My second trip in the North East last week was predominantly on Arriva buses. All were probably rather routine journeys and routes for many compared to the previous day’s exotic 888!
I started the trip in Cramlington, easy to access from the main road network north of Newcastle. I then got the first bus north out of the town, the 43 towards Morpeth. The 43 seems to be almost a 50-50 mix of deckers and saloons with the actual boards varying. I alighted at the western portion of Bedlington, known as Bedlington High Street or Bedlington Red Lion. A nicely done green and market square give a pleasant atmosphere. The X21 and X22 have recently been returned to a combined 6 buses per hour instead of 4 and, judging by the peak hour traffic towards Newcastle, very much needed as the southbound buses were pretty full even at 7.30. I was getting a northbound X21, a fairly new E400, which was not full but was still quite busy on the short run to Ashington. Ashington is famous for footballers, Jackie Milburn and the Charlton brothers, and is a former mining area which has seen better times, but the high street did not seem as depressed as many.
I wasn’t expecting to have long in Ashington but my next bus was about 10 minutes late. This was a 35 to Morpeth which had come from Newbiggin and Woodhorn and had taken some time in doing so, I don’t know whether this was slow paying fares or traffic. This was a much older bus, a Volvo B7TL, and the whole of the 35 seemed to be in the hands of a batch of older B7TLs, a couple of which were nearly 20 years old but seemed to be out on all day service. More got off than on in Ashington and although a few more boarded and alighted we were only half full coming into Morpeth and made up 5 minutes to be only slightly late.
Morpeth is a complete contrast and is a very pretty middle class town on the river. The clock tower is attractive especially at the time I was there with the sun shining along the east-west high street straight onto it. Enough time here for a coffee and bacon roll and a decent wander round the town centre. My next bus was the X14 to Rothbury. Another modern E400 on this attractive route heading north then west into the Northumberland countryside. Almost as soon as we were on the A697 heading north there were road signs warning about the closure of the road to Rothbury, pretty much the only road from this direction. A quick search on the phone confirmed this but a look on BusTimes showed that the buses appeared to be running on the normal route. Sure enough our driver ignored the increasingly shrill road closed signs and went into the closed section. Here a works van chaperoned us safely through the area and it was difficult to see exactly where the works were going on. This was clearly an ‘against the flow’ journey and we only carried a handful of passengers, one working at a garden centre and the other got off at a back entrance into the Cragside National trust property near Rothbury.
Rothbury is a lovely little town which I had been to before on a non-bus trip. It had an important facility seemingly absent from Morpeth and I still had 15 minutes or so to wander round the town which was quiet (not helped by the road closure) but active with locals going about their business. Several were at the bus stop for the next journey (ie my bus) on the X14 heading back to Morpeth and Newcastle, perhaps helped by it being market day in Morpeth. I, however, was waiting for the twice-daily 15 to Alnwick. This is run by Pheonix Coaches and uses a small Fiat Ducato. There was only me and one other passenger, if this service is worth keeping then I hope it is busier when it isn’t market day in Morpeth, or at least when it is market day in Alnwick. Highly recommend this route, the B road it uses has scenic views to the west pretty much all the way. It also passes Cragside which I have been to and is well worth a visit.
I had a few minutes in Alnwick, another lovely town I had visited before, before heading off on an X20. This arrived on time but the driver disappeared for a while and we left about 5 minutes late. After the diversion round the town centre to avoid the very low arch on the main road we were held up by a learner until Hipsburn but then the driver really put his foot down and we rattled and bounced along at some speed after that. As a result all my attempted distance photos of Alnmouth (beautiful) are somewhat crooked and/or blurred! We passed through Warkworth (attractive), Amble (mixed), Hadston (not so nice) and past Widdrington Station just as the crossing gates were being raised. We were nearly 10 minutes late here and in theory I had a 7 minute connection but with options. Having checked BusTimes I was pretty satisfied that the bus I wanted to get was still behind us so I alighted at Ellington.
There are two buses an hour from Ellington to Ashington, the X20 and the 1, and they run 7 minutes apart. The 1 includes a double-run to Cresswell, on the coast, which is why I wanted to take this route. I was only in Ellington for a couple of minutes before the bus, a Pulsar, turned up. Before the pandemic the 1 was every 20 minutes south of Ashington, but this was reduced to every 30 minutes and has not been restored, although the route does appear to be mainly Pulsars now instead of Darts. I took the 1 as far as Wansbeck Hospital where I crossed the road to get an X21 a few minutes later to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.
I think I had been to Newbiggin long ago and recall it as rather bleak. Probably on a wet day it is, but on a sunny day it was rather pleasant. Plenty of people about and a nice stretch of seafront with a modern Maritime Centre about the history of this seafaring village. Money has been spent improving both the sea front and the high street and this was a very pleasant small resort. Before the pandemic there were X21s to Ashington and Newcastle every 20 minutes and also 35s to Ashington and Morpeth every 20 minutes. Until recently each ran every 30 minutes giving a bus every 15 minutes to Ashington. But now the X21 is back to every 20 minutes while the 35 has been made into a two-way circular service including Woodhorn, giving two buses an hour to Ashington, one direct and one via Woodhorn, so any semblance of these combining to make a better service have gone. In any case the 35 does not serve the middle of Newbiggin which seems very odd, although to be fair it does serve where people actually live. Anyway after my sojourn in Newbiggin I took another X21 back to Ashington.
Not long in Ashington again and this time I took about the only non-Arriva bus that visits the town, the Go Ahead 434. This is run by a double decker between school workings on the 448 and visits the most obscure villages probably long since abandoned by Arriva. I took this – a Scania Omnidekka - via Cambois and North Blyth to Bedlington Station. I was expecting the area to be somewhat of a post-industrial wasteland but it appeared to have some pride in its appearance and there is still industrial activity at the port of Blyth, accessed via North Blyth. The route included many crossing of used railway tracks and a double run to North Blyth. Bedlington Station is the eastern portion of Bedlington, by where the station was (and maybe will be again), and from here the 1 and 2 combine to give a bus every 15 minutes to Blyth. Before the pandemic this was every 10 minutes but here the routes still match and give a proper coordinated frequency between Bedlington Station and Blyth. My bus was a 2 and was another Pulsar, seemingly the norm on this route (which also runs the X16 local service in Morpeth) although one board was a decker.
I knew what I wanted to see in Blyth, the Market Place, the Quayside and the Blyth High Lighthouse (which is not very high), and I wandered round these highlights. The old maritime buildings near the quay area have been well preserved and the town did not seem particularly depressed. From Blyth I took the 308, a DAF Wright Gemini DB300, past Blyth beach to Seaton Sluice, about 10 minutes south down the coast road. Seaton Sluice, in my mind, is a gem, a lovely harbour with very good views from all directions and an attractive pub on the headland. Quite a few people here but I wanted to take my time and walk round properly.
There are two bus routes along the coast road between Blyth and Whitley Bay, the Arriva 308 and the Go Ahead 309, both run predominantly with deckers. Once upon a time they each ran every 15 minutes. Now the 308 runs every 15 minutes while the 309 is every 20 minutes, so the combination is a real mess. I had the choice of being in Seaton Sluice for 30 minutes if I took the 308 or 29 minutes if I took the 309! As they went the same way I simply waited to see which came first. As it should the 309 came first and stayed ahead all the way, despite being almost full upstairs and taking some time loading at the stops with people heading home after a day by the seaside, as we went through the northern coastal resort section of Whitley Bay. The 308, virtually empty, made its move at the very last stop before Whitley Bay town centre and reached the central bus stop for Newcastle ahead of the 309 but we were both over 5 minutes late. Whitley Bay is the only place I had already been to by bus on this trip in the last 20 years and from here I took a 57 (a Solo) back to Cramlington for the 290 mile drive home.
A total of 14 legs on this trip, all but two with Arriva. No journeys missing, no signs of any journeys missing on any services, one or two late but not by much. None of the USB charging points I tried worked, except on the Go Ahead 309. I have been critical of Arriva before and some issues remain, notably lack of investment in the fleet since the dozen E400s mainly used on the X21/X22 which are about 4 years old, while running 20 year old B7TLs on all day workings is not ideal. But no complaints today – well done Arriva. And an interesting and scenic part of the country.
Pictures below - please forgive my self-indulgence:
Bedlington Red Lion - Ashington - Morpeth (2) - Rothbury (2)
Between Rothbury & Alnwick (2) - Alnwick - Alnmouth - Warkworth - Newbiggin
Newbiggin - Blyth (2) - Seaton Sluice (2) - Cramlington
