Trips by Bus and Coach: Your reports

[Welshman]

Thank you for your reply.
Ifor Williams still occupies the old Corwen station to the west of Corwen on the A5. But the Llangollen Railway has extended from Carrog to Corwen from the east, and is currently building a new station almost adjacent to the bus station. They had a huge crane there on Wednesday, erecting the roof beams, and it was that activity I was admiring.
You're right - the first part of the journey was on Arriva's 0930 from Rhyl to Llandudno - an ADL 400, before transferring to the 1150 Traws Cymru T19, from whose warm comfortable Optare we were evicted at Llanrwst!

 

[RELL6L]

February, which surprised me as I thought now it has been brought under the TrawsCymru banner an attempt would be made to build-up the service. What will happen - will it cease or will TrawsCymru find another operator?

A little wait in the wooden shelter in Betws, with a magnificent electronic next-bus sign adjacent, saw the 1301 T10 TrawsCymru to Bangor arrive from Corwen with no-one on it and depart with a similar load. The 1305 Gwynfor Coaches to Caernarfon the pulled in and left with three on board, just leaving me to wait for the 1318 T10 TrawsCymru to Corwen. This pulled in on time with a very friendly driver who seemed surprised and pleased to see me, although there was already one person at the back of the bus. So the three of us - one driver and one passenger beside myself journeyed in comfort through the rain to Corwen, where we arrived on time at 1400. But how I agree with Roger French - who's bright idea was it to place a large luggage cage on the front near-side, thus effectively blocking any forward view?

After a quick toilet stop, followed by a few minutes of admiring the building of the new roof on Corwen station for the Llangollen Railway, it was time to apply the mind again to the buses. Three met up here - the T10 I'd arrived on returning to Bangor at 1415, the T3 at 1415 to Barmouth and the one I wanted, the 1415 T8 to Chester. This rather let the side down, livery-wise, as it was a normal Optare Solo in M&H livery, the only clue it was part of the TrawsCymru network being its route No - T8. It left on time with two others besides myself, and they quickly decamped one stop out of Corwen, leaving me to appreciate the scenery, for it had now stopped raining, all the way to Ruthin. Here we collected one more, who left just outside Mold, and then I had the solo to myself again all the way to Chester Bus Station.

Here I had a cup of tea before boarding the 1615 Arriva 11C to Holywell. This was s single-decker rather than the usual double, left a few minutes late and lost more time due to traffic and loadings, arriving Holywell at 1755. Then our driver, leaving there now 18 minutes late, made a spirited attempt to regain time, and deposited us safely and efficiently in Rhyl Bus station bang on schedule at 1837.

All in all, a very interesting day out giving my bus pass some excercise it hasn't had since pre covid. I was impressed by the friendliness and professionalism of the drivers, but wonder about the future of the T19. A little while ago there was talk of electric buses -now the route seems for the chop if Llew Jones has its way.

PS. Something seems to have gone wrong with the editing, and I've now lost the first part of this! Ah well.

I did see the first part of your report too before it disappeared. Thanks for posting it all, that's a good round trip that's possible now with the T8 and T10. Yes, it doesn't sound like the budget has allowed for 'quality' vehicles on the T8. There's a balance between not competing with the Arriva services between Chester and Mold and providing a good image. The service between Mold and Ruthin is somewhat improved and between Ruthin and Corwen more so, at this stage perhaps just providing it is enough. The T10 is very ambitious, it really is hard to see it carrying many passengers although maybe the Bangor end will be popular with walkers in the summer, I think car parking in the Llyn Ogwen area is at a premium. I like the section on the A5 between Betws y Coed and Corwen, yes its quite open country and the mountainous scenery is not up close but it's visible most of the way. I managed it in about 2012 on the service which was then only one journey on one or two days a week.

I don't want to get anywhere near Welsh Government politics but the saga of the T19 seems an odd one. There was talk of 2 buses every 3 hours to complement the train, then electric vehicles, now a complete withdrawal. I know its probably grossly sacreligious to suggest this on this forum but I bet the railway line costs a small fortune to support - why not just close it and use a small portion of this money to provide a decent bus service hourly from Llandudno to Betws y Coed with 2-hourly extensions to Blaenau Ffestiniog? With a bit of planning maybe a heritage railway operator could take over the line because it is quite scenic in parts but I bet a large chunk of the demand is summer daytime for tourists who could be well catered for this way, with the bus there for people who actually want to get from A to B. There are some in the area!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I hadn't bargained on another trip report but another opportunity availed itself and it seemed rude not to indulge. I didn't have much time either so wanted something of interest but in a part of the world that I am really unfamiliar with. Hence, it was a request to @RELL6L for his guidance and assistance in trying to find something interesting to experience in South London. Naturally, he was able to use his knowledge to help me and this is the result! Hope you enjoy the read

When travelling in London, I invariably use train and tube. Buses aren't used that often though I do occasionally if only to get a slightly different perspective of life. However, another engagement meant I'd be in South London and free from about 1030 until about 1630. So I had some time to explore. I walked from my hotel near Croydon Airport, and via some back streets to catch my first TfL bus. It was the 157, operated by Arriva from their Norwood garage. I was a little surprised when it arrived as it was clearly part of the same batch of 59 plate e400s, of which some have recently been disposed of to First Essex and that took me to Canvey just a fortnight before! I tapped on and went upstairs this quite lightly loaded journey. This vehicle retains Arriva moquette and it was looking slightly careworn but fine. However, the loose trim rattling away was not good and became a soundtrack to the next 45 mins as we headed through Waddon, West Croydon and Anerley. Croydon was as I always remember - a bit naff. However, I quite liked Anerley with its Town Hall (converted to a business centre?) and a cute station. The e400 seriously laboured up the hill as we approached journeys' end at Crystal Palace.


Crystal Palace bus station

I could've bailed early but I did want to see the radio mast and a bit of the park. Sadly, I didn't have time to go round CP Park though I will definitely visit at some point. Instead, it was a quickish change and onto the trunk 358 service. This is due to receive experimental TramBuses (basically an electric bus with a posh frock) in 2023. I had to experience something more basic. The route is supposed to have Citaros but a number were lost to a depot fire and so the complement is made up with other vehicles. I had an ageing e200 which banged and rattled and coughed back through the traffic and then out towards Elmers End. It was a busy route and had standing passengers at a number of times. We eventually arrived into Bromley; I could've exited in the town centre and walked through but my lack of local knowledge saw me seated until we reached Bromley South station.


Downtown Bromley and my e200 from the 358

I didn't have long for my next bus which runs only hourly (hence why I'd not hung around at CP) - the 146 to Downe. @RELL6L tells me it was a late RT operation as the turning manoeuvre demanded a crew. Nowadays, it gets a Stagecoach short e200mmc. It was also one of the earlier routes that was tendered by London Regional Transport from the main London Buses operations. Downe is a historic village that was home to Charles Darwin for 40 years, living in nearby Down House. The mmc was expertly driven by my lady driver, arriving on time, as we headed through a few lovely villages. I had chance to go to the tea rooms in Downe and get tea and some fruit cake and then back out for my next bus. The R8 duly appeared, ready to take me from Downe; the R prefix being a hangover from the Roundabout scheme about 1986. To be honest, it was a narrow and wild little journey with a very tired Metrobus e200 running every 70/80 minutes. It was one that they acquired with the First Orpington business and it clattered along; to be honest, if this was anywhere else, people would bemoan the quality of this vehicle but it's London so it's fine. To be honest, a smaller vehicle like a Solo would be more appropriate for such narrow roads. My trip to/from Downe was really not much different in terms of loadings than a provincial tendered service.


Leaving Downe Church


R8 arriving in Downe

I arrived in Biggin Hill. A rather non-descript place that I thought might be more attractive than it is. I travelled from there on another e200mmc - the e200/mmc seems to be endemic in this corner of London. This was another London contractor in Abellio, and this was a nice enough journey past the former RAF airfield (now a commercial airport) as we headed on the short hop to New Addington. We arrived in readiness for the Tramlink; I didn't see any reason to hang around in what is really a 1950s estate. I'd not travelled on this part of Tramlink before and it was interesting to see the quite steep gradients. We arrived smoothly into East Croydon. And then I waited as the 119 headway seemed to be askew with vehicles running in pairs. Also, t seemed to be a mix of e400EVs and regular diesel vehicles that seemed odd. I saw I could miss the first of the pair (an e400) and get the second, following e400EV to run the rule over these. I went to grab a Costa - it took far longer than anticipated so I saw both 119s arrive and depart. Rats!!! Instead, I wandered back out and waited some more - eventually, a rather scruffy B9TL/Wright arrived but I was just desperate to escape East Croydon by now. It was a nice vehicle but we continually stopping to hoover up passengers so that by Purley Way, we were overtaken by another 119 (an e400ev, naturally). I got off soon after.

Tram/Bus integration at New Addington


East Croydon


So my thoughts of a day in South London. It was surprisingly scenic though perhaps Croydon is not. It does have some interesting buildings like the Fairfield Halls. Anerley and Crystal Palace was a nice run and it did afford some lovely views; similarly there were some fantastic views from New Addington across to central London. Downe was a sweet village and the 146/R8 combo was really pleasant - not like London at all and a beautiful little corner of Greater London. It was like being in the provinces and yet the city wasn't that far away. The tap in and value is good but the actual quality of vehicles was lacking and, perhaps a reflection of constrained finances and frittering money of Borismasters, the local bus fleet was really quite old. Lots of stuff from 2010 to 2014, not much newer and very few really modern vehicles. Interesting nonetheless. Hope you enjoyed the read.

 

[RELL6L]

Glad you managed to get some decent places among the rural outposts of Greater London, shame there was little variety in the vehicles but there isn't that much these days (I suppose really there never was except perhaps in the early days of tendering and privatisation). This is probably the best scenery within reach of Croydon without heading for the North Downs. Can't stand Costa myself - I don't understand why people will queue for 10 minutes plus to get a coffee, personally I prefer a latte from Greggs anyway and the queues are shorter. I have to confess I haven't been on any all-electric bus yet! An interesting report as always, thanks for posting.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Glad you managed to get some decent places among the rural outposts of Greater London, shame there was little variety in the vehicles but there isn't that much these days (I suppose really there never was except perhaps in the early days of tendering and privatisation). This is probably the best scenery within reach of Croydon without heading for the North Downs. Can't stand Costa myself - I don't understand why people will queue for 10 minutes plus to get a coffee, personally I prefer a latte from Greggs anyway and the queues are shorter. I have to confess I haven't been on any all-electric bus yet! An interesting report as always, thanks for posting.

Thank you for the pointers - I wouldn't have known where to go!

When you're at East Croydon, there's Costa, Nero and Starbucks all cheek by jowl but no Greggs (though I did get a coffee from the one at Bromley South ).

To be fair, I'd imagine the 1970s would've been wall-to-wall RTs, RMs, and DMS in South London with the first LHs and Nationals seeing off Merlins and RFs. Perhaps it's that we often hear about how good London's buses are compared with the rest of the UK. They do indeed have a more comprehensive and frequent network (yet it is less than it was), faster boarding at stops (though the provinces are catching up with the rise of contactless, tap on and tap off (TOTO) and mtickets) etc. It was the buses themselves that surprised me; they were really no better than anywhere else and arguably, they were worse. Some very careworn machines, and few with stuff like USBs. Moreover, I was really quite surprised at the age profile of vehicles in that part of London - the neglected South? Or just a reflection that economic realities are biting hard?

 

[WAB]

Perhaps it's that we often hear about how good London's buses are compared with the rest of the UK. They do indeed have a more comprehensive and frequent network (yet it is less than it was), faster boarding at stops (though the provinces are catching up with the rise of contactless, tap on and tap off (TOTO) and mtickets) etc. It was the buses themselves that surprised me; they were really no better than anywhere else and arguably, they were worse. Some very careworn machines, and few with stuff like USBs. Moreover, I was really quite surprised at the age profile of vehicles in that part of London - the neglected South? Or just a reflection that economic realities are biting hard?

Fripperies like USBs and a newer fleet are barely significant compared to the hours and frequencies of operations. Despite cuts, the service in London is still very strong (and central area buses were always going to be made redundant by better tubes and worsening congestion). The shiny buses you get on key routes in the provinces are not much use to me if they run hourly or don't run after 10. Worn bus interiors are perfectly adequate if less than ideal.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Fripperies like USBs and a newer fleet are barely significant compared to the hours and frequencies of operations. Despite cuts, the service in London is still very strong (and central area buses were always going to be made redundant by better tubes and worsening congestion). The shiny buses you get on key routes in the provinces are not much use to me if they run hourly or don't run after 10. Worn bus interiors are perfectly adequate if less than ideal.

USBs might be regarded as a "nice to have" and I'd agree. It's not essential. As I said, the network coverage is good even if it is being rationalised (and not all of those are because of better tube services).

I was surprised to see quite how mature the fleet was in South London and it seems to have declined in recent years. Perhaps it's that money is tighter after the Johnson years, e.g. spending not just on Borismasters but other moves that increased costs, the impact/cost of the hopper fare, and then the post-Covid impact of passenger numbers? Whatever the cause, and I know the 358 is due new vehicles, the 157, 358 and R8 vehicles were markedly worse than we'd have seen a few years ago.

 

[RELL6L]

As I have said before, I only enjoy trips on fine, sunny days. This requires flexibility and means that when an opportunity presents itself it needs to be grabbed with both hands. Following the weather forecasts it was clear that Monday was such an opportunity. Also, I have now visited a good number of places and some of the ones left to visit are on dead-ends with infrequent services – the best way to do this and spend some time there can well be to start and finish there. This applies very much in the Peak District, an area where I have done most routes but love visiting- with a few gaps to fill.

So it was that around 7.45 on Monday, with the sun just risen, I arrived in Middleton by Youlgrave (or possibly Youlgreave, there is some debate), terminus of the Hulleys 171 from Bakewell. In fact I also went further to Youlgrave and explored both villages. Picture postcard stuff, Youlgrave proper is a decent sized village with some nice buildings although parked cars making squeezing a car through quite difficult let alone a bus – also there is nowhere you could turn a bus in the village which is perhaps why Middleton is still served. I was back in Middleton and parked in the village square in time for my first bus, an Optare Solo, which turned up promptly for 8.15 to pick up 3 schoolchildren and me. Back through Youlgrave where we picked up a dozen more children at each of two stops and more later and in Allport, with a standing load into Bakewell. Attractive scenery as we headed along the valley, I was the only paying passenger and the only one who wished to alight in the town centre. The 171 is an attractive route and sometimes sees double deckers on the second trip of the day after the school runs.

I had 25 minutes in Bakewell, time to see the river and the market being set up, Monday being market day in Bakewell. Also loads of buses from Hulleys, Andrews and others bringing children into what must be a very sizeable school in the town. There were two deckers from Hulleys, three double decker coaches from Andrews, the 218 from T M Travel and a few other contract buses and coaches converging from all directions making the town centre very busy for a while. My next leg was the 172 to Matlock and I knew from prior checking of the ever-useful BusTimes that this was likely to be the same bus. Indeed it was, with the same young driver guiding it expertly through the narrow streets of the rural villages. This was a Solo – what it was like in the days of Leyland Panthers and Bristol REs goodness knows – although maybe there were fewer and narrower parked cars. The 172 - what a scenic route it is! It heads off into real country lanes over the hills at Stanton in Peak and Birchover, then again to Elton, through the lovely village of Winster, along through Wensley before rejoining the A6 at Darley Dale. I was the only passenger from Bakewell, we picked up a handful in Elton and Winster then quite a few more at Darley Dale and we arrived on time at Matlock even though the main A6 route past the station is closed, diverting all the traffic through the town centre. I did note that the bus back to Bakewell only made it as far as Wensley, where it stopped for half an hour and wasn’t seen again until this morning (Thursday).

Matlock was quite busy with the A6 closed for long running flood prevention work, but I had a few minutes to buy a sandwich and stroll around the attractive town centre park before my next bus on the Littles Travel 140 route to Alfreton. This was a smart E200 and I knew this route was also diverted – instead of a double run to Lea Bridge and then to Holloway and Crich we had to do a circuit of Holloway and Lea Bridge then via a different route to Crich to avoid a road closure. Pleasant scenery here too but not as dramatic as the Peak District scenery up to Matlock. Quite a few passengers throughout and good to go through Crich having started a trip there many years ago. The diversion didn’t delay us and we arrived at Alfreton on time giving long enough for a bacon roll and coffee. There’s not much to see in Alfreton but it is OK by the centre and near the church.

From Alfreton it was back to Hulleys and the hourly 55, a tendered service replacing and combining the former Stagecoach 55 and 56 services. Round the houses north of Alfreton and then through the villages of Tibshelf and Pilsley this area is not as scenic as further west. Quite a few passengers leaving Alfreton, several alighted fairly early into the journey but others boarded. This was a two door MCV bodied E200 originally with Metroline in London. At Tibshelf we came to a halt as the driver had an alarm sounding, he rummaged around in the back for a few minutes while on the phone then came back and said he had clearance to carry on, which we did and without the alarm. I alighted soon afterwards in North Wingfield, the bus completed its journey to Chesterfield but was not seen again on BusTimes until two days later. I crossed the road at North Wingfield and a Stagecoach ‘large’ E200 appeared on the 54 which I took to complete my journey to Chesterfield. This is a busy corridor, every 12 minutes for the 54 and 54A combined, the buses were all running and seemed to have pretty good loads on a reasonably quick route into Chesterfield, arriving a few minutes before the Hulleys 55 I had been on.

I love the centre of Chesterfield. I know this isn’t the most prosperous part of Derbyshire but the splendid black and white buildings in the town centre, plus of course the iconic twisted spire of the parish church, make it a very attractive place. I had nearly half an hour here, time to explore some of the narrow streets and market area and wait for my next bus in the splendid street called Knifesmithgate.

Sticking with Stagecoach for one more leg, a standard E200, this was on the 16, a rural route to Dronfield. This heads north west out of Chesterfield through Barlow, then cuts across to Holmesfield and finally round a rather dull part of Dronfield. Our bus had a new driver with a supervisor making sure he found the right route and we were on time arriving at the Civic Centre in Dronfield. Now I could have rushed down to the main road in the valley and taken a 44 to Sheffield, provided I took no more than 9 minutes. The trunk bus routes are the 43 and 44, going via different estates in Dronfield and the 44 would have taken me round estates to the east of the valley and into Sheffield in about 40 minutes. I elected instead to take more time walking down through the town as the old central core of Dronfield is pretty quiet and very attractive, unlike the massive estates. I ended up by the station and instead took the train (a class 195 if anyone cares) to Sheffield in 10 minutes and walking over to the Interchange. At the stand for my next journey was a Hulleys E200 with the engine compartment open and no-one around, it should have left on the 257 some 45 minutes earlier. Whatever was wrong was obviously resolved fairly quickly as the bus was back out for a Bakewell school run. Sheffield Interchange is a shadow of its former self, a few First buses and a handful of others, but most local routes now terminate in or run through the streets in the city centre.

It was mid-afternoon and time to head back over towards Bakewell on the TM Travel 218. Again I had researched the allocations to this route and was confident that my journey would be a double decker as it next did a Bakewell school journey. Indeed it was, an 06-plate Scania Omnidekka originally with Metrobus in London now in Notts and Derby colours. We took a few minutes getting out of the city centre with several passengers joining before heading through the south-western suburbs on the surprisingly quiet, leafy and middle-class area of Sharrow Vale, hidden between the major arteries out of the city, then to Ecclesall and across an even more upmarket area down to the Totley Road. After Totley it was into the Peak District hills up to Owler Bar and the powerful Scania made short work of the gradients. The sun was bright making this was a difficult trip on which to photograph anything as we were headed straight into it. Down the other side to Baslow where we arrived 5 minutes late. A brief stop in Baslow, a village I liked when based here on business around 40 years ago when working in Sheffield, but not enough time to explore it all or get to the Hulleys depot before continuing back to Bakewell on another Hulleys bus, a Solo on the 170. This was already early and sped onwards, arriving in Bakewell some 10 minutes ahead of schedule before continuing to the school. I saw later that this then continued onto the 171 back to Middleton by Youlgrave – a journey which should have started 10 minutes before the bus was due to arrive there!

I could therefore easily have taken this bus back to my car despite the official zero-minute connection, but there was some daylight left and I had other plans. I had been through the village of Ashford-in-the-Water a couple of times but never stopped there and I wanted to put this right. I took the Hulleys 173, another Solo full to standing with school children, for the short run out there and strolled round the delightful village for around 20 minutes enjoying the last low rays of the sun before it vanished behind the hills. Back to Bakewell on the High Peak Transpeak, one of the newest batch of E200s in smart green colours. Just time to go the river again and see the market being tidied away before heading back to Middleton. The timetables (Derbyshire and BusTimes – but not Hulleys’ own website) show a 171 to Middleton by Youlgrave at 5.15, but there is no such journey. What actually happens is that a 172 diverts to Youlgrave and Middleton departing Bakewell at 5.10 – slightly confusingly departing from a different stop in Bakewell to the 171 (which is wrong on Hulleys’ own 171 timetable) – adding about 20 minutes to its journey. This journey is run by the incoming 172 from Matlock which was about 15 minutes late due to slow traffic in Matlock but there was sufficient turnaround time for that not to delay us. BusTimes said this was a Solo but in fact it was another two door E200 formerly with Metroline. We left Bakewell with just three on board, one alighted in Youlgrave and I left in Middleton just as the last of the light was fading away – although there was a lovely sunset a few minutes later as I headed south on the A515 towards Ashbourne.

Looking back I think Hulleys were having a bad day on Monday: Bus 1 stopped at Chesterfield at 12.45, bus 8 broke down at Sheffield but was revived for the school runs, bus 18 stopped at Wensley during the morning, bus 25 stopped at Morton at 14.53 on the 55 from Alfreton and buses 2, 15 and 19 were not out at all. Bus 25 was tracking in two places until the real bus 25 stopped, the other one was actually bus 5 as I travelled on this from Bakewell back to Middleton. Bus 3, an Enviro 400, shows as not having been out but in fact it was running on the X70 and school runs, these journeys just not tracking at all on BusTimes. The next day buses 3 and 5 appear to have been corrected on BusTimes. I knew Hulleys had one double decker but in fact they were running three, one a splendid 20-year old Plaxton President bodied Trident in orange, originally Metroline but later Tyrers and JH Coaches, the other two E400s. Their workings included the afternoon school runs on the X70, 170 and 257 plus selected journeys on other routes and sometimes they work on the 272. BusTimes for Hulleys is very confusing as there are two route 48s, the vehicles for one route show up as the other while the vehicles for the other don’t show at all, just in black capitals as a 948 to Clay Cross or Wigley – nothing to do with the bus dealer of the same name but the village at the end of the route – in fact some journeys on this rural route are occasionally run with deckers (if BusTimes is correct). All the Hulleys buses I saw and travelled on were smart and well presented and the company seems to be a very professional operator. It must be hard for an operator this size to make money but there is a lot of school traffic, maybe they make reasonable money on this. In a week where the loss of two decent independents has been announced I hope they continue as they are.

A beautiful sunny day from sunrise to sunset, on the road for 9¼ hours, only two journeys on the ‘major’ operators – both Stagecoach – and hardly saw any others (a few First buses in Sheffield). Lots of journeys on Hulleys buses but also Littles, TM Travel and High Peak. Cost two singles at £2 for journeys before 9.30 and a train fare – a bargain!

As usual an allocation of 10 photos from the day:

Youlgrave


Bakewell


Looking down over Youlgrave from the 172 near Stanton in Peak


Matlock


Chesterfield, Knifesmithgate


Dronfield


Sheffield


From the 218 heading towards Owler Bar


Baslow



Ashford in the Water

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

As I have said before, I only enjoy trips on fine, sunny days. This requires flexibility and means that when an opportunity presents itself it needs to be grabbed with both hands. Following the weather forecasts it was clear that Monday was such an opportunity. Also, I have now visited a good number of places and some of the ones left to visit are on dead-ends with infrequent services – the best way to do this and spend some time there can well be to start and finish there. This applies very much in the Peak District, an area where I have done most routes but love visiting- with a few gaps to fill.

So it was that around 7.45 on Monday, with the sun just risen, I arrived in Middleton by Youlgrave (or possibly Youlgreave, there is some debate), terminus of the Hulleys 171 from Bakewell. In fact I also went further to Youlgrave and explored both villages. Picture postcard stuff, Youlgrave proper is a decent sized village with some nice buildings although parked cars making squeezing a car through quite difficult let alone a bus – also there is nowhere you could turn a bus in the village which is perhaps why Middleton is still served. I was back in Middleton and parked in the village square in time for my first bus, an Optare Solo, which turned up promptly for 8.15 to pick up 3 schoolchildren and me. Back through Youlgrave where we picked up a dozen more children at each of two stops and more later and in Allport, with a standing load into Bakewell. Attractive scenery as we headed along the valley, I was the only paying passenger and the only one who wished to alight in the town centre. The 171 is an attractive route and sometimes sees double deckers on the second trip of the day after the school runs.

I had 25 minutes in Bakewell, time to see the river and the market being set up, Monday being market day in Bakewell. Also loads of buses from Hulleys, Andrews and others bringing children into what must be a very sizeable school in the town. There were two deckers from Hulleys, three double decker coaches from Andrews, the 218 from T M Travel and a few other contract buses and coaches converging from all directions making the town centre very busy for a while. My next leg was the 172 to Matlock and I knew from prior checking of the ever-useful BusTimes that this was likely to be the same bus. Indeed it was, with the same young driver guiding it expertly through the narrow streets of the rural villages. This was a Solo – what it was like in the days of Leyland Panthers and Bristol REs goodness knows – although maybe there were fewer and narrower parked cars. The 172 - what a scenic route it is! It heads off into real country lanes over the hills at Stanton in Peak and Birchover, then again to Elton, through the lovely village of Winster, along through Wensley before rejoining the A6 at Darley Dale. I was the only passenger from Bakewell, we picked up a handful in Elton and Winster then quite a few more at Darley Dale and we arrived on time at Matlock even though the main A6 route past the station is closed, diverting all the traffic through the town centre. I did note that the bus back to Bakewell only made it as far as Wensley, where it stopped for half an hour and wasn’t seen again until this morning (Thursday).

Matlock was quite busy with the A6 closed for long running flood prevention work, but I had a few minutes to buy a sandwich and stroll around the attractive town centre park before my next bus on the Littles Travel 140 route to Alfreton. This was a smart E200 and I knew this route was also diverted – instead of a double run to Lea Bridge and then to Holloway and Crich we had to do a circuit of Holloway and Lea Bridge then via a different route to Crich to avoid a road closure. Pleasant scenery here too but not as dramatic as the Peak District scenery up to Matlock. Quite a few passengers throughout and good to go through Crich having started a trip there many years ago. The diversion didn’t delay us and we arrived at Alfreton on time giving long enough for a bacon roll and coffee. There’s not much to see in Alfreton but it is OK by the centre and near the church.

From Alfreton it was back to Hulleys and the hourly 55, a tendered service replacing and combining the former Stagecoach 55 and 56 services. Round the houses north of Alfreton and then through the villages of Tibshelf and Pilsley this area is not as scenic as further west. Quite a few passengers leaving Alfreton, several alighted fairly early into the journey but others boarded. This was a two door MCV bodied E200 originally with Metroline in London. At Tibshelf we came to a halt as the driver had an alarm sounding, he rummaged around in the back for a few minutes while on the phone then came back and said he had clearance to carry on, which we did and without the alarm. I alighted soon afterwards in North Wingfield, the bus completed its journey to Chesterfield but was not seen again on BusTimes until two days later. I crossed the road at North Wingfield and a Stagecoach ‘large’ E200 appeared on the 54 which I took to complete my journey to Chesterfield. This is a busy corridor, every 12 minutes for the 54 and 54A combined, the buses were all running and seemed to have pretty good loads on a reasonably quick route into Chesterfield, arriving a few minutes before the Hulleys 55 I had been on.

I love the centre of Chesterfield. I know this isn’t the most prosperous part of Derbyshire but the splendid black and white buildings in the town centre, plus of course the iconic twisted spire of the parish church, make it a very attractive place. I had nearly half an hour here, time to explore some of the narrow streets and market area and wait for my next bus in the splendid street called Knifesmithgate.

Sticking with Stagecoach for one more leg, a standard E200, this was on the 16, a rural route to Dronfield. This heads north west out of Chesterfield through Barlow, then cuts across to Holmesfield and finally round a rather dull part of Dronfield. Our bus had a new driver with a supervisor making sure he found the right route and we were on time arriving at the Civic Centre in Dronfield. Now I could have rushed down to the main road in the valley and taken a 44 to Sheffield, provided I took no more than 9 minutes. The trunk bus routes are the 43 and 44, going via different estates in Dronfield and the 44 would have taken me round estates to the east of the valley and into Sheffield in about 40 minutes. I elected instead to take more time walking down through the town as the old central core of Dronfield is pretty quiet and very attractive, unlike the massive estates. I ended up by the station and instead took the train (a class 195 if anyone cares) to Sheffield in 10 minutes and walking over to the Interchange. At the stand for my next journey was a Hulleys E200 with the engine compartment open and no-one around, it should have left on the 257 some 45 minutes earlier. Whatever was wrong was obviously resolved fairly quickly as the bus was back out for a Bakewell school run. Sheffield Interchange is a shadow of its former self, a few First buses and a handful of others, but most local routes now terminate in or run through the streets in the city centre.

It was mid-afternoon and time to head back over towards Bakewell on the TM Travel 218. Again I had researched the allocations to this route and was confident that my journey would be a double decker as it next did a Bakewell school journey. Indeed it was, an 06-plate Scania Omnidekka originally with Metrobus in London now in Notts and Derby colours. We took a few minutes getting out of the city centre with several passengers joining before heading through the south-western suburbs on the surprisingly quiet, leafy and middle-class area of Sharrow Vale, hidden between the major arteries out of the city, then to Ecclesall and across an even more upmarket area down to the Totley Road. After Totley it was into the Peak District hills up to Owler Bar and the powerful Scania made short work of the gradients. The sun was bright making this was a difficult trip on which to photograph anything as we were headed straight into it. Down the other side to Baslow where we arrived 5 minutes late. A brief stop in Baslow, a village I liked when based here on business around 40 years ago when working in Sheffield, but not enough time to explore it all or get to the Hulleys depot before continuing back to Bakewell on another Hulleys bus, a Solo on the 170. This was already early and sped onwards, arriving in Bakewell some 10 minutes ahead of schedule before continuing to the school. I saw later that this then continued onto the 171 back to Middleton by Youlgrave – a journey which should have started 10 minutes before the bus was due to arrive there!

I could therefore easily have taken this bus back to my car despite the official zero-minute connection, but there was some daylight left and I had other plans. I had been through the village of Ashford-in-the-Water a couple of times but never stopped there and I wanted to put this right. I took the Hulleys 173, another Solo full to standing with school children, for the short run out there and strolled round the delightful village for around 20 minutes enjoying the last low rays of the sun before it vanished behind the hills. Back to Bakewell on the High Peak Transpeak, one of the newest batch of E200s in smart green colours. Just time to go the river again and see the market being tidied away before heading back to Middleton. The timetables (Derbyshire and BusTimes – but not Hulleys’ own website) show a 171 to Middleton by Youlgrave at 5.15, but there is no such journey. What actually happens is that a 172 diverts to Youlgrave and Middleton departing Bakewell at 5.10 – slightly confusingly departing from a different stop in Bakewell to the 171 (which is wrong on Hulleys’ own 171 timetable) – adding about 20 minutes to its journey. This journey is run by the incoming 172 from Matlock which was about 15 minutes late due to slow traffic in Matlock but there was sufficient turnaround time for that not to delay us. BusTimes said this was a Solo but in fact it was another two door E200 formerly with Metroline. We left Bakewell with just three on board, one alighted in Youlgrave and I left in Middleton just as the last of the light was fading away – although there was a lovely sunset a few minutes later as I headed south on the A515 towards Ashbourne.

Looking back I think Hulleys were having a bad day on Monday: Bus 1 stopped at Chesterfield at 12.45, bus 8 broke down at Sheffield but was revived for the school runs, bus 18 stopped at Wensley during the morning, bus 25 stopped at Morton at 14.53 on the 55 from Alfreton and buses 2, 15 and 19 were not out at all. Bus 25 was tracking in two places until the real bus 25 stopped, the other one was actually bus 5 as I travelled on this from Bakewell back to Middleton. Bus 3, an Enviro 400, shows as not having been out but in fact it was running on the X70 and school runs, these journeys just not tracking at all on BusTimes. The next day buses 3 and 5 appear to have been corrected on BusTimes. I knew Hulleys had one double decker but in fact they were running three, one a splendid 20-year old Plaxton President bodied Trident in orange, originally Metroline but later Tyrers and JH Coaches, the other two E400s. Their workings included the afternoon school runs on the X70, 170 and 257 plus selected journeys on other routes and sometimes they work on the 272. BusTimes for Hulleys is very confusing as there are two route 48s, the vehicles for one route show up as the other while the vehicles for the other don’t show at all, just in black capitals as a 948 to Clay Cross or Wigley – nothing to do with the bus dealer of the same name but the village at the end of the route – in fact some journeys on this rural route are occasionally run with deckers (if BusTimes is correct). All the Hulleys buses I saw and travelled on were smart and well presented and the company seems to be a very professional operator. It must be hard for an operator this size to make money but there is a lot of school traffic, maybe they make reasonable money on this. In a week where the loss of two decent independents has been announced I hope they continue as they are.

A beautiful sunny day from sunrise to sunset, on the road for 9¼ hours, only two journeys on the ‘major’ operators – both Stagecoach – and hardly saw any others (a few First buses in Sheffield). Lots of journeys on Hulleys buses but also Littles, TM Travel and High Peak. Cost two singles at £2 for journeys before 9.30 and a train fare – a bargain!

As usual an allocation of 10 photos from the day:
View attachment 128686
Youlgrave

View attachment 128687
Bakewell

View attachment 128688
Looking down over Youlgrave from the 172 near Stanton in Peak

View attachment 128689
Matlock

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Chesterfield, Knifesmithgate

View attachment 128691
Dronfield

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Sheffield

View attachment 128693
From the 218 heading towards Owler Bar

View attachment 128694
Baslow


View attachment 128695
Ashford in the Water

As always, great set of photos and an interesting travelogue. I had a trip in the area last March (loads of daffodils) and had a trip on the 172 like you. It's a beautiful route from Bakewell to Matlock though I had a Dart MPD rather than a Solo. Delightful scenery. Bakewell is a nice place to spend a little time, as is Matlock.

Like you, I'm a fan of Chesterfield. It's a really pleasant town to walk around. Perhaps not the most affluent but definitely not the worst. You certainly racked up the miles and the 218 is one of those routes that I have still yet to experience. I am in the area in a few weeks but no buses will be sampled. When you have the weather, as you did, then there are few places as beautiful as the Peak District.

 

[ian1944]

Two points on the Luton etc report - one, the pic of the white tower reminded me of the Parkinson building at Leeds University, and two, is Aylesbury BS still the fume-ridden dismal hole I remember?

 

[SouthEastBuses]

As I have said before, I only enjoy trips on fine, sunny days. This requires flexibility and means that when an opportunity presents itself it needs to be grabbed with both hands. Following the weather forecasts it was clear that Monday was such an opportunity. Also, I have now visited a good number of places and some of the ones left to visit are on dead-ends with infrequent services – the best way to do this and spend some time there can well be to start and finish there. This applies very much in the Peak District, an area where I have done most routes but love visiting- with a few gaps to fill.

So it was that around 7.45 on Monday, with the sun just risen, I arrived in Middleton by Youlgrave (or possibly Youlgreave, there is some debate), terminus of the Hulleys 171 from Bakewell. In fact I also went further to Youlgrave and explored both villages. Picture postcard stuff, Youlgrave proper is a decent sized village with some nice buildings although parked cars making squeezing a car through quite difficult let alone a bus – also there is nowhere you could turn a bus in the village which is perhaps why Middleton is still served. I was back in Middleton and parked in the village square in time for my first bus, an Optare Solo, which turned up promptly for 8.15 to pick up 3 schoolchildren and me. Back through Youlgrave where we picked up a dozen more children at each of two stops and more later and in Allport, with a standing load into Bakewell. Attractive scenery as we headed along the valley, I was the only paying passenger and the only one who wished to alight in the town centre. The 171 is an attractive route and sometimes sees double deckers on the second trip of the day after the school runs.

I had 25 minutes in Bakewell, time to see the river and the market being set up, Monday being market day in Bakewell. Also loads of buses from Hulleys, Andrews and others bringing children into what must be a very sizeable school in the town. There were two deckers from Hulleys, three double decker coaches from Andrews, the 218 from T M Travel and a few other contract buses and coaches converging from all directions making the town centre very busy for a while. My next leg was the 172 to Matlock and I knew from prior checking of the ever-useful BusTimes that this was likely to be the same bus. Indeed it was, with the same young driver guiding it expertly through the narrow streets of the rural villages. This was a Solo – what it was like in the days of Leyland Panthers and Bristol REs goodness knows – although maybe there were fewer and narrower parked cars. The 172 - what a scenic route it is! It heads off into real country lanes over the hills at Stanton in Peak and Birchover, then again to Elton, through the lovely village of Winster, along through Wensley before rejoining the A6 at Darley Dale. I was the only passenger from Bakewell, we picked up a handful in Elton and Winster then quite a few more at Darley Dale and we arrived on time at Matlock even though the main A6 route past the station is closed, diverting all the traffic through the town centre. I did note that the bus back to Bakewell only made it as far as Wensley, where it stopped for half an hour and wasn’t seen again until this morning (Thursday).

Matlock was quite busy with the A6 closed for long running flood prevention work, but I had a few minutes to buy a sandwich and stroll around the attractive town centre park before my next bus on the Littles Travel 140 route to Alfreton. This was a smart E200 and I knew this route was also diverted – instead of a double run to Lea Bridge and then to Holloway and Crich we had to do a circuit of Holloway and Lea Bridge then via a different route to Crich to avoid a road closure. Pleasant scenery here too but not as dramatic as the Peak District scenery up to Matlock. Quite a few passengers throughout and good to go through Crich having started a trip there many years ago. The diversion didn’t delay us and we arrived at Alfreton on time giving long enough for a bacon roll and coffee. There’s not much to see in Alfreton but it is OK by the centre and near the church.

From Alfreton it was back to Hulleys and the hourly 55, a tendered service replacing and combining the former Stagecoach 55 and 56 services. Round the houses north of Alfreton and then through the villages of Tibshelf and Pilsley this area is not as scenic as further west. Quite a few passengers leaving Alfreton, several alighted fairly early into the journey but others boarded. This was a two door MCV bodied E200 originally with Metroline in London. At Tibshelf we came to a halt as the driver had an alarm sounding, he rummaged around in the back for a few minutes while on the phone then came back and said he had clearance to carry on, which we did and without the alarm. I alighted soon afterwards in North Wingfield, the bus completed its journey to Chesterfield but was not seen again on BusTimes until two days later. I crossed the road at North Wingfield and a Stagecoach ‘large’ E200 appeared on the 54 which I took to complete my journey to Chesterfield. This is a busy corridor, every 12 minutes for the 54 and 54A combined, the buses were all running and seemed to have pretty good loads on a reasonably quick route into Chesterfield, arriving a few minutes before the Hulleys 55 I had been on.

I love the centre of Chesterfield. I know this isn’t the most prosperous part of Derbyshire but the splendid black and white buildings in the town centre, plus of course the iconic twisted spire of the parish church, make it a very attractive place. I had nearly half an hour here, time to explore some of the narrow streets and market area and wait for my next bus in the splendid street called Knifesmithgate.

Sticking with Stagecoach for one more leg, a standard E200, this was on the 16, a rural route to Dronfield. This heads north west out of Chesterfield through Barlow, then cuts across to Holmesfield and finally round a rather dull part of Dronfield. Our bus had a new driver with a supervisor making sure he found the right route and we were on time arriving at the Civic Centre in Dronfield. Now I could have rushed down to the main road in the valley and taken a 44 to Sheffield, provided I took no more than 9 minutes. The trunk bus routes are the 43 and 44, going via different estates in Dronfield and the 44 would have taken me round estates to the east of the valley and into Sheffield in about 40 minutes. I elected instead to take more time walking down through the town as the old central core of Dronfield is pretty quiet and very attractive, unlike the massive estates. I ended up by the station and instead took the train (a class 195 if anyone cares) to Sheffield in 10 minutes and walking over to the Interchange. At the stand for my next journey was a Hulleys E200 with the engine compartment open and no-one around, it should have left on the 257 some 45 minutes earlier. Whatever was wrong was obviously resolved fairly quickly as the bus was back out for a Bakewell school run. Sheffield Interchange is a shadow of its former self, a few First buses and a handful of others, but most local routes now terminate in or run through the streets in the city centre.

It was mid-afternoon and time to head back over towards Bakewell on the TM Travel 218. Again I had researched the allocations to this route and was confident that my journey would be a double decker as it next did a Bakewell school journey. Indeed it was, an 06-plate Scania Omnidekka originally with Metrobus in London now in Notts and Derby colours. We took a few minutes getting out of the city centre with several passengers joining before heading through the south-western suburbs on the surprisingly quiet, leafy and middle-class area of Sharrow Vale, hidden between the major arteries out of the city, then to Ecclesall and across an even more upmarket area down to the Totley Road. After Totley it was into the Peak District hills up to Owler Bar and the powerful Scania made short work of the gradients. The sun was bright making this was a difficult trip on which to photograph anything as we were headed straight into it. Down the other side to Baslow where we arrived 5 minutes late. A brief stop in Baslow, a village I liked when based here on business around 40 years ago when working in Sheffield, but not enough time to explore it all or get to the Hulleys depot before continuing back to Bakewell on another Hulleys bus, a Solo on the 170. This was already early and sped onwards, arriving in Bakewell some 10 minutes ahead of schedule before continuing to the school. I saw later that this then continued onto the 171 back to Middleton by Youlgrave – a journey which should have started 10 minutes before the bus was due to arrive there!

I could therefore easily have taken this bus back to my car despite the official zero-minute connection, but there was some daylight left and I had other plans. I had been through the village of Ashford-in-the-Water a couple of times but never stopped there and I wanted to put this right. I took the Hulleys 173, another Solo full to standing with school children, for the short run out there and strolled round the delightful village for around 20 minutes enjoying the last low rays of the sun before it vanished behind the hills. Back to Bakewell on the High Peak Transpeak, one of the newest batch of E200s in smart green colours. Just time to go the river again and see the market being tidied away before heading back to Middleton. The timetables (Derbyshire and BusTimes – but not Hulleys’ own website) show a 171 to Middleton by Youlgrave at 5.15, but there is no such journey. What actually happens is that a 172 diverts to Youlgrave and Middleton departing Bakewell at 5.10 – slightly confusingly departing from a different stop in Bakewell to the 171 (which is wrong on Hulleys’ own 171 timetable) – adding about 20 minutes to its journey. This journey is run by the incoming 172 from Matlock which was about 15 minutes late due to slow traffic in Matlock but there was sufficient turnaround time for that not to delay us. BusTimes said this was a Solo but in fact it was another two door E200 formerly with Metroline. We left Bakewell with just three on board, one alighted in Youlgrave and I left in Middleton just as the last of the light was fading away – although there was a lovely sunset a few minutes later as I headed south on the A515 towards Ashbourne.

Looking back I think Hulleys were having a bad day on Monday: Bus 1 stopped at Chesterfield at 12.45, bus 8 broke down at Sheffield but was revived for the school runs, bus 18 stopped at Wensley during the morning, bus 25 stopped at Morton at 14.53 on the 55 from Alfreton and buses 2, 15 and 19 were not out at all. Bus 25 was tracking in two places until the real bus 25 stopped, the other one was actually bus 5 as I travelled on this from Bakewell back to Middleton. Bus 3, an Enviro 400, shows as not having been out but in fact it was running on the X70 and school runs, these journeys just not tracking at all on BusTimes. The next day buses 3 and 5 appear to have been corrected on BusTimes. I knew Hulleys had one double decker but in fact they were running three, one a splendid 20-year old Plaxton President bodied Trident in orange, originally Metroline but later Tyrers and JH Coaches, the other two E400s. Their workings included the afternoon school runs on the X70, 170 and 257 plus selected journeys on other routes and sometimes they work on the 272. BusTimes for Hulleys is very confusing as there are two route 48s, the vehicles for one route show up as the other while the vehicles for the other don’t show at all, just in black capitals as a 948 to Clay Cross or Wigley – nothing to do with the bus dealer of the same name but the village at the end of the route – in fact some journeys on this rural route are occasionally run with deckers (if BusTimes is correct). All the Hulleys buses I saw and travelled on were smart and well presented and the company seems to be a very professional operator. It must be hard for an operator this size to make money but there is a lot of school traffic, maybe they make reasonable money on this. In a week where the loss of two decent independents has been announced I hope they continue as they are.

A beautiful sunny day from sunrise to sunset, on the road for 9¼ hours, only two journeys on the ‘major’ operators – both Stagecoach – and hardly saw any others (a few First buses in Sheffield). Lots of journeys on Hulleys buses but also Littles, TM Travel and High Peak. Cost two singles at £2 for journeys before 9.30 and a train fare – a bargain!

As usual an allocation of 10 photos from the day:
View attachment 128686
Youlgrave

View attachment 128687
Bakewell

View attachment 128688
Looking down over Youlgrave from the 172 near Stanton in Peak

View attachment 128689
Matlock

View attachment 128690
Chesterfield, Knifesmithgate

View attachment 128691
Dronfield

View attachment 128692
Sheffield

View attachment 128693
From the 218 heading towards Owler Bar

View attachment 128694
Baslow


View attachment 128695
Ashford in the Water

Looks like that Youlgrave, Bakewell and Ashford in the Water can be mistaken for being a town or village in the Cotswolds!

Also, in relation to this thread (on the idea of trips on buses), albeit for a very different part of the country, please check out this thread I have recently created: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/best-routes-in-devon.243389/

 

[RELL6L]

Two points on the Luton etc report - one, the pic of the white tower reminded me of the Parkinson building at Leeds University, and two, is Aylesbury BS still the fume-ridden dismal hole I remember?

The white building is Luton town hall. Yes, Aylesbury bus station has not changed in many years. There is a waiting room with toilets though, you don’t have to stand out in the fumes!

The Peak District is not entirely unlike the Cotswolds, perhaps more dramatic scenery though. In summer both can be very crowded!

Thanks to @TheGrandWazoo for his comments also, always appreciated. Yes the 218 is a must, scenic ‘across the top’ once outside Sheffield.


NEW POST

I was lucky for the second time in just over a week that a good day appeared when I was in a position to do something with it. The weather forecast was pretty good for Tuesday so by sunrise I was in Frodsham in Cheshire. I had visited this attractive small town as the western extremity of a trip last spring, this time it was to be the eastern extremity of a figure-of-eight trip centred on Chester. The sun had barely risen when I got my first bus, a Stagecoach 2 to Ellesmere Port. This was a ‘large’ 26xxx E200 which had run out empty from Chester to start its day at Frodsham. Plenty of passengers boarded as we passed through Helsby and Elton (not the same Elton as I went through last week on the Peak District 172!) heading into town. We passed the huge Stanlow oil refinery, perennially on the edge of bankruptcy, then saw, but did not enter, the Cheshire Oaks Outlet Village – it seems huge with masses of car parking and I can see it could be a traffic nightmare when it is busy. Quite a few got off here, presumably early start workers on site, most people got off in Ellesmere Port rather than continue a long way round to Chester. Time for breakfast and stock up with provisions at Ellesmere Port, the centre is OK but there’s not really anything to see. A plentifully sized bus station but not that many buses.

My next bus on was the Aintree Coaches 272 to Neston. Aintree Coaches does not track on BusTimes and nor does it participate in the £2 fare scheme – as the departure board at the bus stand helpfully advised me. The bus, a small E200, turned up a few minutes ahead of time, presumably running off a school contract, and the driver apologetically charged me £4 for the fairly short trip. Although before the hour for concessionary passes we picked up a few passengers as we went through the village of Willaston to reach Neston. A few years ago -also in February - I had started a trip round the Wirral in Neston so I didn’t need to spend long here and left quickly on Al’s Coaches (formerly Happy Al’s I think, presumably running buses is not a happy profession at the moment) 22 on a former Lothian Volvo B7RLE for the short journey to Parkgate. Oddly the 22 doesn’t track on BusTimes either although Al’s school routes do seem to. Parkgate is the best part of Neston, being next to the marshy area between the end of the land and the River Dee estuary and is really attractive. I had a few minutes here before another 22 came the other way to take me to Chester. This was a modern E200 MMC registered HA21ALS so I am sure they were still happy when this was new. I also saw similar CC21ALS. We went back through Neston, then through Little Neston picking up loads of passengers (it was after 9.30 now) and also back through Willaston before heading into Chester along the main road. A really busy journey, no standing but pretty much all seats taken.

I love Chester. Within what is effectively the inner ring road and down to the river it is relatively traffic free with some wonderful architecture, plus the city walls, cathedral, Roman remains and waterfront area. I had plenty of time to alight at the Bus Interchange, a decent modern glass bus station, and walk down past the cathedral on one stretch of the wall and then round under the photogenic Eastgate clock to the bus stops in Foregate Street. From here I took an Arriva Wales 4 to Mold, a 58-plate Pulsar, taking me through Saltney, Broughton – past the Airbus factory, Hawarden and Buckley. At Mold an Arriva E400 was in the process of being taken away on a suspended tow having been there for a good four hours. I have been to Mold a couple of times before and didn’t have that long but I did venture up the busy High Street to the church which is quite a decent part of the town centre.

Now for the real scenery. There had been a little patchy mist earlier in the day but this had long gone and the afternoon was glorious. My next destination was Ruthin and I could of course have taken the T8, now upgraded to an hourly service, which is scenic. But I had identified that the M&H Coaches service 2, partly via the same route and partly off into the hinterland, looked even better. And so it proved – as soon as we turned off the A494 towards Maeshafn we were on impossibly narrow lanes through lovely open green countryside. You worry for routes like this though – the only other passenger alighted at Maeshafn and I was on my own through the best bits, including a double-run to Llanarmon-yn-lal before heading back up to the A494 and the T8 route. This is a really scenic section descending through hairpin bends approaching Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd with great views over Ruthin and to the west. Despite the lack of passengers the bus was a Streetlite WF, presumably because there is demand on the school runs.

Ruthin is another really attractive rural town, with some narrow streets, fine buildings and some pride in itself. I didn’t have time to walk down to the river but there’s plenty to enjoy in the quiet town centre. My previous memory of Ruthin was not a good one, back in the days of GHA Coaches I was heading for Wrexham and my bus just didn’t turn up, at that time the route was hourly and I had to wait another hour and I don’t think I got a window seat. Long before BusTimes would have told you what was going on! I was going to Wrexham again, the route is now two hourly, run by Arriva as the X51, a route descended from the M51 of many years ago coming from Rhyl, St Asaph and Denbigh. Now this route is pretty reliably run with double deckers. I had been watching this board all day. It started out with one decker, but at 9.20 was swapped for another – one of the J-reg (really 58 plate) Sapphire E400s with leather seats which I think ran on the Chester-Wrexham 1 when it was upgraded. But for this journey that was swapped off again at Rhyl with an 11, replaced by a more normal 61-plate VDL DB300 Wright Gemini. This arrived on time with a few passengers but I assume the capacity is used more for the northern section and/or for school runs. The run from Ruthin to Wrexham is very scenic, starting along a valley with good views to the east, then up a narrow bendy road hemmed in on both sides, a double run into Llandegla, which surprisingly produced a few passengers, and then into larger villages but still with fantastic views east, such as from Bwlchgwyn, before descending into Wrexham. I’ve hardly been on any of these buses before, except perhaps for short journeys in Liverpool and around Blyth, and it seemed pretty good, like a double decker Pulsar. Another great leg of the trip.

I had been to Wrexham before but not really explored the town centre so I found the time to do so now. Its not spectacular although there are one or two attractive buildings and the area by and north east of the big church is attractive. I had intended to spend 45 minutes here but checking the buses on the 1 back to Chester it seemed all boards were on time except the one I intended to use, which was 15 minutes late heading into Chester – so I made sure I had seen what I wanted in 30 minutes. My bus – indeed all the buses on the route – was an E400 City and was smart and comfortable. I expected to be impressed by this service – which I was entirely as far as my journey was concerned but not overall as I shall explain. As I said, the bus I had intended to catch had been 15 minutes late arriving in Chester earlier so I was surprised to meet it, on time, heading back into Wrexham. I did notice it seemed to have nobody on board and from BusTimes I can see it went via the A483 rather than through the villages, so presumably ran out of service. Possibly a good plan to get it back on time as none of the other board were late I thought. But I didn’t realise then what the impact would be. The following 1 from Chester, having started out on time, was 12 minutes late and full by the time I met it in Marford. The display said ‘temporarily full’ – not sure what the purpose of that is, no bus is going to be permanently full! Then we passed loads – and I mean loads – of people waiting at the bus stops towards Wrexham, mainly school children from the school in Rossett (an attractive village). With the bus having a double load out of Chester it presumably had little room for any school children and many had walked as far back up the route as they could – to the stop before the English boundary. Of course we had no schoolchildren aboard as they would all be living the Welsh side of the border. The following 1 southbound looked pretty full too and this went from 8 minutes late at the border to 20 minutes late getting back to Wrexham. Later journeys looked on time, less full and therefore less affected. So, by missing that one journey, the impact was that the bus that did that left Wrexham on time at 15.20 but the next one not until 15.58 on a 15-minute service!

Having arrived a little earlier than planned at Chester I had a bit more time to explore some of the little streets in the centre and part of the walls again before getting my final leg back to Frodsham on the X30, this being an Arriva North West route operated by another Pulsar. This had a good load, was on time and uneventful, bringing me back to Frodsham just around sunset and about 10 hours after I had left.

Although I have a concessionary pass I had to pay on the first three journeys, the second not with the fare cap, and to buy a 1Bws ticket (£6) for using in Wales, but this was not an expensive day out. I cannot commend too highly the 2 between Mold and Ruthin and the X51 between Ruthin and Wrexham on a sunny day – grab it while it is still there. In this direction both are two hourly and connect well with about 25 minutes in Ruthin, complete the loop either directly back to Mold or going via Chester. The 1Bws ticket is valid to Chester from anywhere in Wales. For me another hugely enjoyable day – I had been to all the places before apart from Ellesmere Port but the routes between them were largely different.

As usual some pictures from the day.

Parkgate, Neston


Chester, the Eastgate clock


Mold


near Maeshafn from the 2 to Ruthin

View from the A494 above Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd


A back street in Ruthin showing the hills behind


On the X51 south of Ruthin


Wrexham


A back street in central Chester

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The white building is Luton town hall. Yes, Aylesbury bus station has not changed in many years. There is a waiting room with toilets though, you don’t have to stand out in the fumes!

The Peak District is not entirely unlike the Cotswolds, perhaps more dramatic scenery though. In summer both can be very crowded!

Thanks to @TheGrandWazoo for his comments also, always appreciated. Yes the 218 is a must, scenic ‘across the top’ once outside Sheffield.


NEW POST

I was lucky for the second time in just over a week that a good day appeared when I was in a position to do something with it. The weather forecast was pretty good for Tuesday so by sunrise I was in Frodsham in Cheshire. I had visited this attractive small town as the western extremity of a trip last spring, this time it was to be the eastern extremity of a figure-of-eight trip centred on Chester. The sun had barely risen when I got my first bus, a Stagecoach 2 to Ellesmere Port. This was a ‘large’ 26xxx E200 which had run out empty from Chester to start its day at Frodsham. Plenty of passengers boarded as we passed through Helsby and Elton (not the same Elton as I went through last week on the Peak District 172!) heading into town. We passed the huge Stanlow oil refinery, perennially on the edge of bankruptcy, then saw, but did not enter, the Cheshire Oaks Outlet Village – it seems huge with masses of car parking and I can see it could be a traffic nightmare when it is busy. Quite a few got off here, presumably early start workers on site, most people got off in Ellesmere Port rather than continue a long way round to Chester. Time for breakfast and stock up with provisions at Ellesmere Port, the centre is OK but there’s not really anything to see. A plentifully sized bus station but not that many buses.

My next bus on was the Aintree Coaches 272 to Neston. Aintree Coaches does not track on BusTimes and nor does it participate in the £2 fare scheme – as the departure board at the bus stand helpfully advised me. The bus, a small E200, turned up a few minutes ahead of time, presumably running off a school contract, and the driver apologetically charged me £4 for the fairly short trip. Although before the hour for concessionary passes we picked up a few passengers as we went through the village of Willaston to reach Neston. A few years ago -also in February - I had started a trip round the Wirral in Neston so I didn’t need to spend long here and left quickly on Al’s Coaches (formerly Happy Al’s I think, presumably running buses is not a happy profession at the moment) 22 on a former Lothian Volvo B7RLE for the short journey to Parkgate. Oddly the 22 doesn’t track on BusTimes either although Al’s school routes do seem to. Parkgate is the best part of Neston, being next to the marshy area between the end of the land and the River Dee estuary and is really attractive. I had a few minutes here before another 22 came the other way to take me to Chester. This was a modern E200 MMC registered HA21ALS so I am sure they were still happy when this was new. I also saw similar CC21ALS. We went back through Neston, then through Little Neston picking up loads of passengers (it was after 9.30 now) and also back through Willaston before heading into Chester along the main road. A really busy journey, no standing but pretty much all seats taken.

I love Chester. Within what is effectively the inner ring road and down to the river it is relatively traffic free with some wonderful architecture, plus the city walls, cathedral, Roman remains and waterfront area. I had plenty of time to alight at the Bus Interchange, a decent modern glass bus station, and walk down past the cathedral on one stretch of the wall and then round under the photogenic Eastgate clock to the bus stops in Foregate Street. From here I took an Arriva Wales 4 to Mold, a 58-plate Pulsar, taking me through Saltney, Broughton – past the Airbus factory, Hawarden and Buckley. At Mold an Arriva E400 was in the process of being taken away on a suspended tow having been there for a good four hours. I have been to Mold a couple of times before and didn’t have that long but I did venture up the busy High Street to the church which is quite a decent part of the town centre.

Now for the real scenery. There had been a little patchy mist earlier in the day but this had long gone and the afternoon was glorious. My next destination was Ruthin and I could of course have taken the T8, now upgraded to an hourly service, which is scenic. But I had identified that the M&H Coaches service 2, partly via the same route and partly off into the hinterland, looked even better. And so it proved – as soon as we turned off the A494 towards Maeshafn we were on impossibly narrow lanes through lovely open green countryside. You worry for routes like this though – the only other passenger alighted at Maeshafn and I was on my own through the best bits, including a double-run to Llanarmon-yn-lal before heading back up to the A494 and the T8 route. This is a really scenic section descending through hairpin bends approaching Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd with great views over Ruthin and to the west. Despite the lack of passengers the bus was a Streetlite WF, presumably because there is demand on the school runs.

Ruthin is another really attractive rural town, with some narrow streets, fine buildings and some pride in itself. I didn’t have time to walk down to the river but there’s plenty to enjoy in the quiet town centre. My previous memory of Ruthin was not a good one, back in the days of GHA Coaches I was heading for Wrexham and my bus just didn’t turn up, at that time the route was hourly and I had to wait another hour and I don’t think I got a window seat. Long before BusTimes would have told you what was going on! I was going to Wrexham again, the route is now two hourly, run by Arriva as the X51, a route descended from the M51 of many years ago coming from Rhyl, St Asaph and Denbigh. Now this route is pretty reliably run with double deckers. I had been watching this board all day. It started out with one decker, but at 9.20 was swapped for another – one of the J-reg (really 58 plate) Sapphire E400s with leather seats which I think ran on the Chester-Wrexham 1 when it was upgraded. But for this journey that was swapped off again at Rhyl with an 11, replaced by a more normal 61-plate VDL DB300 Wright Gemini. This arrived on time with a few passengers but I assume the capacity is used more for the northern section and/or for school runs. The run from Ruthin to Wrexham is very scenic, starting along a valley with good views to the east, then up a narrow bendy road hemmed in on both sides, a double run into Llandegla, which surprisingly produced a few passengers, and then into larger villages but still with fantastic views east, such as from Bwlchgwyn, before descending into Wrexham. I’ve hardly been on any of these buses before, except perhaps for short journeys in Liverpool and around Blyth, and it seemed pretty good, like a double decker Pulsar. Another great leg of the trip.

I had been to Wrexham before but not really explored the town centre so I found the time to do so now. Its not spectacular although there are one or two attractive buildings and the area by and north east of the big church is attractive. I had intended to spend 45 minutes here but checking the buses on the 1 back to Chester it seemed all boards were on time except the one I intended to use, which was 15 minutes late heading into Chester – so I made sure I had seen what I wanted in 30 minutes. My bus – indeed all the buses on the route – was an E400 City and was smart and comfortable. I expected to be impressed by this service – which I was entirely as far as my journey was concerned but not overall as I shall explain. As I said, the bus I had intended to catch had been 15 minutes late arriving in Chester earlier so I was surprised to meet it, on time, heading back into Wrexham. I did notice it seemed to have nobody on board and from BusTimes I can see it went via the A483 rather than through the villages, so presumably ran out of service. Possibly a good plan to get it back on time as none of the other board were late I thought. But I didn’t realise then what the impact would be. The following 1 from Chester, having started out on time, was 12 minutes late and full by the time I met it in Marford. The display said ‘temporarily full’ – not sure what the purpose of that is, no bus is going to be permanently full! Then we passed loads – and I mean loads – of people waiting at the bus stops towards Wrexham, mainly school children from the school in Rossett (an attractive village). With the bus having a double load out of Chester it presumably had little room for any school children and many had walked as far back up the route as they could – to the stop before the English boundary. Of course we had no schoolchildren aboard as they would all be living the Welsh side of the border. The following 1 southbound looked pretty full too and this went from 8 minutes late at the border to 20 minutes late getting back to Wrexham. Later journeys looked on time, less full and therefore less affected. So, by missing that one journey, the impact was that the bus that did that left Wrexham on time at 15.20 but the next one not until 15.58 on a 15-minute service!

Having arrived a little earlier than planned at Chester I had a bit more time to explore some of the little streets in the centre and part of the walls again before getting my final leg back to Frodsham on the X30, this being an Arriva North West route operated by another Pulsar. This had a good load, was on time and uneventful, bringing me back to Frodsham just around sunset and about 10 hours after I had left.

Although I have a concessionary pass I had to pay on the first three journeys, the second not with the fare cap, and to buy a 1Bws ticket (£6) for using in Wales, but this was not an expensive day out. I cannot commend too highly the 2 between Mold and Ruthin and the X51 between Ruthin and Wrexham on a sunny day – grab it while it is still there. In this direction both are two hourly and connect well with about 25 minutes in Ruthin, complete the loop either directly back to Mold or going via Chester. The 1Bws ticket is valid to Chester from anywhere in Wales. For me another hugely enjoyable day – I had been to all the places before apart from Ellesmere Port but the routes between them were largely different.

As usual some pictures from the day.
View attachment 129175
Parkgate, Neston

View attachment 129176
Chester, the Eastgate clock

View attachment 129177
Mold

View attachment 129178
near Maeshafn from the 2 to Ruthin
View attachment 129179
View from the A494 above Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd

View attachment 129180
A back street in Ruthin showing the hills behind

View attachment 129181
On the X51 south of Ruthin

View attachment 129182
Wrexham

View attachment 129183
A back street in central Chester

Many apologies @RELL6L - I hadn't realised that you'd tagged on another trip (though you had suggested that something was in the pipeline). Once again, a very interesting travelogue and one that covers a bit of a trip I did about 18 months ago that began and finished in Frodsham coincidentally.

Of the places you visited, I confess that I have never really bothered with Neston and that area, despite living and working nearby in the past. Chester is, of course, a total delight and a great night out.

As a keen outdoorsy person, I've been to Llandegla many times but that's always been a car trip out of necessity. I've passed through Ruthin but never bothered to have a look around. Think I may have been missing out. Certainly, the view from Bwlchgwyn (that once inaccurately claimed to be Wales' highest village) is superb on a good day. Glad you had a good day - I might be posting something soon.

 

[RELL6L]

Many apologies @RELL6L - I hadn't realised that you'd tagged on another trip (though you had suggested that something was in the pipeline). Once again, a very interesting travelogue and one that covers a bit of a trip I did about 18 months ago that began and finished in Frodsham coincidentally.

Of the places you visited, I confess that I have never really bothered with Neston and that area, despite living and working nearby in the past. Chester is, of course, a total delight and a great night out.

As a keen outdoorsy person, I've been to Llandegla many times but that's always been a car trip out of necessity. I've passed through Ruthin but never bothered to have a look around. Think I may have been missing out. Certainly, the view from Bwlchgwyn (that once inaccurately claimed to be Wales' highest village) is superb on a good day. Glad you had a good day - I might be posting something soon.

No need to apologise- I always value your observations and you have given me many ideas- but you have no obligation to respond. In any case I only posted the trip report at lunchtime yesterday. When posts are combined this doesn’t show.

I remember reading about your trip including Frodsham and I have now been there twice within a year - but will probably never go again. Ruthin is really attractive probably because the roads avoid the town centre. I do think Neston, Parkgate and the west Wirral coast are worth a visit.

I’ve been lucky that two of my planned trips for 2023 have just fitted within the daylight hours available so early in the year, but looking forward to warmer and longer days!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

No need to apologise- I always value your observations and you have given me many ideas- but you have no obligation to respond. In any case I only posted the trip report at lunchtime yesterday. When posts are combined this doesn’t show.

That probably explains it

Look forward to the next excursion

 

[TheSel]

The white building is Luton town hall. Yes, Aylesbury bus station has not changed in many years. There is a waiting room with toilets though, you don’t have to stand out in the fumes!

The Peak District is not entirely unlike the Cotswolds, perhaps more dramatic scenery though. In summer both can be very crowded!

Thanks to @TheGrandWazoo for his comments also, always appreciated. Yes the 218 is a must, scenic ‘across the top’ once outside Sheffield.


NEW POST

I was lucky for the second time in just over a week that a good day appeared when I was in a position to do something with it. The weather forecast was pretty good for Tuesday so by sunrise I was in Frodsham in Cheshire. I had visited this attractive small town as the western extremity of a trip last spring, this time it was to be the eastern extremity of a figure-of-eight trip centred on Chester. The sun had barely risen when I got my first bus, a Stagecoach 2 to Ellesmere Port. This was a ‘large’ 26xxx E200 which had run out empty from Chester to start its day at Frodsham. Plenty of passengers boarded as we passed through Helsby and Elton (not the same Elton as I went through last week on the Peak District 172!) heading into town. We passed the huge Stanlow oil refinery, perennially on the edge of bankruptcy, then saw, but did not enter, the Cheshire Oaks Outlet Village – it seems huge with masses of car parking and I can see it could be a traffic nightmare when it is busy. Quite a few got off here, presumably early start workers on site, most people got off in Ellesmere Port rather than continue a long way round to Chester. Time for breakfast and stock up with provisions at Ellesmere Port, the centre is OK but there’s not really anything to see. A plentifully sized bus station but not that many buses.

My next bus on was the Aintree Coaches 272 to Neston. Aintree Coaches does not track on BusTimes and nor does it participate in the £2 fare scheme – as the departure board at the bus stand helpfully advised me. The bus, a small E200, turned up a few minutes ahead of time, presumably running off a school contract, and the driver apologetically charged me £4 for the fairly short trip. Although before the hour for concessionary passes we picked up a few passengers as we went through the village of Willaston to reach Neston. A few years ago -also in February - I had started a trip round the Wirral in Neston so I didn’t need to spend long here and left quickly on Al’s Coaches (formerly Happy Al’s I think, presumably running buses is not a happy profession at the moment) 22 on a former Lothian Volvo B7RLE for the short journey to Parkgate. Oddly the 22 doesn’t track on BusTimes either although Al’s school routes do seem to. Parkgate is the best part of Neston, being next to the marshy area between the end of the land and the River Dee estuary and is really attractive. I had a few minutes here before another 22 came the other way to take me to Chester. This was a modern E200 MMC registered HA21ALS so I am sure they were still happy when this was new. I also saw similar CC21ALS. We went back through Neston, then through Little Neston picking up loads of passengers (it was after 9.30 now) and also back through Willaston before heading into Chester along the main road. A really busy journey, no standing but pretty much all seats taken.

I love Chester. Within what is effectively the inner ring road and down to the river it is relatively traffic free with some wonderful architecture, plus the city walls, cathedral, Roman remains and waterfront area. I had plenty of time to alight at the Bus Interchange, a decent modern glass bus station, and walk down past the cathedral on one stretch of the wall and then round under the photogenic Eastgate clock to the bus stops in Foregate Street. From here I took an Arriva Wales 4 to Mold, a 58-plate Pulsar, taking me through Saltney, Broughton – past the Airbus factory, Hawarden and Buckley. At Mold an Arriva E400 was in the process of being taken away on a suspended tow having been there for a good four hours. I have been to Mold a couple of times before and didn’t have that long but I did venture up the busy High Street to the church which is quite a decent part of the town centre.

Now for the real scenery. There had been a little patchy mist earlier in the day but this had long gone and the afternoon was glorious. My next destination was Ruthin and I could of course have taken the T8, now upgraded to an hourly service, which is scenic. But I had identified that the M&H Coaches service 2, partly via the same route and partly off into the hinterland, looked even better. And so it proved – as soon as we turned off the A494 towards Maeshafn we were on impossibly narrow lanes through lovely open green countryside. You worry for routes like this though – the only other passenger alighted at Maeshafn and I was on my own through the best bits, including a double-run to Llanarmon-yn-lal before heading back up to the A494 and the T8 route. This is a really scenic section descending through hairpin bends approaching Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd with great views over Ruthin and to the west. Despite the lack of passengers the bus was a Streetlite WF, presumably because there is demand on the school runs.

Ruthin is another really attractive rural town, with some narrow streets, fine buildings and some pride in itself. I didn’t have time to walk down to the river but there’s plenty to enjoy in the quiet town centre. My previous memory of Ruthin was not a good one, back in the days of GHA Coaches I was heading for Wrexham and my bus just didn’t turn up, at that time the route was hourly and I had to wait another hour and I don’t think I got a window seat. Long before BusTimes would have told you what was going on! I was going to Wrexham again, the route is now two hourly, run by Arriva as the X51, a route descended from the M51 of many years ago coming from Rhyl, St Asaph and Denbigh. Now this route is pretty reliably run with double deckers. I had been watching this board all day. It started out with one decker, but at 9.20 was swapped for another – one of the J-reg (really 58 plate) Sapphire E400s with leather seats which I think ran on the Chester-Wrexham 1 when it was upgraded. But for this journey that was swapped off again at Rhyl with an 11, replaced by a more normal 61-plate VDL DB300 Wright Gemini. This arrived on time with a few passengers but I assume the capacity is used more for the northern section and/or for school runs. The run from Ruthin to Wrexham is very scenic, starting along a valley with good views to the east, then up a narrow bendy road hemmed in on both sides, a double run into Llandegla, which surprisingly produced a few passengers, and then into larger villages but still with fantastic views east, such as from Bwlchgwyn, before descending into Wrexham. I’ve hardly been on any of these buses before, except perhaps for short journeys in Liverpool and around Blyth, and it seemed pretty good, like a double decker Pulsar. Another great leg of the trip.

I had been to Wrexham before but not really explored the town centre so I found the time to do so now. Its not spectacular although there are one or two attractive buildings and the area by and north east of the big church is attractive. I had intended to spend 45 minutes here but checking the buses on the 1 back to Chester it seemed all boards were on time except the one I intended to use, which was 15 minutes late heading into Chester – so I made sure I had seen what I wanted in 30 minutes. My bus – indeed all the buses on the route – was an E400 City and was smart and comfortable. I expected to be impressed by this service – which I was entirely as far as my journey was concerned but not overall as I shall explain. As I said, the bus I had intended to catch had been 15 minutes late arriving in Chester earlier so I was surprised to meet it, on time, heading back into Wrexham. I did notice it seemed to have nobody on board and from BusTimes I can see it went via the A483 rather than through the villages, so presumably ran out of service. Possibly a good plan to get it back on time as none of the other board were late I thought. But I didn’t realise then what the impact would be. The following 1 from Chester, having started out on time, was 12 minutes late and full by the time I met it in Marford. The display said ‘temporarily full’ – not sure what the purpose of that is, no bus is going to be permanently full! Then we passed loads – and I mean loads – of people waiting at the bus stops towards Wrexham, mainly school children from the school in Rossett (an attractive village). With the bus having a double load out of Chester it presumably had little room for any school children and many had walked as far back up the route as they could – to the stop before the English boundary. Of course we had no schoolchildren aboard as they would all be living the Welsh side of the border. The following 1 southbound looked pretty full too and this went from 8 minutes late at the border to 20 minutes late getting back to Wrexham. Later journeys looked on time, less full and therefore less affected. So, by missing that one journey, the impact was that the bus that did that left Wrexham on time at 15.20 but the next one not until 15.58 on a 15-minute service!

Having arrived a little earlier than planned at Chester I had a bit more time to explore some of the little streets in the centre and part of the walls again before getting my final leg back to Frodsham on the X30, this being an Arriva North West route operated by another Pulsar. This had a good load, was on time and uneventful, bringing me back to Frodsham just around sunset and about 10 hours after I had left.

Although I have a concessionary pass I had to pay on the first three journeys, the second not with the fare cap, and to buy a 1Bws ticket (£6) for using in Wales, but this was not an expensive day out. I cannot commend too highly the 2 between Mold and Ruthin and the X51 between Ruthin and Wrexham on a sunny day – grab it while it is still there. In this direction both are two hourly and connect well with about 25 minutes in Ruthin, complete the loop either directly back to Mold or going via Chester. The 1Bws ticket is valid to Chester from anywhere in Wales. For me another hugely enjoyable day – I had been to all the places before apart from Ellesmere Port but the routes between them were largely different.

As usual some pictures from the day.
View attachment 129175
Parkgate, Neston

View attachment 129176
Chester, the Eastgate clock

View attachment 129177
Mold

View attachment 129178
near Maeshafn from the 2 to Ruthin
View attachment 129179
View from the A494 above Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd

View attachment 129180
A back street in Ruthin showing the hills behind

View attachment 129181
On the X51 south of Ruthin

View attachment 129182
Wrexham

View attachment 129183
A back street in central Chester

I always enjoy your reports, but wanted to let you know that this most recent report brought back SO many memories! Having been brought up on the Wirral, and then living in Wrexham (my first 'serious' girlfriend lived in Bwlchgwyn), this is an area I knew really well, and still like to revisit occasionally. Indeed, I had a recent trip on the entire T8 (including an hour's break in Mold), then continuing from Corwen to Bala on the T3, before returning to Chester via Llangollen (an hour or so's break) and Wrexham.

Just one minor point from which some others may benefit? Did you realise that an as English Concessionary Passholder, you can buy your 1bws ticket for £4, rather than the standard £6? An already great-value ticket becomes even more so to those with such a 'pass'.

From TrawsCyrmu's website: https://traws.cymru/en/use-1bws-ticket-north-wales

"An adult ticket will cost £6.00, a child (or young person with a My Travel Pass) will pay £4.00 and holders of English and Scottish concessionary bus passes will also pay £4.00." [my emboldening]

Please keep up the excellent reporting / photography.

 

[RELL6L]

I always enjoy your reports, but wanted to let you know that this most recent report brought back SO many memories! Having been brought up on the Wirral, and then living in Wrexham (my first 'serious' girlfriend lived in Bwlchgwyn), this is an area I knew really well, and still like to revisit occasionally. Indeed, I had a recent trip on the entire T8 (including an hour's break in Mold), then continuing from Corwen to Bala on the T3, before returning to Chester via Llangollen (an hour or so's break) and Wrexham.

Just one minor point from which some others may benefit? Did you realise that an as English Concessionary Passholder, you can buy your 1bws ticket for £4, rather than the standard £6? An already great-value ticket becomes even more so to those with such a 'pass'.

From TrawsCyrmu's website: https://traws.cymru/en/use-1bws-ticket-north-wales

"An adult ticket will cost £6.00, a child (or young person with a My Travel Pass) will pay £4.00 and holders of English and Scottish concessionary bus passes will also pay £4.00." [my emboldening]

Please keep up the excellent reporting / photography.

I plead guilty - I had not noticed this on the 1bws ticket publicity! Good to know for another trip. Thanks for your comments.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I've surprisingly managed to cram in another trip this year though might be the last one for a while as I've a few things on and there is more to life than bouncing around on a bus! It was a trip back to my native North East; I go back a few times a year but usually only manage an annual trip on buses. This is in marked contrast to the 1980s and 1990s when, free from the constraints of work and family, I used to travel regularly. I spent many days bouncing around on Explorer tickets on Northern, United, Tees and Northumbria vehicles - remember that in those days, none of the former municipals (Darlington, Hartlepool, Cleveland Transit or T&WPTE/Busways) were part of the scheme!

In recent years, I've focussed more on Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and North Durham so I took the opportunity this time to revisit some of my old haunts further south; it helped that I had some family duties to attend to so I couldn't travel so far afield. I hope you enjoy the report...

I began late, walking the short distance into Darlington town centre, past the DL1 entertainment centre (cinema, cafes/eateries) that is on the site of the former combined bus station/depot where I "enjoyed" many an hour in the dark, miserable surroundings. Instead, Darlington now has no bus station so inter-urban services have long since joined the local routes in using roadside stops scattered across the town centre. I was heading north initially, knowing (I thought) that I'd missed my intended journey by 5 mins. Instead, I would travel to Durham on what was the Sapphire 7. This was one of the original Sapphire routes rolled out by Arriva and gained new Wright Pulsars in 2013 with 2+1 seating, phone charging etc every 15 mins. Sadly, it has now moved to every 20 mins on a Saturday and the route gets a mixture of e400s (to Sapphire spec) and any standard Pulsar. I had one of the latter. It was a spirited ride out of the town centre until we hit temporary traffic lights at Beaumont Hill; I do like Pulsars and whilst they're lighter than the Eclipse, they are good, solid machines that I think are a bit underrated. Scrolling through bustimes on my phone, I suddenly realised that my intended X21 must have been delayed inbound (because of the same lights?) and it was actually following my bus some two minutes behind. Hence, a bit of checking on other times, and I elected to disembark at Newton Aycliffe. Aycliffe (as the locals call it) is a 1950s new town. It has never had a bus station, instead relying on stops around the Thames Centre (don't know why it's called after a Southern river?) and it was a short run from the 7 stop to the X21. Note that the X21 is not express - the X relates to the cross-country nature of the route? In the past, it was the 213 from Darlington to Sunderland via Sedgefield and Peterlee, requiring 4 vehicles (often Leyland Nationals) provided by four depots. Now truncated at Peterlee, it follows the same path across County Durham and is operated by Darlington's gas buses or Pulsars - it was another of the latter for me. I sat back and watched as I passed familiar spots. The Eden Arms at Rushyford (a big hotel on the old A1) now stands forlorn, waiting for likely demolition. Sedgefield is a delightful small town with a big green in the middle and used to be a key interchange point for services though sadly, services are now much reduced. The town also had TWO United depots, inherited from Wilkinsons on the purchase of that firm, and one still stands. The other is now housing, as is the former Winterton Hospital (former county asylum) that I remember passing in my youth. The place was notorious though only because of tall tales of escaped patients when really they were just benign, ill people. Another major site was Fishburn Coking Works and again, I can remember that in existence. Now, the site is redeveloped (more housing) and this is what you see in Co Durham - lots of places where clearly there once was mining or related industry but are now swept away yet street names etc still give the game away.





Grim up North - a gas bus goes the other direction to Darlington from Trimdon Village

I arrived into Trimdon Village; an odd place to interchange but I'd worked out I could get to Hartlepool from there. My late running meant a shortened spell in the village which was handy as there was nothing open other than the Coop and a bookies! My next steed was the 57A that is the predecessor of the Trimdon Motor Services 236 that ran from Sedgefield to Hartlepool (I think) and bang on time arrived a slightly knackered Solo. This was provided by Durham depot but was proudly displaying its heritage of being used on Darlington locals with its Frequenta identity and other vinyls. Internally, the seats were quite faded and the interior vinyls harked back to an age when Arriva North East actively promoted its services. Mind you, it highlighted how frequencies have declined with Richmond and Middlesbrough both advertised with 20 and 15 min frequencies respectively - they are now 30 and 20 mins. The sun had come out and it was a lovely trip across through the village of Deaf Hill (!) and then towards the coast with the sun glinting off the chilly North Sea and plenty of ships at anchor. I arrived in Hartlepool at the Interchange - four bus shelters next to the train station. Back in the day, United had its own bus station next to the depot; they went in 1993, under the road scheme that links the town and the historic harbour, right by the station and close to where the current interchange is. Mind you, even fewer services serve that (just a few Arriva ones). Town centre stops mention the X35, axed by Go North East a few years ago too. Hartlepool was a frequent destination in the 1980s/1990s and the town has deteriorated since then. It was a vibrant town centre but incrementally, the shopping centre has declined as out-of-town stores have proliferated. In some ways, Hartlepool is a typical northern town - financial woes and a loss of well paid jobs in traditional industries have led to a deterioration in the fabric of many towns and yet the presence of some fantastic buildings points to a former prosperous existence, especially in the Church Square area of town.



Hartlepool Interchange - you're welcome


Former grandeur in Hartlepool - note that the road bridge in the distance is on the site of the former bus station though you'd never know

I walked to Victoria Road and waited for the 1 to take me to Seaton Carew, home of the notorious canoeist who ended up in Panama. Now, full disclosure... I've been to Hartlepool loads of times, and travelled about. However, since I left the cold north at the millennium, I've not had so many chances to explore. The old Explorer ticket wasn't valid on Hartlepool Transport and so I've never been to Seaton Carew by bus (though been several times by car). It was a standard Stagecoach e200 that took me through Hartlepool and then past the former Tees now Stagecoach depot and then into Seaton Carew, delivering me rather late to the fine Art Deco bus station. The 1 used to run every 15 mins from Throston Grange to Seaton Carew with an hourly projection to Middlesbrough but at some time, that extension became half-hourly. My late arrival meant a hurried trip to the gents, a quick wander up the steps to take in the view, and then back down to await my trip to Middlesbrough. It duly arrived and, to my surprise, it was a rather elderly Stagecoach Dart. I understand that a number of these were sent north from Yorkshire to replace newer e200s that had MAN chassis and were proving unreliable. It was a stunning journey (and definitely in the right direction) towards Middlesbrough. It's a mix of coastal estuary and salt flats/marshes set againg the heavy industrial backdrop of the nuclear power station, the Abel UK site at Graythorp (where they dismantle oil platforms) and then across to the Billingham petro-chemical works. It's quite the contrast and quite arresting on a cold and clear winter's day. I've never travelled on this road, car or bus, with bus journeys either being on the former Tees 10 (Mboro-Billingham-Hartlepool) or the old 227 (now 36) that does the same but with Stockton added, and I've missed out. The elderly Dart was also in fine fettle, being free from major rattles and bounding along as we entered Port Clarence - a settlement on the north side of the Transporter Bridge that feels so disconnected from the world. I imagine living there is almost an island or a peninsula.


Seaton Carew bus station - assume it was designed with many holidaymakers in mind?



Not the best shot but a few from the Dart across the flooded fields towards Port Clarence and Haverton Hill

I arrived at Middlesbrough bus station. Now over 40 years old, this is still one of the best facilities going. It is beginning to show its age but only from a lack of engagement from the council. More bizarrely was arriving to find a craft fair going on in the main concourse area. The travel office is now closed and unused and it has a faint whiff of neglect. In 2018, the then mayor was proposing to redevelop the site for an innovation village with people suggesting the bus station could be relocated near the rail station as part of the Middlehaven redevelopment; a bus station located close to rail but separated from the main traffic objective (town centre) by both the rail line and the elevated A66 dual carriageway. Thankfully, such a daft idea seems to have abated. I popped out into the nearby shopping development to find food and was shocked to see how many empty retail units were adjacent. Thankfully, coffee and a sausage roll were purchased! I went back inside the bus station and went to get my next bus. Now, I don't often bother about the buses themselves; I don't "bash" numbers or get too excited about specific vehicles or the absolute need to have a double decker. I usually worry about the journey and scenery or whatever. However, I did make a special plan in this instance. I'd travelled on the Temsa Avenues operated by Arriva when they were relatively new. They seemed reasonably robust at that time even if a couple did catch fire (not with me on board) and the seating was functional. They oddly had additional box heaters fitted on the floor (very 1960s) and their origins as a citybus were evident in the grab poles and other design features. I was interested to see how they'd fared, having not been on one for 9 years. So I decided to catch the 64 to Eston (which I knew would be Temsa operated), from where I could easily get a 63 to Redcar, my intended destination. My machine duly arrived and it was actually surprisingly good. Very few rattles, a decent refurb and the interior advertising had been updated. That said, it was a bit careworn with the floor/plastics and rather grubby but a surprisingly nice machine. We headed off through Cargo Fleet and then to South Bank - a place that seems, even more, a byword for decline with whole streets having been demolished. It was bleak. We then headed up through Normanby and into Eston where I got off whilst the Temsa headed off to Grangetown. Eston is actually a fairly pleasant place that nestles under Eston Nab, an outcrop of rock that is part of the Cleveland Hills. It was the place where ironstone was first obtained and led to the now-gone Teesside iron and steel industry. Oddly, this place had a number of murals on gable ends commemorating this history. However, with a number of union jacks on buildings, it felt like I was in a unionist town in Northern Ireland. The small central square has a few shops though the 1970s precinct had nothing other than a Turkish Barbers still going plus a couple of closed shops; it really feels depressing and yet it is actually a nice place.




Inside my initial Temsa Avenue


My initial Temsa and more tributes to the past




Mural action and the aforementioned Eston Nab in the background behind the roofs

I patiently waited for my 63 to Redcar and it was another Temsa Avenue of the same batch as I'd just experienced. Arriva NE had taken an initial 15 but later got 7/8 more that had been built for Arriva Bus and Coach (as dealer stock) but when no buyer came forward, they too went to Redcar! Despite being the same age as my first Temsa and having also been refurbished, this was a lot scruffier inside. Lots of scuffs and rattles were evident as we headed at pace towards the former ICI Wilton petrochem complex and then dragged our way around some Redcar estates before arriving in the town centre, passing the Morrisons where the United/Tees/Arriva depot once stood. The town bus station (a rudimentary affair at the far end of the High Street) has also now gone with Arriva having an office by the town clock though I don't know if the public is tolerated. I saw my next bus waiting, with a Sapphire spec Wright Streetlite on the X3 bound for Lingdale. This route was once part of the Darlington to Lingdale service (a 5 hour round trip) but I was only going to Skelton. As we exited Redcar and passed through a non-descript housing estate, I spotted the Redcar sound mirror. This is a strange concrete structure but it was built during WW1 as an early form of radar, using a concave bowl to listen out for approaching German Zeppelin airships, funnelling the sound wave into a central ear trumpet. I must have passed it before but I'd never noticed it. We continued to travel out to Marske by the Sea, and then to Saltburn where a whole family boarded and were pleasantly surprised to hear about the two pound fixed fare. The Streetlite was naturally a bit less comfortable than the heavier Temsa but it wasn't bad as we climbed into the hills for Skelton where I exited.

Dusk was falling fast and I was keen to head back. The 5 to Middlesbrough was expected, and this was another route that I used a lot in the 1980s/1990s. Rather than a knackered National or rudimentary Bristol LH, today's fleet is now dominated by Streetlites and Pulsars and they are so much better than in the past, though my Pulsar was a bit tatty. Sadly, service frequencies have diminished and the former 15 min headway to Loftus now gets reduced to half hourly east of Guisborough. I'd chosen this route in order to enjoy a dusky vista across Teesside from the hills near Skelton and then from the top of Ormesby Bank (which is quite the view) but it was now a bit too dark and you could only see the glittering street lamps and industrial lighting of the major engineering sites. Still, the loading was quite good with a group of three women in their 40s leaving for an early start to their evening out, all dolled up. They departed at Guisborough with two women, probably 20 at the most, getting on and adhering to the northern stereotype with strappy stillettos, bare legs and insufficient clothing for the climate but the look is what is important! The Pulsar was in good health but I noticed we were behind time which meant my zero minute connection in Middlesbrough was looking shaky, and more so as we continued to collect people into Middesbrough. Arriving two mins late, I resigned myself to a 30 min wait but no, in the central parking area was an X66 with an arriving driver, and a tell tale queue at the stand. I got up ready to get off my bus as quickly as possible. The woman in the seat behind the driver, then stood up to exit before me and halfway down the ramp from the stand, stopped to check her purse!! Fortunately, you then decided it was a stupid place to stop and allow me to go full Forest Gump running down that part of the bus station to the end where the X66 was now loading. I got there in time and ready to head back to Darlington. The X66 is a sort of express. It's the hybrid child of the old fast express between Middlesbrough and Darlington (X14) and the old stopper service (268 or 98) that went via Stockton and the villages. This one sprints off to Stockton, gets bogged down in Hartburn before going along the A66 and then through parts of north Darlington before arriving in the town centre. My fourth Pulsar of the day, this was very tired internally and branded for the local Teesside 8. It was certainly better than the knackered Solo I had last time on this route, and a very healthy loading needed the capacity. We made good time and whilst late leaving, we were nearly on time on arrival. It was then a short walk past the former Darlington Transport offices and through the Market Place and Feethams and back "home".

As with earlier trips to the North East, it feels that there's a group of committed Arriva local managers and staff valiantly trying to maintain a service and standards yet hamstrung by continued underinvestment and a lack of focus on developing the business. It's all quite sad and the fleet is now looking very middle aged. Stagecoach was much better but I have to applaud the fact that every journey ran as advertised. It was a real trip down memory lane, even if there were reminders all around about how the bus network, and the general health of the region, has declined in 30 years. All a bit depressing at times but there's a lot to explore and enjoy and you do get one of the best multi-operator tickets with Explorer NE.


My Pulsar back from Middlesbrough in a dark but attractive Darlington

 

[RELL6L]

I've surprisingly managed to cram in another trip this year though might be the last one for a while as I've a few things on and there is more to life than bouncing around on a bus! It was a trip back to my native North East; I go back a few times a year but usually only manage an annual trip on buses. This is in marked contrast to the 1980s and 1990s when, free from the constraints of work and family, I used to travel regularly. I spent many days bouncing around on Explorer tickets on Northern, United, Tees and Northumbria vehicles - remember that in those days, none of the former municipals (Darlington, Hartlepool, Cleveland Transit or T&WPTE/Busways) were part of the scheme!

In recent years, I've focussed more on Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and North Durham so I took the opportunity this time to revisit some of my old haunts further south; it helped that I had some family duties to attend to so I couldn't travel so far afield. I hope you enjoy the report...

I began late, walking the short distance into Darlington town centre, past the DL1 entertainment centre (cinema, cafes/eateries) that is on the site of the former combined bus station/depot where I "enjoyed" many an hour in the dark, miserable surroundings. Instead, Darlington now has no bus station so inter-urban services have long since joined the local routes in using roadside stops scattered across the town centre. I was heading north initially, knowing (I thought) that I'd missed my intended journey by 5 mins. Instead, I would travel to Durham on what was the Sapphire 7. This was one of the original Sapphire routes rolled out by Arriva and gained new Wright Pulsars in 2013 with 2+1 seating, phone charging etc every 15 mins. Sadly, it has now moved to every 20 mins on a Saturday and the route gets a mixture of e400s (to Sapphire spec) and any standard Pulsar. I had one of the latter. It was a spirited ride out of the town centre until we hit temporary traffic lights at Beaumont Hill; I do like Pulsars and whilst they're lighter than the Eclipse, they are good, solid machines that I think are a bit underrated. Scrolling through bustimes on my phone, I suddenly realised that my intended X21 must have been delayed inbound (because of the same lights?) and it was actually following my bus some two minutes behind. Hence, a bit of checking on other times, and I elected to disembark at Newton Aycliffe. Aycliffe (as the locals call it) is a 1950s new town. It has never had a bus station, instead relying on stops around the Thames Centre (don't know why it's called after a Southern river?) and it was a short run from the 7 stop to the X21. Note that the X21 is not express - the X relates to the cross-country nature of the route? In the past, it was the 213 from Darlington to Sunderland via Sedgefield and Peterlee, requiring 4 vehicles (often Leyland Nationals) provided by four depots. Now truncated at Peterlee, it follows the same path across County Durham and is operated by Darlington's gas buses or Pulsars - it was another of the latter for me. I sat back and watched as I passed familiar spots. The Eden Arms at Rushyford (a big hotel on the old A1) now stands forlorn, waiting for likely demolition. Sedgefield is a delightful small town with a big green in the middle and used to be a key interchange point for services though sadly, services are now much reduced. The town also had TWO United depots, inherited from Wilkinsons on the purchase of that firm, and one still stands. The other is now housing, as is the former Winterton Hospital (former county asylum) that I remember passing in my youth. The place was notorious though only because of tall tales of escaped patients when really they were just benign, ill people. Another major site was Fishburn Coking Works and again, I can remember that in existence. Now, the site is redeveloped (more housing) and this is what you see in Co Durham - lots of places where clearly there once was mining or related industry but are now swept away yet street names etc still give the game away.



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Grim up North - a gas bus goes the other direction to Darlington from Trimdon Village

I arrived into Trimdon Village; an odd place to interchange but I'd worked out I could get to Hartlepool from there. My late running meant a shortened spell in the village which was handy as there was nothing open other than the Coop and a bookies! My next steed was the 57A that is the predecessor of the Trimdon Motor Services 236 that ran from Sedgefield to Hartlepool (I think) and bang on time arrived a slightly knackered Solo. This was provided by Durham depot but was proudly displaying its heritage of being used on Darlington locals with its Frequenta identity and other vinyls. Internally, the seats were quite faded and the interior vinyls harked back to an age when Arriva North East actively promoted its services. Mind you, it highlighted how frequencies have declined with Richmond and Middlesbrough both advertised with 20 and 15 min frequencies respectively - they are now 30 and 20 mins. The sun had come out and it was a lovely trip across through the village of Deaf Hill (!) and then towards the coast with the sun glinting off the chilly North Sea and plenty of ships at anchor. I arrived in Hartlepool at the Interchange - four bus shelters next to the train station. Back in the day, United had its own bus station next to the depot; they went in 1993, under the road scheme that links the town and the historic harbour, right by the station and close to where the current interchange is. Mind you, even fewer services serve that (just a few Arriva ones). Town centre stops mention the X35, axed by Go North East a few years ago too. Hartlepool was a frequent destination in the 1980s/1990s and the town has deteriorated since then. It was a vibrant town centre but incrementally, the shopping centre has declined as out-of-town stores have proliferated. In some ways, Hartlepool is a typical northern town - financial woes and a loss of well paid jobs in traditional industries have led to a deterioration in the fabric of many towns and yet the presence of some fantastic buildings points to a former prosperous existence, especially in the Church Square area of town.

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Hartlepool Interchange - you're welcome

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Former grandeur in Hartlepool - note that the road bridge in the distance is on the site of the former bus station though you'd never know

I walked to Victoria Road and waited for the 1 to take me to Seaton Carew, home of the notorious canoeist who ended up in Panama. Now, full disclosure... I've been to Hartlepool loads of times, and travelled about. However, since I left the cold north at the millennium, I've not had so many chances to explore. The old Explorer ticket wasn't valid on Hartlepool Transport and so I've never been to Seaton Carew by bus (though been several times by car). It was a standard Stagecoach e200 that took me through Hartlepool and then past the former Tees now Stagecoach depot and then into Seaton Carew, delivering me rather late to the fine Art Deco bus station. The 1 used to run every 15 mins from Throston Grange to Seaton Carew with an hourly projection to Middlesbrough but at some time, that extension became half-hourly. My late arrival meant a hurried trip to the gents, a quick wander up the steps to take in the view, and then back down to await my trip to Middlesbrough. It duly arrived and, to my surprise, it was a rather elderly Stagecoach Dart. I understand that a number of these were sent north from Yorkshire to replace newer e200s that had MAN chassis and were proving unreliable. It was a stunning journey (and definitely in the right direction) towards Middlesbrough. It's a mix of coastal estuary and salt flats/marshes set againg the heavy industrial backdrop of the nuclear power station, the Abel UK site at Graythorp (where they dismantle oil platforms) and then across to the Billingham petro-chemical works. It's quite the contrast and quite arresting on a cold and clear winter's day. I've never travelled on this road, car or bus, with bus journeys either being on the former Tees 10 (Mboro-Billingham-Hartlepool) or the old 227 (now 36) that does the same but with Stockton added, and I've missed out. The elderly Dart was also in fine fettle, being free from major rattles and bounding along as we entered Port Clarence - a settlement on the north side of the Transporter Bridge that feels so disconnected from the world. I imagine living there is almost an island or a peninsula.

View attachment 129654
Seaton Carew bus station - assume it was designed with many holidaymakers in mind?


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Not the best shot but a few from the Dart across the flooded fields towards Port Clarence and Haverton Hill

I arrived at Middlesbrough bus station. Now over 40 years old, this is still one of the best facilities going. It is beginning to show its age but only from a lack of engagement from the council. More bizarrely was arriving to find a craft fair going on in the main concourse area. The travel office is now closed and unused and it has a faint whiff of neglect. In 2018, the then mayor was proposing to redevelop the site for an innovation village with people suggesting the bus station could be relocated near the rail station as part of the Middlehaven redevelopment; a bus station located close to rail but separated from the main traffic objective (town centre) by both the rail line and the elevated A66 dual carriageway. Thankfully, such a daft idea seems to have abated. I popped out into the nearby shopping development to find food and was shocked to see how many empty retail units were adjacent. Thankfully, coffee and a sausage roll were purchased! I went back inside the bus station and went to get my next bus. Now, I don't often bother about the buses themselves; I don't "bash" numbers or get too excited about specific vehicles or the absolute need to have a double decker. I usually worry about the journey and scenery or whatever. However, I did make a special plan in this instance. I'd travelled on the Temsa Avenues operated by Arriva when they were relatively new. They seemed reasonably robust at that time even if a couple did catch fire (not with me on board) and the seating was functional. They oddly had additional box heaters fitted on the floor (very 1960s) and their origins as a citybus were evident in the grab poles and other design features. I was interested to see how they'd fared, having not been on one for 9 years. So I decided to catch the 64 to Eston (which I knew would be Temsa operated), from where I could easily get a 63 to Redcar, my intended destination. My machine duly arrived and it was actually surprisingly good. Very few rattles, a decent refurb and the interior advertising had been updated. That said, it was a bit careworn with the floor/plastics and rather grubby but a surprisingly nice machine. We headed off through Cargo Fleet and then to South Bank - a place that seems, even more, a byword for decline with whole streets having been demolished. It was bleak. We then headed up through Normanby and into Eston where I got off whilst the Temsa headed off to Grangetown. Eston is actually a fairly pleasant place that nestles under Eston Nab, an outcrop of rock that is part of the Cleveland Hills. It was the place where ironstone was first obtained and led to the now-gone Teesside iron and steel industry. Oddly, this place had a number of murals on gable ends commemorating this history. However, with a number of union jacks on buildings, it felt like I was in a unionist town in Northern Ireland. The small central square has a few shops though the 1970s precinct had nothing other than a Turkish Barbers still going plus a couple of closed shops; it really feels depressing and yet it is actually a nice place.


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Inside my initial Temsa Avenue

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My initial Temsa and more tributes to the past


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Mural action and the aforementioned Eston Nab in the background behind the roofs

I patiently waited for my 63 to Redcar and it was another Temsa Avenue of the same batch as I'd just experienced. Arriva NE had taken an initial 15 but later got 7/8 more that had been built for Arriva Bus and Coach (as dealer stock) but when no buyer came forward, they too went to Redcar! Despite being the same age as my first Temsa and having also been refurbished, this was a lot scruffier inside. Lots of scuffs and rattles were evident as we headed at pace towards the former ICI Wilton petrochem complex and then dragged our way around some Redcar estates before arriving in the town centre, passing the Morrisons where the United/Tees/Arriva depot once stood. The town bus station (a rudimentary affair at the far end of the High Street) has also now gone with Arriva having an office by the town clock though I don't know if the public is tolerated. I saw my next bus waiting, with a Sapphire spec Wright Streetlite on the X3 bound for Lingdale. This route was once part of the Darlington to Lingdale service (a 5 hour round trip) but I was only going to Skelton. As we exited Redcar and passed through a non-descript housing estate, I spotted the Redcar sound mirror. This is a strange concrete structure but it was built during WW1 as an early form of radar, using a concave bowl to listen out for approaching German Zeppelin airships, funnelling the sound wave into a central ear trumpet. I must have passed it before but I'd never noticed it. We continued to travel out to Marske by the Sea, and then to Saltburn where a whole family boarded and were pleasantly surprised to hear about the two pound fixed fare. The Streetlite was naturally a bit less comfortable than the heavier Temsa but it wasn't bad as we climbed into the hills for Skelton where I exited.

Dusk was falling fast and I was keen to head back. The 5 to Middlesbrough was expected, and this was another route that I used a lot in the 1980s/1990s. Rather than a knackered National or rudimentary Bristol LH, today's fleet is now dominated by Streetlites and Pulsars and they are so much better than in the past, though my Pulsar was a bit tatty. Sadly, service frequencies have diminished and the former 15 min headway to Loftus now gets reduced to half hourly east of Guisborough. I'd chosen this route in order to enjoy a dusky vista across Teesside from the hills near Skelton and then from the top of Ormesby Bank (which is quite the view) but it was now a bit too dark and you could only see the glittering street lamps and industrial lighting of the major engineering sites. Still, the loading was quite good with a group of three women in their 40s leaving for an early start to their evening out, all dolled up. They departed at Guisborough with two women, probably 20 at the most, getting on and adhering to the northern stereotype with strappy stillettos, bare legs and insufficient clothing for the climate but the look is what is important! The Pulsar was in good health but I noticed we were behind time which meant my zero minute connection in Middlesbrough was looking shaky, and more so as we continued to collect people into Middesbrough. Arriving two mins late, I resigned myself to a 30 min wait but no, in the central parking area was an X66 with an arriving driver, and a tell tale queue at the stand. I got up ready to get off my bus as quickly as possible. The woman in the seat behind the driver, then stood up to exit before me and halfway down the ramp from the stand, stopped to check her purse!! Fortunately, you then decided it was a stupid place to stop and allow me to go full Forest Gump running down that part of the bus station to the end where the X66 was now loading. I got there in time and ready to head back to Darlington. The X66 is a sort of express. It's the hybrid child of the old fast express between Middlesbrough and Darlington (X14) and the old stopper service (268 or 98) that went via Stockton and the villages. This one sprints off to Stockton, gets bogged down in Hartburn before going along the A66 and then through parts of north Darlington before arriving in the town centre. My fourth Pulsar of the day, this was very tired internally and branded for the local Teesside 8. It was certainly better than the knackered Solo I had last time on this route, and a very healthy loading needed the capacity. We made good time and whilst late leaving, we were nearly on time on arrival. It was then a short walk past the former Darlington Transport offices and through the Market Place and Feethams and back "home".

As with earlier trips to the North East, it feels that there's a group of committed Arriva local managers and staff valiantly trying to maintain a service and standards yet hamstrung by continued underinvestment and a lack of focus on developing the business. It's all quite sad and the fleet is now looking very middle aged. Stagecoach was much better but I have to applaud the fact that every journey ran as advertised. It was a real trip down memory lane, even if there were reminders all around about how the bus network, and the general health of the region, has declined in 30 years. All a bit depressing at times but there's a lot to explore and enjoy and you do get one of the best multi-operator tickets with Explorer NE.

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My Pulsar back from Middlesbrough in a dark but attractive Darlington

Great report - very interesting notes and background - thanks for posting.
I did quite a bit of this on two trips in 2021:
York-Easingwold-Thirsk-Northallerton-Stokesley-Middlesbrough-Seaton Carew-Hartlepool-Coxhoe-Sedgefield-Newton Aycliffe-Darlington; and
Darlington-Middlesbrough-Redcar-Saltburn-Staithes-Whitby-Guisborough-Middlesbrough-Darlington.

Agree with you about the 1 between Middlesbrough and Seaton Carew - very dramatic industrial and post-industrial landscape. I also did this many years ago on a Hartlepool RE. There were quite a few people enjoying the sunshine when I was at Seaton Carew but any glory days it had have long gone. Hartlepool has also been made quite decent by the marina, but the interchange is a joke - almost nothing uses it. Like you I only stopped briefly at Newton Aycliffe to change between an X21 and a 7, Sedgefield is still attractive even if it now has no depots. And, clearly like you, I do quite like Darlington town centre with the market building and the wide open space around it. I also went through Deaf Hill on my way from Hartlepool to Coxhoe - there doesn't seem to be any information about how the village got its strange name. Never been to Eston nor considered going there, but it looks quite interesting.

I like Pulsars too, I think they are good buses. When I did the X66 though I had Scanias both ways, and they were very rapid. I regret that, despite visiting Redcar and Guisborough, I saw but did not travel on a Temsa Avenue, indeed I have never been on one. Would be interesting to see what they are like as they are pretty unique in the UK. They seem to keep them going - there are 25, so far 22 are out today, one last out yesterday, one the day before and the final one about a fortnight ago, also one was rebuilt after over a year off the road - where I live Arriva are withdrawing some 58-plate Citaros that are not much older. Maybe I can go to Eston on a Temsa! I didn't go on any of the gas buses either in that area, although I went on one last year from Runcorn to Frodsham. These look to be flakier - only 10 out of 14 on the road today from Darlington and 14 out of 19 at Runcorn.

 

[RELL6L]

New post Friday 3 March:

A slightly different trip this week, although it is my part of the country I had not been out to the south east of London since before the first lockdown. I have covered pretty much all of Kent and Sussex but there are a few places I want to revisit or spend more time and a handful of routes that would be new to me so I put some of these together for a day out yesterday.

I started in the splendid town of Tunbridge Wells, parking in the car park just above the Pantiles shopping centre. The centre itself, very upmarket, was deserted at this time as I waited for the Brighton and Hove 29 heading south. I know this route quite well but, in the absence of a suitable train, needed to take this to complete my intended circuit. The vehicle, a Volvo B9TL in Regency livery, arrived pretty much on time and, despite road works, stayed that way. To my surprise there weren’t any real school flows on this journey, but a number boarded and alighted throughout. We were on time arriving at Uckfield bus station but then delayed leaving as both possible exit routes were blocked by other buses, a Compass bus 31A and the Brighton 29 heading north. Then there were a number of passengers waiting at the railway station and suddenly we were 10 minutes late, but the driver then kept his foot down, any traffic queues into Lewes had dissipated and we were on time by the time we got to Lewes centre.

I really like Lewes and on another day would have spent more time here but on this occasion I did not have any to spare, I had even contemplated bailing from the 29 early to get my next bus had that been necessary. It was a Compass bus 143 to Hailsham. Having studied BusTimes I was aware that the previous trip for this working was the 121 to South Chailey, so I knew which vehicle would be mine and indeed it – an E200 - was sitting on the stand when I got there. We were not long before departure through Ringmer, including some narrow back lanes, and then off the main road to Deanland Wood mobile home park. Several passengers from Ringmer and five joined at Deanland Wood and we were well into double figures heading into Hailsham – I have to say I reckon I was by some way the youngest. Both the first two journeys had cost me £2, after this I was able to use my ENCTS pass for the rest of the day, all further bus journeys being with Stagecoach.

A few minutes at Hailsham but there’s nothing special here, a busy town with chain stores and a few independents and I was able to buy some food. My onward journey was on the 1X towards Eastbourne, although I was only going to Stone Cross. Some time back I think the 1 ran to Hailsham via the direct route, now the 51 provides that service while the 1X runs via Langney. I saw a couple of plain white new E200s on the 54s, I don’t know why these are not in normal colours. The 1X takes an odd route south east out of Hailsham along a stretch of road where we did not pick up or set down any passengers, but there were quite a few on board my bus – an E200. I don’t know whether they were headed all the way to Eastbourne or to Langney Shopping centre.

There’s nothing at Stone Cross but for me it was an interchange point to head east to Pevensey, somewhere I had never stopped off at. My bus for this stretch was a Solo on the 8, a route put together last autumn and subsidised by East Sussex, covering part of routes Stagecoach had otherwise discarded. I can see why this section wasn’t of interest as there were only a couple on board, but the route provides the only service to some parts of the area including – very indirectly – to Beachlands, a coastal area which looks very much a retirement community. I wasn’t going that far and alighted at the far end of Pevensey and walked back through the village. The castle isn’t open to the public during the week in winter but the path through the castle gives views of virtually all of it, and with few people about it was pretty attractive. The village of Pevensey seamlessly becomes Westham and there is a station there serving both, the adjacent Pevensey Bay station having a very limited service. The 99 bus would have taken me from Pevensey to Hastings but takes an hour and I had done this before and didn’t have that much time, so I took the train. In places the train hugs the coast more than the road so I got some views of tide protection embankments and beach huts along the route with stops at obscure places such as Normans Bay.

I have been to Hastings a few times previously, including the attractive Old Town area, but never explored properly, and that was my main focus of the day. I only had a few minutes after getting off the train at Hastings station to wait for the 28. This was another route Stagecoach wished to abandon last autumn, when it had run every 70 minutes with one bus, but they now retain it under contract and have found a way to link it to another route and run it at a much more attractive 60-minute frequency mainly, for some reason, with deckers. My vehicle was a venerable 54-plate Trident, a rare pleasure to travel on one of these although there are still a few scattered around Stagecoach South East. The 28 is a splendid route and heads off almost immediately up the steepest hills to the top of West Hill. We had a good load on board downstairs, but I don’t know whether these were just taking this to Ore as an alternative to the 20 or to the parts served uniquely by the 28. I alighted in West Hill, explored to the top of the hill and round about before walking down the steep path to the heart of the Old Town. This has several attractive back streets and I carried on through these to the bottom of East Hill, summoning the energy to walk up the path this side to the top of the seasonal cable car up from the bottom, more excellent views. Then I walked back down again, ate my sandwich by the sea front and took a 101 back from Old Town to the middle of Hastings. I could have walked but was happy to have used my energy to climb the hills instead. Hastings is held out as one of the deprived seaside towns of the South East and that may be so, but not around Old Town and the shopping areas in the town centre looked pretty thriving as well although I acknowledge that I had not been to other estates.

Back at the station my final legs were to take the 304 / 254 through Hawkhurst back to Tunbridge Wells. The bus stands at the station were quite busy with some buses having to wait before coming onto the stands and my bus stayed outside until the previous departure from the stand left one minute before we were due to leave. There was some activity as another elderly Trident was being swapped between the 98 and the 99 routes with a Scania being swapped the other way. Not sure the Trident is the image Stagecoach want to portray on the ‘Wave’ route, but I noticed that there was a single decker E200 on the route too. I had decided to break my journey, not at Hawkhurst, which I had visited before, but at Robertsbridge, which I had not. The first part, to Robertsbridge, was on an E300, one of about 5 based at Hastings. The 304/305 to Hawkhurst, which run on as the 254 to Tunbridge Wells, are more routes Stagecoach planned to withdraw as uncommercial last autumn, but there seemed to be good loads on the journeys I saw. Indeed one of the boards, covering the afternoon Tunbridge Wells school trip, is normally run by a decker, as it was yesterday (today the board seems not to be running, I suspect it is but just not tracking). The E300 does the morning Tunbridge Wells run and E200s the rest. My first journey was 10 minutes later than the norm, presumably to pass Robertsbridge at the right time for traffic from the school there, to which it diverts, but there didn’t seem to be many students on board when I saw it return from the college. As a result I spent 50 minutes in Robertsbridge, an attractive village around the old main road with several properties very well maintained in the local style. Not much else apart from works on the Rother valley railway, which is intended to run from Robertsbridge to link up at Bodiam with the Kent and East Sussex railway to Tenterden, an ambitious project with still a long way to go! In due course my final journey through to Tunbridge Wells was on another E200. This was quite quiet through to Hawkhurst but once we reached Ticehurst and Wadhurst, both attractive Sussex villages, quite a few passengers joined. It was nearly sunset as I got back to Tunbridge Wells, back to the car and I headed home.

A lovely sunny day but there was a pretty stiff northerly wind making it cold in many places. At Hastings there was some shelter from this and it was quite pleasant, many people enjoying the sunshine and eating outside at the pubs in Old Town and on the seafront. Another enjoyable day out! I am sorry that my report and pictures have little bus content – not the most exciting day for variety etc.

Some photos:

Tunbridge Wells - The Pantiles


Lewes


Pevensey Village


Pevensey Castle


Hastings - from West Hill over the town


Hastings - Old Town from West Hill


Hastings Old Town


Hastings - from East Hill


Robertsbridge

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Lovely photos (as usual) @RELL6L and some places that I've visited recently (Tunbridge Wells), some I visited in the last few years (Hastings), and some that are long overdue (Lewes) so thank you for sharing your experiences.

The 304/254 is one that I haven't done and really fancy doing at some point; having driven through the area in 2020, I quite enjoyed the countryside. Glad you enjoyed your time in Hastings. My other half loves the Old Town but for me, I'm not so keen as I don't like the rest of the town. However, at least it has something... Hailsham may be busy but it's bereft of anything of note AFAIK.

 

[Ken H]

Monday 27th Feb 2023. The day started well so I thought a bus day out was in order. Pics are mine. The soggy day didnt help.

Drove to Otley to get the 12:18 FirstBus X84 to Leeds via Bramhope. This was 35905, ML22 XKY, a Wright StreetDeck Micro Hybrid.
Tidy inside, working USB plugs. But no stop announcements and the displays were just advertising the app, not telling me about the next stop. In fact that didnt happen all day.


There was an exceptional tatty Connexions double decker in the bus station with smashed GRP panels. Not a good advert for them taking over the Wharfedale locals from Transdev.

Out of Otley down Gay Lane (really!) through Cambridge, and onto the A660. It started raining so not the best pic across Wharfedale. But its always a good view towards Almscliffe Crag.



At the top of old Pool Bank there is this railway bridge abutment. This was to serve the quarries here that extracted some of the stone that built Victorian Leeds.



Into Leeds bus station, a quick walk round my old City. Only just recognisable now unfortunately. Had a quick peek in the Corn Exchange which is quite lovely inside.

Leeds Bus Station was originally opened in 1938 by the Markets Committee of Leeds City Council on the site where Leeds Bus Station is today.

Onto York Street to get the Arriva 444 to Wakefield via Rothwell. This starts from City Square which is why I caught it from York Street outside the bus station.
This pic shows the bus passing the site of the old West Riding 'Tramway' bus station on the corner of Cross York Street, where the red tram replacement buses went from in the 1950's and 1960's. The tram closed in 1932!
The site is now a co-op with flats above. The Mecca was a Pilkington glass warehouse when I was a kid. Huge sheets of glass being handled.


This is the bus I caught. Its the 1356 , fleet no 1904, YJ58 FHE, an ADL Enviro400. No USB and a bit tired upstairs, but it is 15 years old. Quite a step down from the First Bus I had just got off. Something not right with the bus - the engine seemed to rev all the time, and it stalled at every stop. The one I got on the 110 later didn't do that.



Out past Thwaite Gate and towards Wakefield. then a left towards Rothwell by the whalebones. Past a tower I had seen from the motorway, which I now know was part of Hunslet Union workhouse, now a housing estate but the tower is still there. The workhouse was opened surprisingly late, in 1903. It was an NHS hospital till 1991.

Pic https://www.google.com/maps/@53.756...4!1s2oLaFk-j-mc9dR49aPMNAQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

This was a local bus for Rothwell so wriggled through the estates. then out through Carlton, Lofthouse Ouzlewell and Stanley then into Wakefield via Pinderfields. This is old coal mining country and most of the places were pit villages, which have reinvested them selves as commuter estates for Leeds and Wakefield, and businesses in the many industrial estates. Its also in the Wakefield Rhubarb triangle, and we passed a rhubarb farm shop.
We ended up at Wakefield bus station. Here is a pic taken from the bus as we went in.



Needed coffee, so to Caffé Noor in the Trinity shopping centre. had cake too . Recommended if in Wakey. I assume the shopping centre is named for Wakefield Trinity RL team/

I then went to get a 110 beack to Leeds. This is the old tramway route mentioned above. It was 10 for many years, renumbered by the PTE in the 1970's. During the week this provides a 4 bus an hour service, going to 6 in the rush hours. Route is basically straight up the A61.
I got the 1530 bus 1905, YJ58 FHF. So from the same batch as the one I got off. 110 is a premium route, and is Max branded, but Arriva are running 15 year old buses on it. Hmmm.
Certainly a quicker service than the 444 and we were soon in Leeds. But it stops all stops in leeds so performs a local bus role on top of the longer distance passengers from outside the city. Sorry, didnt get a pic of the bus.

Into the bus station and along to get the 1614 to Otley via Guiseley. This was Firstbus 35598 YE69 YFZ, another Wright StreetDeck Micro Hybrid, and pretty similar to the one I caught on the X84 earlier.
This route goes out up the Headrow, then up Kirkstall Lane, past Yorkshire Telly and Kirkstall Abbey. This was a route I enjoyed last summer for the Leeds Bus Running Day - https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trips-by-bus-and-coach-your-reports.224583/post-5803696
It carries on through Horsforth then at Rawdon it dives off to loop round Yeadon, re-joining the main road at Guiseley. Past the old Leeds Tramway Guiseley depot - now a health club - https://goo.gl/maps/J4N7HjPrdpLsQd3ZA, and on to White Cross roundabout where the original Harry Ramsdens chippy was. On past the building that was High Royds Mental Hospital, loop round Menston with a stop near the train station then down into Otley past Waitrose, to terminate back at the Otley Bus station.
Otley Bus Station was originally built by a company half owned by West Yorkshire Road Car (WYRCC) and Samuel Ledgard in the 1930's. It would be 100% WYRCC after the takeover of Samuel Ledgard in 1967. That will have passed to Yorkshire Rider when they bought the Leeds and Bradford parts of WYRCC. Its now owned by the shopping centre next door. they rebuilt it on a smaller site and made it DIRO. The fact it has pedestrian access across the bus roadway means it needs a banker when buses are running.



And it started raining in time to get me wet as I walked to my car by Asda.

Quite a nice day out, even though the weather was a let down. But how different are parts of Yorkshire, from Otley on the edge of the Dales to the old mining areas round Wakefield. And thats just 1 day out!

Trip in planning is to do the 184 Oldham - Huddersfield somehow.

 

[asb]

Just catching up with everyone's amazing travels - always enjoyable!

One thing I hadn't realised is that Stagecoach in Hartlepool's depot on Brenda Road was ex-Tees and not ex-Hartlepool Transport. Do you know how that came about, @TheGrandWazoo ?

 

[RELL6L]

Lovely photos (as usual) @RELL6L and some places that I've visited recently (Tunbridge Wells), some I visited in the last few years (Hastings), and some that are long overdue (Lewes) so thank you for sharing your experiences.

The 304/254 is one that I haven't done and really fancy doing at some point; having driven through the area in 2020, I quite enjoyed the countryside. Glad you enjoyed your time in Hastings. My other half loves the Old Town but for me, I'm not so keen as I don't like the rest of the town. However, at least it has something... Hailsham may be busy but it's bereft of anything of note AFAIK.

Wouldn't argue with this although I do like Hastings. Yes the 304/254 is attractive countryside.

Quite a nice day out, even though the weather was a let down. But how different are parts of Yorkshire, from Otley on the edge of the Dales to the old mining areas round Wakefield. And thats just 1 day out!

Trip in planning is to do the 184 Oldham - Huddersfield somehow.

Interesting report. Yes I think there is a good deal of variety in Yorkshire and plenty of great possible trips. I particularly like rural Calderdale - recommend the walk from Wainstalls to Booth, only takes about half an hour and links up two rural termini.

The 184 is attractive and good places to break in Slaithwaite, Marsden or Uppermill. Uppermill to Oldham on the 350 via Delph is probably more attractive than staying on the 184. Can make a circuit by going on from Oldham to Rochdale then back on the 587 to either Ripponden then 901 or Halifax then 503 back to Huddersfield.

I had always assumed that the Stagecoach Hartlepool depot was the old Hartlepool Corporation one - definitely one of my favourite operators!

 

[Ken H]

Wouldn't argue with this although I do like Hastings. Yes the 304/254 is attractive countryside.


Interesting report. Yes I think there is a good deal of variety in Yorkshire and plenty of great possible trips. I particularly like rural Calderdale - recommend the walk from Wainstalls to Booth, only takes about half an hour and links up two rural termini.

The 184 is attractive and good places to break in Slaithwaite, Marsden or Uppermill. Uppermill to Oldham on the 350 via Delph is probably more attractive than staying on the 184. Can make a circuit by going on from Oldham to Rochdale then back on the 587 to either Ripponden then 901 or Halifax then 503 back to Huddersfield.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will have a dig.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Monday 27th Feb 2023. The day started well so I thought a bus day out was in order. Pics are mine. The soggy day didnt help.

Drove to Otley to get the 12:18 FirstBus X84 to Leeds via Bramhope. This was 35905, ML22 XKY, a Wright StreetDeck Micro Hybrid.
Tidy inside, working USB plugs. But no stop announcements and the displays were just advertising the app, not telling me about the next stop. In fact that didnt happen all day.
View attachment 130301

There was an exceptional tatty Connexions double decker in the bus station with smashed GRP panels. Not a good advert for them taking over the Wharfedale locals from Transdev.

Out of Otley down Gay Lane (really!) through Cambridge, and onto the A660. It started raining so not the best pic across Wharfedale. But its always a good view towards Almscliffe Crag.

View attachment 130302

At the top of old Pool Bank there is this railway bridge abutment. This was to serve the quarries here that extracted some of the stone that built Victorian Leeds.

View attachment 130303

Into Leeds bus station, a quick walk round my old City. Only just recognisable now unfortunately. Had a quick peek in the Corn Exchange which is quite lovely inside.

Leeds Bus Station was originally opened in 1938 by the Markets Committee of Leeds City Council on the site where Leeds Bus Station is today.

Onto York Street to get the Arriva 444 to Wakefield via Rothwell. This starts from City Square which is why I caught it from York Street outside the bus station.
This pic shows the bus passing the site of the old West Riding 'Tramway' bus station on the corner of Cross York Street, where the red tram replacement buses went from in the 1950's and 1960's. The tram closed in 1932!
The site is now a co-op with flats above. The Mecca was a Pilkington glass warehouse when I was a kid. Huge sheets of glass being handled.
View attachment 130305

This is the bus I caught. Its the 1356 , fleet no 1904, YJ58 FHE, an ADL Enviro400. No USB and a bit tired upstairs, but it is 15 years old. Quite a step down from the First Bus I had just got off. Something not right with the bus - the engine seemed to rev all the time, and it stalled at every stop. The one I got on the 110 later didn't do that.

View attachment 130306

Out past Thwaite Gate and towards Wakefield. then a left towards Rothwell by the whalebones. Past a tower I had seen from the motorway, which I now know was part of Hunslet Union workhouse, now a housing estate but the tower is still there. The workhouse was opened surprisingly late, in 1903. It was an NHS hospital till 1991.

Pic https://www.google.com/maps/@53.756...4!1s2oLaFk-j-mc9dR49aPMNAQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

This was a local bus for Rothwell so wriggled through the estates. then out through Carlton, Lofthouse Ouzlewell and Stanley then into Wakefield via Pinderfields. This is old coal mining country and most of the places were pit villages, which have reinvested them selves as commuter estates for Leeds and Wakefield, and businesses in the many industrial estates. Its also in the Wakefield Rhubarb triangle, and we passed a rhubarb farm shop.
We ended up at Wakefield bus station. Here is a pic taken from the bus as we went in.

View attachment 130307

Needed coffee, so to Caffé Noor in the Trinity shopping centre. had cake too . Recommended if in Wakey. I assume the shopping centre is named for Wakefield Trinity RL team/

I then went to get a 110 beack to Leeds. This is the old tramway route mentioned above. It was 10 for many years, renumbered by the PTE in the 1970's. During the week this provides a 4 bus an hour service, going to 6 in the rush hours. Route is basically straight up the A61.
I got the 1530 bus 1905, YJ58 FHF. So from the same batch as the one I got off. 110 is a premium route, and is Max branded, but Arriva are running 15 year old buses on it. Hmmm.
Certainly a quicker service than the 444 and we were soon in Leeds. But it stops all stops in leeds so performs a local bus role on top of the longer distance passengers from outside the city. Sorry, didnt get a pic of the bus.

Into the bus station and along to get the 1614 to Otley via Guiseley. This was Firstbus 35598 YE69 YFZ, another Wright StreetDeck Micro Hybrid, and pretty similar to the one I caught on the X84 earlier.
This route goes out up the Headrow, then up Kirkstall Lane, past Yorkshire Telly and Kirkstall Abbey. This was a route I enjoyed last summer for the Leeds Bus Running Day - https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trips-by-bus-and-coach-your-reports.224583/post-5803696
It carries on through Horsforth then at Rawdon it dives off to loop round Yeadon, re-joining the main road at Guiseley. Past the old Leeds Tramway Guiseley depot - now a health club - https://goo.gl/maps/J4N7HjPrdpLsQd3ZA, and on to White Cross roundabout where the original Harry Ramsdens chippy was. On past the building that was High Royds Mental Hospital, loop round Menston with a stop near the train station then down into Otley past Waitrose, to terminate back at the Otley Bus station.
Otley Bus Station was originally built by a company half owned by West Yorkshire Road Car (WYRCC) and Samuel Ledgard in the 1930's. It would be 100% WYRCC after the takeover of Samuel Ledgard in 1967. That will have passed to Yorkshire Rider when they bought the Leeds and Bradford parts of WYRCC. Its now owned by the shopping centre next door. they rebuilt it on a smaller site and made it DIRO. The fact it has pedestrian access across the bus roadway means it needs a banker when buses are running.

View attachment 130310

And it started raining in time to get me wet as I walked to my car by Asda.

Quite a nice day out, even though the weather was a let down. But how different are parts of Yorkshire, from Otley on the edge of the Dales to the old mining areas round Wakefield. And thats just 1 day out!

Trip in planning is to do the 184 Oldham - Huddersfield somehow.

Thanks to @Ken H for sharing his travels. Nice to read someone else's experiences rather than me or @RELL6L doing our thing; different styles and also the chance to read about places that we might not have been to.

As it is, Wakey (or Wacapulco as it's also known) was somewhere I enjoyed a few months back. Again (sounding like a broken record), the Arriva fleet is a bit of a mishmash in terms of livery/branding and quality is variable. I had a few e400s of that batch (which weren't bad) and one that had come up from the Medway Towns and was hammered.

I love West Yorkshire - it's almost like Yorkshire in concentrated form. You have the feel of the traditional rural Dales (Wharfedale), the affluence of the lowlands (Wetherby/Boston Spa), the delights of Calderdale for the Happy Valley fans, the cosmopolitan centre of Leeds, the Woollen district around Batley and Dewsbury, and the coal mining areas around Hemsworth, and all these are punctuated by interesting small towns on the way (like Pontefract or Holmfirth). There's a lot to enjoy and explore and the 184 and the area around Meltham is one spot I'd like to know a bit better; in fact, Kirklees is probably worth a visit for me.

I'd definitely recommend West Yorkshire for a trip out.

Just catching up with everyone's amazing travels - always enjoyable!

One thing I hadn't realised is that Stagecoach in Hartlepool's depot on Brenda Road was ex-Tees and not ex-Hartlepool Transport. Do you know how that came about, @TheGrandWazoo ?

I had always assumed that the Stagecoach Hartlepool depot was the old Hartlepool Corporation one - definitely one of my favourite operators!

So here goes....

United's depot was the Clarence Road/Church Square site that was obliterated by the access road to the Marina. It passed to Tees in 1990, and was subject to a compulsory purchase order (for the new road) and so closed in 1993. Tees then moved to Brenda Road operating a selection of local routes, the Sunderland service (230 now 23), the fast 10 to Billingham and Middlesbrough, and much of the 227 (to Middlesbrough via Billingham and Stockton).

Hartlepool Transport's depot was near Church Square in Lynn Street (built mid 1970s). It was a shared council depot so they had dustcarts and council vans amongst the buses; if you Streetview it, it's now filming studios! They were almost exclusively in the borough except the odd tender and the 1/501 to Middlesbrough via Seaton Carew.

In 1994, Hartlepool Transport was bought by Stagecoach who had just bought Cleveland Transit, and also put Darlington Transport out of its misery! As part of that, they had a limited lease and tenancy at Lynn Street and would be expected to vacate. As there were discussions ongoing between Stagecoach and North East Bus (owner of United/Tees/TMS), they agreed a massive rationalisation of Teesside's routes to remove the competition that existed mainly from TMS. That resulted in NEB firms being dominant in what had been Transit strongholds (north Stockton, Thornaby) whilst Stagecoach gained what had been mainly NEB areas such as Hemlington and Billingham.

In Hartlepool, NEB gave up the local routes and the services south to Middlesbrough - hence the 227 became Stagecoach 36. They retained the stuff north of the town to Peterlee, Sunderland, Durham etc but these were transferred to Peterlee depot and the depot at Brenda Road closed. However, Stagecoach needed a depot and Brenda Road was now free so they were able to take the lease (I think it's leased) and move from Lynn Street.

Think that's mainly it - it is 25+ years ago so apologies if it's a bit unclear

 

[Tetchytyke]

It’s fascinating to read the different reports, the Stagecoach 1 from Hartlepool to Middlesbrough always used to be a favourite run of mine when I regularly did NE Explorers. Hartlepool got a load of Transbus Darts back in 2005, I’m amazed they’re still going, what with Transbus’ famous build quality and attention to detail.

I was back in the north east a few weeks ago but didn’t make it beyond North Shields. The 19 from Northumberland Park to North Shields Ferry was a Peterlee-branded SoloSR (which shows how much Go have left Peterlee). A quick return on the ferry then the 317 from North Shields Ferry to Whitley Bay was a very tired E200. Stagecoach running buses into the heart of North Tyneside showed how far Go have fallen. My final run was on the 309 from Whitley Bay back to Newcastle- the wireless charger worked, the next stop announcements worked, the table held my cup of coffee and it showed that Go can still do it properly when they want to.

Otherwise, my trip reports are mostly to and from the pub on the 21H, which is always an immaculately turned-out Bus Vannin Citaro but can’t be filed as exciting.

 

[ian1944]

Re. the varied terrain and delights of West Yorkshire, its only drawback is the huge distance to any seaside. As an oddity, Skipton is considerably closer to Fleetwood than it is to Bridlington, but still a long way by distance and by time.

 

[Ken H]

Re. the varied terrain and delights of West Yorkshire, its only drawback is the huge distance to any seaside. As an oddity, Skipton is considerably closer to Fleetwood than it is to Bridlington, but still a long way by distance and by time.

Hest Bank is nearer than Fleetwood to Skipton. Should be doable in a car in under an hour. Or train to Carnforth then a bus. Arnside is nicer but a bit further.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

It’s fascinating to read the different reports, the Stagecoach 1 from Hartlepool to Middlesbrough always used to be a favourite run of mine when I regularly did NE Explorers. Hartlepool got a load of Transbus Darts back in 2005, I’m amazed they’re still going, what with Transbus’ famous build quality and attention to detail.

I was back in the north east a few weeks ago but didn’t make it beyond North Shields. The 19 from Northumberland Park to North Shields Ferry was a Peterlee-branded SoloSR (which shows how much Go have left Peterlee). A quick return on the ferry then the 317 from North Shields Ferry to Whitley Bay was a very tired E200. Stagecoach running buses into the heart of North Tyneside showed how far Go have fallen. My final run was on the 309 from Whitley Bay back to Newcastle- the wireless charger worked, the next stop announcements worked, the table held my cup of coffee and it showed that Go can still do it properly when they want to.

Otherwise, my trip reports are mostly to and from the pub on the 21H, which is always an immaculately turned-out Bus Vannin Citaro but can’t be filed as exciting.

My Explorer NE days are few and far between (though I do visit regularly to see family) and are usually annual events. That's the problem - it's such a good ticket with lots of options; Seaton Carew to Middlesbrough has been a glaring omission for some time

I was tickled by the comment as to how much Go had left Peterlee. Of course, all those local routes were originally United/Arriva who had their depot in the town, before incrementally passing to Jayline and so to Go NE.

Re. the varied terrain and delights of West Yorkshire, its only drawback is the huge distance to any seaside. As an oddity, Skipton is considerably closer to Fleetwood than it is to Bridlington, but still a long way by distance and by time.

The lack of coastline is perhaps a drawback but I do find there's so much to enjoy in West Yorkshire. One of my best mates lives locally and I usually take the opportunity to tack on a day out after seeing him. In recent years, I've done

• Wakefield to Holmfirth (lovely) then via Huddersfield and the back road way to Brighouse and Halifax, before heading to Bradford via Queensbury (bleak) and then via Leeds back to Wakey
• Leeds to Harewood House before the infrequent 923 to Otley, to Ilkley (both nice towns) and then the pleasant trip to Keighley before the brilliant run over to Hebden Bridge (it was gloriously sunny) and then back through the Calder (Happy) Valley to Halifax and then some convoluted route (256?) back to Leeds

Most recent was the one last year where I experienced SkyClass from Wetherby to Leeds, then a bit of trip through Middleton and Belle Isle before heading into Woollen country and Dewsbury, then via Wakey to the border territory (where South Elmsall becomes El Paso) before back through Pontefract (lovely town to walk around) and then back round via Wakey and Batley to Leeds and then retracing back to Wetherby.

There's so much to enjoy and explore in the area; at least there is some semblance of coverage too though Arriva and First cuts in recent years are evident.