If he was going from Sunderland, he'd have to spend two hours on the X21/21, then the 75 which is about a hour. Quite a way like.Looking at his Flickr that's what he probably did, from Darlington you can get either the Arriva 75/76 which takes about 45 minutes or the Scarlet Band 84 which takes about 50 minutes.
I keep meaning to get some photos in Barney but I haven't had time, I'd also like to sample the Scarlet Band 83/84/85.