Blindtraveler
Established Member
Hi all. I love reading other peoples trip reports so its about time I did something. I'll update periodically with anything interesting and hope that fans of both bus and rail will enjoy. Its worth baring in mind that these jottings are from the prospective of someboddy with a sight impairment and may well not contain the detail of others e.g. Unit, loco or vehicle numbers and other such detail. Never the less I hope they interest.
Oct 23 2012east Edinburgh to Glasgow, the long wayDo you ever have a day when it seams as if everything will go wrong? Well I'm having one! Oh, OK then, part of one. I've only just got in the shower when my phone goes, cancelling a meeting I should have had today in Glasgow. A quick check of the emails a bit later reveals that the mate I should have met for a coffee on the way to my remaining work commitment of the day (in Dundee) has flue and is also crying off.
Now I'm settled with a coffee and thinking about how I'm not looking forward to yet another rail journey to Dundee on the same old route and the same (not so old but probably overcrowded) 170 on the shoulder of evening rush hour. Works slack at the mo mores the pity and all of a sudden it hits me. Why don't I use my intended Citylink reservation from Glasgow later, and go there by A COMBINATION OF VARIOUS BUSES, FOR THE SAKE OF DOING THE ROUTES? I have just about done all rail routes and track in Scotland with a few exceptions and as I like buses also I am in the (lengthy) process of doing some Scottish bus routes. In my home area of Edinburgh I'm at the point where there's lots of gaps and bits half done so today I'm off to fill in 2 of these.
First bus out of a planned 4 is Eves Coaches 129, running from Seton Sands in East Lothian to Ocean Terminal, home of Britannia in North Leith. Unlike most other buses going here from the Leith direction this one takes a different route and have never yet used it. Well, I have now, in the front seat of one of the new Optare Solo SRs with high back leather seats bought specifically for the run. I think the driver on this is new, he went to the wrong stop at the terminus and left me with the joyful task of finding the correct stop for my next bus which he should have gone directly too on a wet Tuesday lunchtime with nobody around, grrrrr!
Stop located I settle down to eat my Marmalade Sandwiches (very Paddington) and wait for Firsts 631, Ocean Terminal to Livingston Via St Johns Hospital. This again is a route which I've used part of but not the section from Leith to Barnton. 12:00 comes and goes and still no bus. Have almost decided to go home when at 11 Minutes Past one of Firsts Original batch of low floor Darts shudders up and with an apology and a serious thrash we rattle off towards Granton, the Scottish Gas HQ (curse the money grabbing so and so's) and the long run out towards the Queensferry Road. I've decided to stay on till Kirkliston, mainly for an easy connection to Falkirk but it has the added advantage of a good bit of dart thrash up and down the various gradients on the route and the driver (still 11 mins late) didn't disappoint.
A 15 minute wait in Kirkliston main street later and I1m Boarding Firsts Edinburgh to Stirling 38, apparently one of the few runs locally makes money on and it shows with modern Volvo B7RLE'S HANDLING THIS BUSY ROUTE WHICH RUNS EVERY 20 MINUTES DURING THE DAY. Nothing very interesting here as did the entire run ages ago but I don't think there's much slack in this routes TT as its thrash at most times on the country sections of the run. An on time arrival into Falkirk Bus Station Is followed by a 25 min wait before boarding Firsts X37 Falkirk to Glasgow Fast service which much to my displeasure is worked by a Scanier with the predictably uncomfortable seats, worse even than some of Firsts oldest Darts.
Despite being prefixed with an X and taking only 1h05 to Glasgow this service loads well and its only really on the final run into Glasgow that it gets to stretch its legs. I've been wanting to do this run for ages as I1m prioritising X Numbered routes as you can often go miles on a great variety of vehicles. A rival to Glasgow is 10 minutes late bringing total journey time from home to 4h40and its off for a quick cuppa and a toilet break before climbing aboard the (perhaps predictable but never the less welcome after that Scan) Panther on the M8 for Dundee. All in all maybe not the most exciting of days and quite lengthy due to the connection times but 2 little annoying bits and another X Route done and out the way. Comments welcome, more posts soon. Cheers, BT.
Oct 23 2012east Edinburgh to Glasgow, the long wayDo you ever have a day when it seams as if everything will go wrong? Well I'm having one! Oh, OK then, part of one. I've only just got in the shower when my phone goes, cancelling a meeting I should have had today in Glasgow. A quick check of the emails a bit later reveals that the mate I should have met for a coffee on the way to my remaining work commitment of the day (in Dundee) has flue and is also crying off.
Now I'm settled with a coffee and thinking about how I'm not looking forward to yet another rail journey to Dundee on the same old route and the same (not so old but probably overcrowded) 170 on the shoulder of evening rush hour. Works slack at the mo mores the pity and all of a sudden it hits me. Why don't I use my intended Citylink reservation from Glasgow later, and go there by A COMBINATION OF VARIOUS BUSES, FOR THE SAKE OF DOING THE ROUTES? I have just about done all rail routes and track in Scotland with a few exceptions and as I like buses also I am in the (lengthy) process of doing some Scottish bus routes. In my home area of Edinburgh I'm at the point where there's lots of gaps and bits half done so today I'm off to fill in 2 of these.
First bus out of a planned 4 is Eves Coaches 129, running from Seton Sands in East Lothian to Ocean Terminal, home of Britannia in North Leith. Unlike most other buses going here from the Leith direction this one takes a different route and have never yet used it. Well, I have now, in the front seat of one of the new Optare Solo SRs with high back leather seats bought specifically for the run. I think the driver on this is new, he went to the wrong stop at the terminus and left me with the joyful task of finding the correct stop for my next bus which he should have gone directly too on a wet Tuesday lunchtime with nobody around, grrrrr!
Stop located I settle down to eat my Marmalade Sandwiches (very Paddington) and wait for Firsts 631, Ocean Terminal to Livingston Via St Johns Hospital. This again is a route which I've used part of but not the section from Leith to Barnton. 12:00 comes and goes and still no bus. Have almost decided to go home when at 11 Minutes Past one of Firsts Original batch of low floor Darts shudders up and with an apology and a serious thrash we rattle off towards Granton, the Scottish Gas HQ (curse the money grabbing so and so's) and the long run out towards the Queensferry Road. I've decided to stay on till Kirkliston, mainly for an easy connection to Falkirk but it has the added advantage of a good bit of dart thrash up and down the various gradients on the route and the driver (still 11 mins late) didn't disappoint.
A 15 minute wait in Kirkliston main street later and I1m Boarding Firsts Edinburgh to Stirling 38, apparently one of the few runs locally makes money on and it shows with modern Volvo B7RLE'S HANDLING THIS BUSY ROUTE WHICH RUNS EVERY 20 MINUTES DURING THE DAY. Nothing very interesting here as did the entire run ages ago but I don't think there's much slack in this routes TT as its thrash at most times on the country sections of the run. An on time arrival into Falkirk Bus Station Is followed by a 25 min wait before boarding Firsts X37 Falkirk to Glasgow Fast service which much to my displeasure is worked by a Scanier with the predictably uncomfortable seats, worse even than some of Firsts oldest Darts.
Despite being prefixed with an X and taking only 1h05 to Glasgow this service loads well and its only really on the final run into Glasgow that it gets to stretch its legs. I've been wanting to do this run for ages as I1m prioritising X Numbered routes as you can often go miles on a great variety of vehicles. A rival to Glasgow is 10 minutes late bringing total journey time from home to 4h40and its off for a quick cuppa and a toilet break before climbing aboard the (perhaps predictable but never the less welcome after that Scan) Panther on the M8 for Dundee. All in all maybe not the most exciting of days and quite lengthy due to the connection times but 2 little annoying bits and another X Route done and out the way. Comments welcome, more posts soon. Cheers, BT.
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