxing a weekend as possible.

The trick is to not get too tense about it – leaving on time. Of course it is ideal you make your originally planned rendezvous with your transport. But, and especially with kids, it is not worth having a family fallout over it.

In the end there will be another bus or train and as I’ve written about before the unplanned coffee, or whatever that you end up doing whilst waiting for the next one, could be a bit of an expected bonus.

Car-free-dom can pose its challenges, especially if your public transport system is not as good and frequent as it could be. But the potential that public transport offers (for example, not having to do a walk that starts and ends at your car!) is significant. Also, the extra impetus it can give you to get out of bed and into the great outdoors on the weekend can only be a good thing!