'Surprising' Birmingham bus route ranked among UK's most beautiful by The Telegraph - photos

It’s a route all too familiar with many Brummies who use it across the city for all sorts of endeavours from travelling to work to visiting friends. But have you ever considered the stunning scenery you see when passing by,

The Telegraph newspaper has named the number 11, outer circle bus service among its most beautiful in the UK.

The full list includes:

• Berwick-upon-Tweed to Holy Island – Number 477
• Tavistock to Dawlish – Number 112
• The Northern Dalesman across the Yorkshire Dales National Park – Number 830
• Birmingham, Outer Circle – Number 11
• Newcastle to Northumberland Coast – X18
• Lochboisdale pier, South Uist, to Isle of Benbecula – the post bus
• Bowness and Windermere to Grasmere – Lakeside 599
• Dartmouth to Plymouth – Number 3
• Knighton to Ludlow – Number 740
• Cambridgeshire Guided Busway

Up to 36,000 journeys are made every day, serving over 260 bus stops near 233 schools, colleges or universities, 69 leisure and community facilities, 40 pubs, 19 retail centres, six hospitals, and one prison. It also links some 15 commercial centres, and passes Cadbury World in Bournville - one of the world's largest chocolate factories.

Notable landmarks on the route include Blakesley Hall and Villa Park as well as Sarehole Mill museum, which is across the road from where famous author JRR Tolkien grew up.

The 11 route inspired a song by The Woodbines in 1999, a dance (Kenneth Reid from the Birmingham Scottish country dance group created a dance based on the Outer Circle), and at least one novel (it features in West Midlands author Jonathan Coe's satirical bestseller 'Number 11')

Known as the longest bus route in Europe, National Express West Midlands’ number 11 service covers a 27 mile (43 km) route that has run around the outer circle of Birmingham since 1926.

It operates in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions as routes 11C and 11A in a circular route

A full circuit on the 11 service can take up to three hours to complete, linking communities across Birmingham including schools, colleges, pubs, shopping centres and attractions.