From my home I could travel to Cambridge by public bus, it's shown here in yellow and a single fare would cost me two English Pounds The journey would last more-or-less 90 minutes. I'd stay on the same bus the whole way.
Alternatively. I could take the train, I would need to travel from Bedford to London and from London to Cambridge, unless I chose to whip it up a bit and go from Bedford to Luton to Hitchin to Cambridge.
The route shown here in grey is the train route from Bedford to Cambridge via London excluding any shortcuts through Luton or Hitchin.
Doesn't it look exactly like a Beatrix Potter skipping pig-leg!?