Trips by Bus and Coach: Your reports

[TheGrandWazoo]

Thanks for your comments. Whoops, embarrassing on the Britannia Bridge, appreciate the correction!

Entirely agree with your assessment. When we stayed in Anglesey as a family we stayed near Beaumaris and shopped at Waitrose in Menai Bridge - so middle class! I dragged them for a walk round Parys Mountain but they didn’t much like that and we avoided the town of Amlwch, so depressing! The mural is just down from the Co-op so very near to where the depot was. The bus doesn’t go close enough to Red Wharf Bay to see anything and I didn’t get to Trearddur Bay- got to leave something for another visit!

Second report to follow…

To be fair, a bit of my experience was cycling around the island with my mate so Red Wharf Bay and Cemmaes Bay (and Parys Mountain) were accessed by bike not bus! Newborough Forest and Trearddur are definite ones for you to experience.

Look forward to the second installment. Will this be another exploration of less stereotypically attractive places that punctuate the countryside? Deinolen...Tregarth... Maesgeirchen?

 

[RELL6L]

Sorry for the delay in posting this, not teasing you but have become a Grandad a couple of weeks earlier than expected. @TheGrandWazoo has guessed, not entirely inaccurately, some of the places I might have gone to! Anyway, here goes…

I had originally envisaged when I booked to stay near Flint on Wednesday night that I might head east the following day and take a trip planned to some unexplored parts of the Liverpool – Manchester area, but I did prepare for other options. In favour of doing this was (1) it was on my ‘A’ list for this year and (2) I would be nearer home when I finished. But the appeal of going west again was (1) the weather should be good from the start rather than from mid-morning; (2) it was more scenic to head west and what I had in mind fitted for the day; (3) it is easier to come back to Lancashire another time than to North West Wales; (4) if I didn’t do the Lancashire one for a while some details might change but it would still be possible, whereas the North West Wales alternatives could be killed off by a small timetable change. Most of all I thought (5) if I don’t do this one now I might never do it.

So I tied together two shortish trips in North West Wales and headed west along the A55 again very early on Thursday morning. So early they were still carrying out overnight lane closures in the Conwy tunnel (end by 5.30). Again I left in cloud and again it was sunny after the tunnel. I left the A55 at the same exit but this time turned left and parked in Bethesda at a car park overlooking the town. A few minutes allowed to look around, a few people, before the first bus at 6.15 on the 67 to Bangor. An Optare Solo, essential here for the narrow lanes off the A5. Surprisingly many people for so early, there were three others waiting at my stop and there must have had 10 on board leaving Bethesda, we then turned up to Rachub to pick up more and then crossed the A5 to Tregarth where there were more still. We didn’t quite reach 20 but it was a busy journey, people starting to alight on the edge of Bangor, most staying to the town centre. Only 15 minutes here before leaving on the S2 Snowdon Sherpa to Llanberis, an E200 from Gwynfor Coaches in the Snowdon Sherpa colours, a departure I had noted the previous day. Surprisingly for half term we had a good half dozen passengers from the Bangor area heading to a college just before Llanberis. Not many joined on the route which gave decent distant views of the mountains and over to Anglesey in places. We diverted into Deinolen, where I had considered possibilities of stopping, getting another bus to Dinorwig and walking down into Llanberis, but not this time. A father and son joined us in Deinolen, clearly both workers on the Snowdon railway, possibly drivers. We were held up by road works approaching Llanberis but arrived pretty much on time at the rather glamorously named ‘Interchange’ by the mountain railway station.

Now there’s really not many double deckers in North West Wales, but it was half term and Snowdon was busy. The car park at Pen y Pass is far too small for all the climbers to park and they are directed to another car park at Nant Peris, with a ‘park and ride’ bus, the S5, running every half hour between them at weekends and school holidays. The first journey starts at Llanberis. So, with it being half term, this turned up with an E400 with a personalized registration in full Snowdon Sherpa colours, again run by Gwynfor. We took on about 10 in Llanberis and probably about 40 at the Nant Peris car park, this being the first departure and climbers liking an early start, then one more car full at a layby further up. This short 15-minute run, first alongside Llyn Peris on the left, then up the narrow Llanberis pass with mountain views to the right, is spectacular, and better still from the top of a decker. There were dozens of people at Pen y Pass with a very busy track leading to Snowdon, no chance of getting lost on this glorious day for climbing.

Shortly I continued from Pen y Pass on another Sherpa liveried E200 on the S1 towards Betws y Coed. I did note, however, that both the other buses on the S1 were double deckers, one a white Scania Omnicity with a personalised reg and the other an 04-plate Volvo B7TL. I had done this stretch only a couple of years ago but the descent from Pen y Pass is very scenic, although this time the sun was in the wrong direction for the best photos. I was only going as far as Capel Curig where I alighted for a stop of about half an hour, taking a short walk up the path opposite the road junction. My final leg of this trip was the T10, a route that had not existed when I last visited the area and I wonder how long it will survive. An eastbound T10 came through first and I was quite encouraged to see that it had six passengers, but when mine arrived there was only one onboard. An elderly gentleman joined with me, he was heading to Llandudno for the day, and three boarded along the A5 from campsites. A very scenic stretch followed past Llyn Ogwen and through the Nant Ffrancon pass. All too soon we were back in Bethesda, where more people joined, but these passengers have other options, just not as quick. My bus was provided by Llew Jones and was an Optare Metrocity, it seemed perfectly capable. I do hope this route builds up patronage – I did the eastern section about 10 years ago when it was one journey on Tuesdays only I think, possibly numbered 90 – but it’s a very sparsely populated area. And so the first part of my trip was finished and it was barely half past nine!

The second mini-trip started and finished in Pwllheli so it was into the car for the drive west. This was the first time I had used the Caernarfon bypass and a splendid road it is too. My car’s Satnav didn’t recognise it and was appalled by my apparent speeding through fields but I got there at least 10 minutes before the original prediction so it saves a decent amount of time. Although Pwllheli was busy I managed to park pretty quickly and had about 40 minutes before my first bus. I have been to Pwllheli before and can find nothing much decent to say about it. My first bus was Berwyn Coaches 17, a Solo in dealer white, to Aberdaron. I had done this journey before, in fact the exact same departure, and it is attractive and gives some decent views of the coast and the interior of the Lleyn peninsula. A few young lads joined and I guessed they were going to the beach, but in fact they got off in Botwnnog, where there is a school, so I guess they actually had either an exam or a revision class. Aberdaron was very busy with day trippers enjoying the sunshine and we pulled in a minute or so late.

My plan was not to stay at Aberdaron, which is lovely but I had visited before and it was very busy, but to take the Nefyn Coaches 8B, to Uwchmynydd if possible, and then back up the northern side of the peninsula. As we arrived I could see the 8B (yes, another white Solo) was pulling away but it was delayed by traffic and pedestrians crossing the narrow bridge. I rushed over and attracted the driver’s attention and then I and another passenger from the 17 got on, adding to the zero passengers already there. We climbed out of Aberdaron on a busy narrow road and continued along almost impenetrably narrow lanes to Uwchmynydd, where the other passenger, clearly well known to the driver, alighted. We then turned round, returned through Aberdaron and the slightly wider roads closer to the north side of the peninsula, with no other passengers and with a very friendly and chatty driver. I alighted at the edge of Morfa Nefyn, where the 8B short cuts back to Pwllheli.

At Morfa Nefyn I headed straight for the beach, delightful but quite busy, and then along the coast path east for about a mile to the next village of Nefyn. Here there is another beach which also looked busy, and there were spectacular coastal views pretty much all the way along. I didn’t have time to go down to the beach here as well but had seen it from the path, I just went into the village centre. From here I took another Solo, but this time with a bit of red in it, on the Nefyn Coaches 8 back to Pwllheli. A decent hourly(ish) route on a timetable which has barely changed for years and a fair crop of probably regular passengers. At Pwllheli I noted Caelloi’s bus out on the 3 to Porthmadog, a new (22 plate) MCV Evora, presumably a Volvo B8R. This provides a bus every 90 minutes during the day with a slightly better service at peak times, but some way short from the 30-minute service provided when they put out one bus and Arriva put out two. This route looked busy both when I saw it arrive before the start of my trip and again at the end. I am sure a better service would do well but presumably Caelloi are happy with what they have and Gwynedd council sees other services in greater need. On my previous visit to Pwllheli I had taken the ‘Clipa’ local service but been disappointed that it hadn’t quite gone as far as the promenade. As I had my car I was able to make up for this by going down there, a typical Victorian sea front, but only for a short stretch. Then, by about 2.30, it was time to head home. My goodness what a long way it is from Pwllheli!

So two great short trips, all for the price of £4 on a concessionary-rate 1Bws ticket, in a most fabulously scenic part of the country.

Some pictures of course…

Bethesda


Llyn Peris


Snowdon from near Pen y Pass

At Pen y Pass, unloading from the S5


Capel Curig


Nant Ffrancon pass


Aberdaron


Morfa Nefyn


Nefyn

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Sorry for the delay in posting this, not teasing you but have become a Grandad a couple of weeks earlier than expected. @TheGrandWazoo has guessed, not entirely inaccurately, some of the places I might have gone to! Anyway, here goes…

I had originally envisaged when I booked to stay near Flint on Wednesday night that I might head east the following day and take a trip planned to some unexplored parts of the Liverpool – Manchester area, but I did prepare for other options. In favour of doing this was (1) it was on my ‘A’ list for this year and (2) I would be nearer home when I finished. But the appeal of going west again was (1) the weather should be good from the start rather than from mid-morning; (2) it was more scenic to head west and what I had in mind fitted for the day; (3) it is easier to come back to Lancashire another time than to North West Wales; (4) if I didn’t do the Lancashire one for a while some details might change but it would still be possible, whereas the North West Wales alternatives could be killed off by a small timetable change. Most of all I thought (5) if I don’t do this one now I might never do it.

So I tied together two shortish trips in North West Wales and headed west along the A55 again very early on Thursday morning. So early they were still carrying out overnight lane closures in the Conwy tunnel (end by 5.30). Again I left in cloud and again it was sunny after the tunnel. I left the A55 at the same exit but this time turned left and parked in Bethesda at a car park overlooking the town. A few minutes allowed to look around, a few people, before the first bus at 6.15 on the 67 to Bangor. An Optare Solo, essential here for the narrow lanes off the A5. Surprisingly many people for so early, there were three others waiting at my stop and there must have had 10 on board leaving Bethesda, we then turned up to Rachub to pick up more and then crossed the A5 to Tregarth where there were more still. We didn’t quite reach 20 but it was a busy journey, people starting to alight on the edge of Bangor, most staying to the town centre. Only 15 minutes here before leaving on the S2 Snowdon Sherpa to Llanberis, an E200 from Gwynfor Coaches in the Snowdon Sherpa colours, a departure I had noted the previous day. Surprisingly for half term we had a good half dozen passengers from the Bangor area heading to a college just before Llanberis. Not many joined on the route which gave decent distant views of the mountains and over to Anglesey in places. We diverted into Deinolen, where I had considered possibilities of stopping, getting another bus to Dinorwig and walking down into Llanberis, but not this time. A father and son joined us in Deinolen, clearly both workers on the Snowdon railway, possibly drivers. We were held up by road works approaching Llanberis but arrived pretty much on time at the rather glamorously named ‘Interchange’ by the mountain railway station.

Now there’s really not many double deckers in North West Wales, but it was half term and Snowdon was busy. The car park at Pen y Pass is far too small for all the climbers to park and they are directed to another car park at Nant Peris, with a ‘park and ride’ bus, the S5, running every half hour between them at weekends and school holidays. The first journey starts at Llanberis. So, with it being half term, this turned up with an E400 with a personalized registration in full Snowdon Sherpa colours, again run by Gwynfor. We took on about 10 in Llanberis and probably about 40 at the Nant Peris car park, this being the first departure and climbers liking an early start, then one more car full at a layby further up. This short 15-minute run, first alongside Llyn Peris on the left, then up the narrow Llanberis pass with mountain views to the right, is spectacular, and better still from the top of a decker. There were dozens of people at Pen y Pass with a very busy track leading to Snowdon, no chance of getting lost on this glorious day for climbing.

Shortly I continued from Pen y Pass on another Sherpa liveried E200 on the S1 towards Betws y Coed. I did note, however, that both the other buses on the S1 were double deckers, one a white Scania Omnicity with a personalised reg and the other an 04-plate Volvo B7TL. I had done this stretch only a couple of years ago but the descent from Pen y Pass is very scenic, although this time the sun was in the wrong direction for the best photos. I was only going as far as Capel Curig where I alighted for a stop of about half an hour, taking a short walk up the path opposite the road junction. My final leg of this trip was the T10, a route that had not existed when I last visited the area and I wonder how long it will survive. An eastbound T10 came through first and I was quite encouraged to see that it had six passengers, but when mine arrived there was only one onboard. An elderly gentleman joined with me, he was heading to Llandudno for the day, and three boarded along the A5 from campsites. A very scenic stretch followed past Llyn Ogwen and through the Nant Ffrancon pass. All too soon we were back in Bethesda, where more people joined, but these passengers have other options, just not as quick. My bus was provided by Llew Jones and was an Optare Metrocity, it seemed perfectly capable. I do hope this route builds up patronage – I did the eastern section about 10 years ago when it was one journey on Tuesdays only I think, possibly numbered 90 – but it’s a very sparsely populated area. And so the first part of my trip was finished and it was barely half past nine!

The second mini-trip started and finished in Pwllheli so it was into the car for the drive west. This was the first time I had used the Caernarfon bypass and a splendid road it is too. My car’s Satnav didn’t recognise it and was appalled by my apparent speeding through fields but I got there at least 10 minutes before the original prediction so it saves a decent amount of time. Although Pwllheli was busy I managed to park pretty quickly and had about 40 minutes before my first bus. I have been to Pwllheli before and can find nothing much decent to say about it. My first bus was Berwyn Coaches 17, a Solo in dealer white, to Aberdaron. I had done this journey before, in fact the exact same departure, and it is attractive and gives some decent views of the coast and the interior of the Lleyn peninsula. A few young lads joined and I guessed they were going to the beach, but in fact they got off in Botwnnog, where there is a school, so I guess they actually had either an exam or a revision class. Aberdaron was very busy with day trippers enjoying the sunshine and we pulled in a minute or so late.

My plan was not to stay at Aberdaron, which is lovely but I had visited before and it was very busy, but to take the Nefyn Coaches 8B, to Uwchmynydd if possible, and then back up the northern side of the peninsula. As we arrived I could see the 8B (yes, another white Solo) was pulling away but it was delayed by traffic and pedestrians crossing the narrow bridge. I rushed over and attracted the driver’s attention and then I and another passenger from the 17 got on, adding to the zero passengers already there. We climbed out of Aberdaron on a busy narrow road and continued along almost impenetrably narrow lanes to Uwchmynydd, where the other passenger, clearly well known to the driver, alighted. We then turned round, returned through Aberdaron and the slightly wider roads closer to the north side of the peninsula, with no other passengers and with a very friendly and chatty driver. I alighted at the edge of Morfa Nefyn, where the 8B short cuts back to Pwllheli.

At Morfa Nefyn I headed straight for the beach, delightful but quite busy, and then along the coast path east for about a mile to the next village of Nefyn. Here there is another beach which also looked busy, and there were spectacular coastal views pretty much all the way along. I didn’t have time to go down to the beach here as well but had seen it from the path, I just went into the village centre. From here I took another Solo, but this time with a bit of red in it, on the Nefyn Coaches 8 back to Pwllheli. A decent hourly(ish) route on a timetable which has barely changed for years and a fair crop of probably regular passengers. At Pwllheli I noted Caelloi’s bus out on the 3 to Porthmadog, a new (22 plate) MCV Evora, presumably a Volvo B8R. This provides a bus every 90 minutes during the day with a slightly better service at peak times, but some way short from the 30-minute service provided when they put out one bus and Arriva put out two. This route looked busy both when I saw it arrive before the start of my trip and again at the end. I am sure a better service would do well but presumably Caelloi are happy with what they have and Gwynedd council sees other services in greater need. On my previous visit to Pwllheli I had taken the ‘Clipa’ local service but been disappointed that it hadn’t quite gone as far as the promenade. As I had my car I was able to make up for this by going down there, a typical Victorian sea front, but only for a short stretch. Then, by about 2.30, it was time to head home. My goodness what a long way it is from Pwllheli!

So two great short trips, all for the price of £4 on a concessionary-rate 1Bws ticket, in a most fabulously scenic part of the country.

Some pictures of course…
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Bethesda

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Llyn Peris

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Snowdon from near Pen y Pass
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At Pen y Pass, unloading from the S5

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Capel Curig

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Nant Ffrancon pass

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Aberdaron

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Morfa Nefyn

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Nefyn

I have to concede that I was joking when mentioning Bethesda and Tregarth Little did I think that those places and Rachub would feature on your itinerary. Interesting that you did a two stage trip with a car relocation in between.

Of the second trip, I confess I haven't explored the Llyn that much. Been to the North coast by Morfa, and to Pwllheli but never to Abersoch and the really popular bits. Your assessment of Pwllheli chimes with mine - not a huge amount to endear itself. I much prefer Porthmadog - it is odd that Caelloi has seen fit to have an hourly two vehicle service during the morning but it's every 90 mins in the afternoon. You'd think an hourly service should be worthwhile. It's a nice run through Criccieth and during the summer months, there should be reasonable trade but then again, they see the financials.

The first loop covered areas I know very, very well. Spent a few hours in that cafe at Capel, trying to warm up after some mountain biking! Some bits of trivia for you from the photo of Bethesda - the hill in the background is Penrhyn Quarry where the headfirst cable zipwire is. Also, you probably didn't notice that all the pubs in Bethesda are on one side of the road; allegedly to do with the Baron Penrhyn not entertaining such establishments on his side of the road which he owned (and you parked on).

Also, Baron Penrhyn and the quarries were the subject of the UK's longest running strike. After they walked out, the Baron brought in new labour - the strike lasted three years. Moreover, you'll have travelled along a road in Tregarth with council houses/flats on the right and some unassuming cottages on the left. Those cottages were built for the "new" staff and is called Traitors Row and some people still call Tregarth the "scab village" 120 years on!

Always great to see an area that I know so well being explored by someone else. Have to say that I seldom travelled about the area by bus (too many other things to do) and never could see how the T10 could justify its existence. It's a nice to have but really the funds that it employs could be used better elsewhere. Lastly, glad you had the weather - it really is stunning

 

[RELL6L]

I have to concede that I was joking when mentioning Bethesda and Tregarth Little did I think that those places and Rachub would feature on your itinerary. Interesting that you did a two stage trip with a car relocation in between.

Of the second trip, I confess I haven't explored the Llyn that much. Been to the North coast by Morfa, and to Pwllheli but never to Abersoch and the really popular bits. Your assessment of Pwllheli chimes with mine - not a huge amount to endear itself. I much prefer Porthmadog - it is odd that Caelloi has seen fit to have an hourly two vehicle service during the morning but it's every 90 mins in the afternoon. You'd think an hourly service should be worthwhile. It's a nice run through Criccieth and during the summer months, there should be reasonable trade but then again, they see the financials.

The first loop covered areas I know very, very well. Spent a few hours in that cafe at Capel, trying to warm up after some mountain biking! Some bits of trivia for you from the photo of Bethesda - the hill in the background is Penrhyn Quarry where the headfirst cable zipwire is. Also, you probably didn't notice that all the pubs in Bethesda are on one side of the road; allegedly to do with the Baron Penrhyn not entertaining such establishments on his side of the road which he owned (and you parked on).

Also, Baron Penrhyn and the quarries were the subject of the UK's longest running strike. After they walked out, the Baron brought in new labour - the strike lasted three years. Moreover, you'll have travelled along a road in Tregarth with council houses/flats on the right and some unassuming cottages on the left. Those cottages were built for the "new" staff and is called Traitors Row and some people still call Tregarth the "scab village" 120 years on!

Always great to see an area that I know so well being explored by someone else. Have to say that I seldom travelled about the area by bus (too many other things to do) and never could see how the T10 could justify its existence. It's a nice to have but really the funds that it employs could be used better elsewhere. Lastly, glad you had the weather - it really is stunning

Thanks for responding. I have done a couple of other short trips in the past with car transfers, it sometimes makes things possible that wouldn't be otherwise. I've been to Abersoch previously, my driver on the 8B this time said that in the last few years it has been 'gentrified' and there are now a lot of second homes and holiday lets, the 'genuine' residents have been priced out. I didn't notice or know that all the pubs in Bethesda were on the same side of the road. I had heard of the strike but I was aware of it as Bethesda rather than more specifically Tregarth. I understand some families are still divided even 120 years on. Going back Snowdonia wasn't a good area to explore by bus but the Sherpa routes are now so good (plus T10) that lots of things are possible. Car parking has got harder in some places, notably Llyn Ogwen in peak season, so maybe the T10 gets some trade from walkers and explorers.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Thanks for responding. I have done a couple of other short trips in the past with car transfers, it sometimes makes things possible that wouldn't be otherwise. I've been to Abersoch previously, my driver on the 8B this time said that in the last few years it has been 'gentrified' and there are now a lot of second homes and holiday lets, the 'genuine' residents have been priced out. I didn't notice or know that all the pubs in Bethesda were on the same side of the road. I had heard of the strike but I was aware of it as Bethesda rather than more specifically Tregarth. I understand some families are still divided even 120 years on. Going back Snowdonia wasn't a good area to explore by bus but the Sherpa routes are now so good (plus T10) that lots of things are possible. Car parking has got harder in some places, notably Llyn Ogwen in peak season, so maybe the T10 gets some trade from walkers and explorers.

The strike was indeed centred on Bethesda and the Penrhyn quarry. I've seen it written that the building of houses in Tregarth (which was a few scattered dwellings) was because such people would not be tolerated in Bethesda! I was told not to even mention it in the pub!

Parking by Ogwen Cottage has got so silly in the 20 or so years that I've been visiting the area, and the police have begun cracking down on it. Hopefully, the T10 can get some trade. It is that bit that I've had more sympathy for and it did used to have a Sherpa service (S6?) operated by Silver Star; the run from Betws to Corwen seems more questionable!

I'm led to believe that Abersoch has indeed gone that way. It has a White Stuff, Fat Face and Crew Clothing so suspect it's a North Waleian St Mawes so your driver's comments are probably on the money, with locals now being relegated to Pwllheli or Caernarfon.

Thanks again for the photos and the travelogue...

ps surprised no-one has mentioned the Snowdon Sherpa livery being reminiscent of something in another national park or two?

 

[darloscott]

Have had a few little rides out over the last few weeks including a Snowdonia day and Cheshire run around but while I need to look into more detail to post those I thought I’d give you a local one from yesterday…
Although the weather isn’t as warm as it was in the southern half of the UK up in the North East it was set to be warmer the further south you go so I set off from a cloudy Redcar in search of some sun.

Firstly I had to get myself into town so caught a Temsa on frequent service 63, which I live on the route of (it was one of my major points when buying, living on an accessible route!) - this runs every 10 minutes during the week but on a Saturday it is reduced to every 15. For a journey around 9am it had a respectable load, though with the ongoing vehicle issues at Redcar depot it had started part way into its journey and not at Middlesbrough as it should have done.

I’d checked on BusTimes before leaving home to see what was around on service X4 and noted there were two Pulsars and then a long line of Streetlites so I’d forced myself out quickly to catch the 0934 from Redcar, which was Pulsar 1437 as advertised. It turned up nice and early and after a driver change we left on time heading for Whitby. The driver taking over asked the lad coming off what it was like on hills and got the answer ‘it’s good’ which is always nice to hear! Redcar’s fleet is in such a bad state at the moment with various boards missing every day despite help from other depots. Luckily the PVR is reduced slightly on a Saturday so this isn’t as much of an issue on a weekend.

We left Redcar with maybe 10-15 onboard and it remained fairly quiet until we hit Brotton and then started picking up for the run down the coast to Whitby… it picked up very well all of the way until we had a few standing by the time it arrived in Whitby.
I was aiming to head further down the coast to Scarborough but had already clocked that the X94 due just after I got in had ran with a Streetlite, and predictably it turned up bursting although almost all alighted in Whitby, it had another 40-ish to load up so I elected to let that one go and catch the next bus half an hour (ish) behind. It was notable that the 840 to Leeds also left with a full seated load as did my X4!



I went for a quick wander around the front, Whitby was hosting a ‘fossil festival’ this weekend but it’s always a popular place to visit regardless and is always busy on a nice weekend. The Park & Ride deckers were bringing in decent loads from the car park and sure enough my X93 arrived from Middlesbrough as B9TL 7403 full & standing. Thankfully a lot of people alighted in Whitby, though I was less impressed to see despite arriving late there was no driver waiting to take it out as the inbound driver left it and went for his break. After a few minutes we did have a replacement and by the time he’d loaded up the crowd in Whitby we left 16 minutes late heading for Scarborough, with a few seats left, though it picked up nicely all the way towards its destination.



After alighting in Scarborough along with the other 80-odd passengers it was pleasing to see another good crowd awaiting the return leg back to Middlesbrough. These routes down the coast really do get a hammering in the summer and it desperately could do with some more investment, as per much of Arriva’s network in the North East these days. I had a wander down to the seafront and grabbed a quick snack for lunch and sat in the gardens near the big wheel to enjoy some sun and watch the life go by for half an hour. It was interesting to see the competing open top routes along the front were carrying single figure loads and it made me wonder how profitable these actually are.






After a wander on the beach I wanted to get out of Scarborough and head back towards home and had already noted a Temsa on the Redcar-operated X94 and worked out it would be operating the 1420 from Scarborough so I elected to head back towards the rail station to catch that. As I was walking up I was most surprised to see B9TL 7402 turn up on that board, having noted that earlier on the Whitby-run X93. Clearly there had been some swapping going on but I got the front seats upstairs so can’t complain! This was a fairly quiet journey all the way to Robin Hoods Bay where I alighted - but a crowd of about 40 were waiting to get on.



The sun was in the perfect spot for a photo of one of the loaned Enviro 400s helping out on the coast this year, so I waited for 7575 to come down the hill. Two of the MMCs have been brought down from Ashington to bolster the double deck fleet this year, much needed given they are two B9s short (one had a fire, and one accident damaged) and the other deckers are now 18 year old B7TLs from London which are well worn at best. I can’t believe they still rely on them but they still provide sterling service (when they work) up and down these demanding routes day in day out.



I had just enough time to have an ice cream in Robin Hoods Bay and a quick wander into this delightful little town whilst I waited for the other E400 (7576) to come back from Scarborough as I’d passed it heading down on my way up. Thankfully there were less people waiting for this one though it still picked up a respectable load and left for Whitby with almost a full load. I was interested to see how they coped with the hills on these demanding services but it actually climbed out of Robin Hoods Bay pretty well, certainly no worse than the B9s.
It was a short run up into Whitby where we arrived around 5 minutes late, thankfully its relieving driver was at the stand awaiting its arrival, an improvement from earlier in the day. On the way in I saw an X4 coming in ‘Not in Service’ presumably having dropped off all the way in. It was running around 40 minutes late and I think was going to go back light to catch it’s time up, however I think when it arrived and saw the crowd waiting had no choice but to go back out. Another one arrived literally right behind it so between them they swallowed up the crowd and left heading back to Middlesbrough both with full loads!
I’d been debating whether to have an hour in Whitby and catch the E400 an hour behind back across to Middlesbrough or whether to just stay on the one I was on. However when I saw the crowd waiting in Whitby I just decided to stay on 7576 all the way back to Middlesbrough. There must have been 50ish waiting to head back to Teesside, this was at 4pm so I can only imagine what it would’ve been like later! Though I guess the X94s would have been heading back then too so not as bad potentially. I wasn’t going to hang around to find out.
After a while loading and a road closure on the way out of Whitby, we had a good run over the moors and arrived into Middlesbrough about 15 minutes late. I’d debated bailing at Ormesby roundabout and catching a 63 home but they were all in chaos so I just carried on down to the bus station. I literally just missed the 1720 X3 back to Redcar, the 1735 X4 was of course one of the two late ones I’d seen in Whitby so that was a non-runner and the other options were a Streetlite on the 64, slow Temsa on the 62 or waiting half an hour for the next X3 which is what I did in the end, Temsa 4702 taking me on a storming run back to Redcar, arriving 6 mins early!



That gave me time to grab some chips for my tea and then catch the 63 home at 1908, well loaded for a 7pm departure almost full leaving Redcar. These run half hourly on a night and really do load well.



A quick 10 min trip up the road and I was back home, another great value day out this time using Arriva’s £9 NE regionwide day ticket. I had no problems with journeys not turning up but there was the inevitable late running which is primarily due to huge passenger loadings on the Coast services at this time of year. Thankfully they’d managed to run all of the X93s as double deck though all 3 X94 boards were single deck yesterday, apart from the one trip I caught where 7402 had swapped onto it. The Temsa (4704) had a run to Middlesbrough and got swapped for B7 7424 which was swapped back onto its X94 board when it got back to Whitby… the first time that one has been out in a few weeks!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Have had a few little rides out over the last few weeks including a Snowdonia day and Cheshire run around but while I need to look into more detail to post those I thought I’d give you a local one from yesterday…
Although the weather isn’t as warm as it was in the southern half of the UK up in the North East it was set to be warmer the further south you go so I set off from a cloudy Redcar in search of some sun.

Firstly I had to get myself into town so caught a Temsa on frequent service 63, which I live on the route of (it was one of my major points when buying, living on an accessible route!) - this runs every 10 minutes during the week but on a Saturday it is reduced to every 15. For a journey around 9am it had a respectable load, though with the ongoing vehicle issues at Redcar depot it had started part way into its journey and not at Middlesbrough as it should have done.

I’d checked on BusTimes before leaving home to see what was around on service X4 and noted there were two Pulsars and then a long line of Streetlites so I’d forced myself out quickly to catch the 0934 from Redcar, which was Pulsar 1437 as advertised. It turned up nice and early and after a driver change we left on time heading for Whitby. The driver taking over asked the lad coming off what it was like on hills and got the answer ‘it’s good’ which is always nice to hear! Redcar’s fleet is in such a bad state at the moment with various boards missing every day despite help from other depots. Luckily the PVR is reduced slightly on a Saturday so this isn’t as much of an issue on a weekend.

We left Redcar with maybe 10-15 onboard and it remained fairly quiet until we hit Brotton and then started picking up for the run down the coast to Whitby… it picked up very well all of the way until we had a few standing by the time it arrived in Whitby.
I was aiming to head further down the coast to Scarborough but had already clocked that the X94 due just after I got in had ran with a Streetlite, and predictably it turned up bursting although almost all alighted in Whitby, it had another 40-ish to load up so I elected to let that one go and catch the next bus half an hour (ish) behind. It was notable that the 840 to Leeds also left with a full seated load as did my X4!

View attachment 137121

I went for a quick wander around the front, Whitby was hosting a ‘fossil festival’ this weekend but it’s always a popular place to visit regardless and is always busy on a nice weekend. The Park & Ride deckers were bringing in decent loads from the car park and sure enough my X93 arrived from Middlesbrough as B9TL 7403 full & standing. Thankfully a lot of people alighted in Whitby, though I was less impressed to see despite arriving late there was no driver waiting to take it out as the inbound driver left it and went for his break. After a few minutes we did have a replacement and by the time he’d loaded up the crowd in Whitby we left 16 minutes late heading for Scarborough, with a few seats left, though it picked up nicely all the way towards its destination.

View attachment 137122

After alighting in Scarborough along with the other 80-odd passengers it was pleasing to see another good crowd awaiting the return leg back to Middlesbrough. These routes down the coast really do get a hammering in the summer and it desperately could do with some more investment, as per much of Arriva’s network in the North East these days. I had a wander down to the seafront and grabbed a quick snack for lunch and sat in the gardens near the big wheel to enjoy some sun and watch the life go by for half an hour. It was interesting to see the competing open top routes along the front were carrying single figure loads and it made me wonder how profitable these actually are.

View attachment 137123

View attachment 137124
View attachment 137125

After a wander on the beach I wanted to get out of Scarborough and head back towards home and had already noted a Temsa on the Redcar-operated X94 and worked out it would be operating the 1420 from Scarborough so I elected to head back towards the rail station to catch that. As I was walking up I was most surprised to see B9TL 7402 turn up on that board, having noted that earlier on the Whitby-run X93. Clearly there had been some swapping going on but I got the front seats upstairs so can’t complain! This was a fairly quiet journey all the way to Robin Hoods Bay where I alighted - but a crowd of about 40 were waiting to get on.

View attachment 137126

The sun was in the perfect spot for a photo of one of the loaned Enviro 400s helping out on the coast this year, so I waited for 7575 to come down the hill. Two of the MMCs have been brought down from Ashington to bolster the double deck fleet this year, much needed given they are two B9s short (one had a fire, and one accident damaged) and the other deckers are now 18 year old B7TLs from London which are well worn at best. I can’t believe they still rely on them but they still provide sterling service (when they work) up and down these demanding routes day in day out.

View attachment 137127

I had just enough time to have an ice cream in Robin Hoods Bay and a quick wander into this delightful little town whilst I waited for the other E400 (7576) to come back from Scarborough as I’d passed it heading down on my way up. Thankfully there were less people waiting for this one though it still picked up a respectable load and left for Whitby with almost a full load. I was interested to see how they coped with the hills on these demanding services but it actually climbed out of Robin Hoods Bay pretty well, certainly no worse than the B9s.
It was a short run up into Whitby where we arrived around 5 minutes late, thankfully its relieving driver was at the stand awaiting its arrival, an improvement from earlier in the day. On the way in I saw an X4 coming in ‘Not in Service’ presumably having dropped off all the way in. It was running around 40 minutes late and I think was going to go back light to catch it’s time up, however I think when it arrived and saw the crowd waiting had no choice but to go back out. Another one arrived literally right behind it so between them they swallowed up the crowd and left heading back to Middlesbrough both with full loads!
I’d been debating whether to have an hour in Whitby and catch the E400 an hour behind back across to Middlesbrough or whether to just stay on the one I was on. However when I saw the crowd waiting in Whitby I just decided to stay on 7576 all the way back to Middlesbrough. There must have been 50ish waiting to head back to Teesside, this was at 4pm so I can only imagine what it would’ve been like later! Though I guess the X94s would have been heading back then too so not as bad potentially. I wasn’t going to hang around to find out.
After a while loading and a road closure on the way out of Whitby, we had a good run over the moors and arrived into Middlesbrough about 15 minutes late. I’d debated bailing at Ormesby roundabout and catching a 63 home but they were all in chaos so I just carried on down to the bus station. I literally just missed the 1720 X3 back to Redcar, the 1735 X4 was of course one of the two late ones I’d seen in Whitby so that was a non-runner and the other options were a Streetlite on the 64, slow Temsa on the 62 or waiting half an hour for the next X3 which is what I did in the end, Temsa 4702 taking me on a storming run back to Redcar, arriving 6 mins early!

View attachment 137128

That gave me time to grab some chips for my tea and then catch the 63 home at 1908, well loaded for a 7pm departure almost full leaving Redcar. These run half hourly on a night and really do load well.

View attachment 137129

A quick 10 min trip up the road and I was back home, another great value day out this time using Arriva’s £9 NE regionwide day ticket. I had no problems with journeys not turning up but there was the inevitable late running which is primarily due to huge passenger loadings on the Coast services at this time of year. Thankfully they’d managed to run all of the X93s as double deck though all 3 X94 boards were single deck yesterday, apart from the one trip I caught where 7402 had swapped onto it. The Temsa (4704) had a run to Middlesbrough and got swapped for B7 7424 which was swapped back onto its X94 board when it got back to Whitby… the first time that one has been out in a few weeks!

First of all @darloscott, thank you for sharing your experiences. Always conscious that me and @RELL6L post regularly so great to have someone else with a detailed travelogue and photos as well. Sounds like you had a great day on the coast.

As you may know, I'm an exile from the area and so know all of those spots and those routes very well so it's nice to get an update and a different perspective from someone else. The X93 could now do with an upgrade but (spoiler alert - I have a post to come soon) whilst the e400mmc that you experienced on loan may be brand new, sadly they are poverty spec. Yes, they've wifi and USBs but otherwise, they are bog standard, bus seated machines so I'd hope they'd have something better if they do invest.

I do like Pulsars so appreciate your earlier start to enjoy one of those rather than the Streetlites. I also have a soft spot for the Temsas to be honest, even if they have looks only a mother could love! Whether it's the Explorer NE ticket or the Arriva only version, you really can't knock the value for money.

ps back in the Jurassic period when I first travelled, the 93 (as it was) had a motley selection of Leopards of different vintages and with Plaxton, Alexander and Willowbrook bodies. Glad we've moved on in terms of vehicle quality since then

pps Love the photos esp Whitby bus station (lots of memories there), Scarborough, and South Bay at Scarborough where I once went to see the Radio ONE roadshow...kids, ask your parents

 

[darloscott]

First of all @darloscott, thank you for sharing your experiences. Always conscious that me and @RELL6L post regularly so great to have someone else with a detailed travelogue and photos as well. Sounds like you had a great day on the coast.

As you may know, I'm an exile from the area and so know all of those spots and those routes very well so it's nice to get an update and a different perspective from someone else. The X93 could now do with an upgrade but (spoiler alert - I have a post to come soon) whilst the e400mmc that you experienced on loan may be brand new, sadly they are poverty spec. Yes, they've wifi and USBs but otherwise, they are bog standard, bus seated machines so I'd hope they'd have something better if they do invest.

I do like Pulsars so appreciate your earlier start to enjoy one of those rather than the Streetlites. I also have a soft spot for the Temsas to be honest, even if they have looks only a mother could love! Whether it's the Explorer NE ticket or the Arriva only version, you really can't knock the value for money.

ps back in the Jurassic period when I first travelled, the 93 (as it was) had a motley selection of Leopards of different vintages and with Plaxton, Alexander and Willowbrook bodies. Glad we've moved on in terms of vehicle quality since then

pps Love the photos esp Whitby bus station (lots of memories there), Scarborough, and South Bay at Scarborough where I once went to see the Radio ONE roadshow...kids, ask your parents

No problem, I should probably start posting more of my experiences in here… I’ve lived here (almost) all of my life so know this area inside out. Would love to run more routes in this area but alas it’s finding gaps that make sense! The upcoming cuts by Arriva don’t leave much to be had if I’m totally honest.

The E400s from Northumbria are definitely poverty spec but the V2s in them are no worse than the horrible seats in the B9s. I found them perfectly fine for the 1h30 ride yesterday.

Sadly the Pulsars are few and far between now at Redcar as they’ve been drifting off to other depots bit by bit, I think there’s only 6 left now. 7 if you count the Wakefield one on loan!

I too have developed a soft spot for the Temsas recently and they make up the majority of Redcar’s allocation these days, if you can avoid the Streetlites. It’s good to see the fleet looking so smart since they’ve painted the majority of it - but it could definitely do with some newer stock too! While the Temsas keep going they’re really not what should be keeping the front line services going at their age. The interior of them the less said the better!

The Explorer I find is quite expensive now it’s north of £12 when you compare it to similar tickets elsewhere, though I suppose you can still travel over quite a wide area… I think £10 would be more reasonable though! It’s a while since it was that low admittedly.

 

[Ken H]

Thanks guys. Lots of interest there
Wasnt the Exeter - Uffculme bus a 1? when did that change?
(My family comes from the Culm valley, so I have visited there a few times)

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

No problem, I should probably start posting more of my experiences in here… I’ve lived here (almost) all of my life so know this area inside out. Would love to run more routes in this area but alas it’s finding gaps that make sense! The upcoming cuts by Arriva don’t leave much to be had if I’m totally honest.

The E400s from Northumbria are definitely poverty spec but the V2s in them are no worse than the horrible seats in the B9s. I found them perfectly fine for the 1h30 ride yesterday.

Sadly the Pulsars are few and far between now at Redcar as they’ve been drifting off to other depots bit by bit, I think there’s only 6 left now. 7 if you count the Wakefield one on loan!

I too have developed a soft spot for the Temsas recently and they make up the majority of Redcar’s allocation these days, if you can avoid the Streetlites. It’s good to see the fleet looking so smart since they’ve painted the majority of it - but it could definitely do with some newer stock too! While the Temsas keep going they’re really not what should be keeping the front line services going at their age. The interior of them the less said the better!

The Explorer I find is quite expensive now it’s north of £12 when you compare it to similar tickets elsewhere, though I suppose you can still travel over quite a wide area… I think £10 would be more reasonable though! It’s a while since it was that low admittedly.

For a ticket that covers such an area, it is an ok price. However, with the retrenchment of Go North East, and especially with Arriva, it has lost a fair bit of its coverage and so it's probably at the limit of value for money. Shame that Weardale left the scheme (I think because of Arriva running to Stanhope and the remuneration) as they have quite a lot of services now... same with Hodgsons.

I travelled on those e400mmcs recently and thought them a real downgrade compared to the older vehicles' spec at Ashington. The Temsas did get a retrim on the seats but nothing else so yeah, they look a bit tatty in terms of handrails etc. I still quite like them though - not bad machines.

Would love to hear more of your trips out, and those from others as well.

Thanks guys. Lots of interest there
Wasnt the Exeter - Uffculme bus a 1? when did that change?
(My family comes from the Culm valley, so I have visited there a few times)

Changed last year so the 1 only operates Tiverton to Exeter. Replaced by the 373 to Uffculme

 

[darloscott]

For a ticket that covers such an area, it is an ok price. However, with the retrenchment of Go North East, and especially with Arriva, it has lost a fair bit of its coverage and so it's probably at the limit of value for money. Shame that Weardale left the scheme (I think because of Arriva running to Stanhope and the remuneration) as they have quite a lot of services now... same with Hodgsons.

I travelled on those e400mmcs recently and thought them a real downgrade compared to the older vehicles' spec at Ashington. The Temsas did get a retrim on the seats but nothing else so yeah, they look a bit tatty in terms of handrails etc. I still quite like them though - not bad machines.

Would love to hear more of your trips out, and those from others as well.

Changed last year so the 1 only operates Tiverton to Exeter. Replaced by the 373 to Uffculme

To be fair anything that is a Durham CC tender is included in the Explorer which covers the majority of Weardale’s operation and roughly half of Hodgsons too. The same applies in the north of the region with Nexus. I wish North Yorkshire were the same but sadly not.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

To be fair anything that is a Durham CC tender is included in the Explorer which covers the majority of Weardale’s operation and roughly half of Hodgsons too. The same applies in the north of the region with Nexus. I wish North Yorkshire were the same but sadly not.

I'd heard this ref: Durham and Northumberland County Council tenders but can't see anything that tells the general public that. Not doubting you; have you a source you can share

 

[RELL6L]

Have had a few little rides out over the last few weeks including a Snowdonia day and Cheshire run around but while I need to look into more detail to post those I thought I’d give you a local one from yesterday…
Although the weather isn’t as warm as it was in the southern half of the UK up in the North East it was set to be warmer the further south you go so I set off from a cloudy Redcar in search of some sun.

Firstly I had to get myself into town so caught a Temsa on frequent service 63, which I live on the route of (it was one of my major points when buying, living on an accessible route!) - this runs every 10 minutes during the week but on a Saturday it is reduced to every 15. For a journey around 9am it had a respectable load, though with the ongoing vehicle issues at Redcar depot it had started part way into its journey and not at Middlesbrough as it should have done.

I’d checked on BusTimes before leaving home to see what was around on service X4 and noted there were two Pulsars and then a long line of Streetlites so I’d forced myself out quickly to catch the 0934 from Redcar, which was Pulsar 1437 as advertised. It turned up nice and early and after a driver change we left on time heading for Whitby. The driver taking over asked the lad coming off what it was like on hills and got the answer ‘it’s good’ which is always nice to hear! Redcar’s fleet is in such a bad state at the moment with various boards missing every day despite help from other depots. Luckily the PVR is reduced slightly on a Saturday so this isn’t as much of an issue on a weekend.

We left Redcar with maybe 10-15 onboard and it remained fairly quiet until we hit Brotton and then started picking up for the run down the coast to Whitby… it picked up very well all of the way until we had a few standing by the time it arrived in Whitby.
I was aiming to head further down the coast to Scarborough but had already clocked that the X94 due just after I got in had ran with a Streetlite, and predictably it turned up bursting although almost all alighted in Whitby, it had another 40-ish to load up so I elected to let that one go and catch the next bus half an hour (ish) behind. It was notable that the 840 to Leeds also left with a full seated load as did my X4!



I went for a quick wander around the front, Whitby was hosting a ‘fossil festival’ this weekend but it’s always a popular place to visit regardless and is always busy on a nice weekend. The Park & Ride deckers were bringing in decent loads from the car park and sure enough my X93 arrived from Middlesbrough as B9TL 7403 full & standing. Thankfully a lot of people alighted in Whitby, though I was less impressed to see despite arriving late there was no driver waiting to take it out as the inbound driver left it and went for his break. After a few minutes we did have a replacement and by the time he’d loaded up the crowd in Whitby we left 16 minutes late heading for Scarborough, with a few seats left, though it picked up nicely all the way towards its destination.



After alighting in Scarborough along with the other 80-odd passengers it was pleasing to see another good crowd awaiting the return leg back to Middlesbrough. These routes down the coast really do get a hammering in the summer and it desperately could do with some more investment, as per much of Arriva’s network in the North East these days. I had a wander down to the seafront and grabbed a quick snack for lunch and sat in the gardens near the big wheel to enjoy some sun and watch the life go by for half an hour. It was interesting to see the competing open top routes along the front were carrying single figure loads and it made me wonder how profitable these actually are.






After a wander on the beach I wanted to get out of Scarborough and head back towards home and had already noted a Temsa on the Redcar-operated X94 and worked out it would be operating the 1420 from Scarborough so I elected to head back towards the rail station to catch that. As I was walking up I was most surprised to see B9TL 7402 turn up on that board, having noted that earlier on the Whitby-run X93. Clearly there had been some swapping going on but I got the front seats upstairs so can’t complain! This was a fairly quiet journey all the way to Robin Hoods Bay where I alighted - but a crowd of about 40 were waiting to get on.



The sun was in the perfect spot for a photo of one of the loaned Enviro 400s helping out on the coast this year, so I waited for 7575 to come down the hill. Two of the MMCs have been brought down from Ashington to bolster the double deck fleet this year, much needed given they are two B9s short (one had a fire, and one accident damaged) and the other deckers are now 18 year old B7TLs from London which are well worn at best. I can’t believe they still rely on them but they still provide sterling service (when they work) up and down these demanding routes day in day out.



I had just enough time to have an ice cream in Robin Hoods Bay and a quick wander into this delightful little town whilst I waited for the other E400 (7576) to come back from Scarborough as I’d passed it heading down on my way up. Thankfully there were less people waiting for this one though it still picked up a respectable load and left for Whitby with almost a full load. I was interested to see how they coped with the hills on these demanding services but it actually climbed out of Robin Hoods Bay pretty well, certainly no worse than the B9s.
It was a short run up into Whitby where we arrived around 5 minutes late, thankfully its relieving driver was at the stand awaiting its arrival, an improvement from earlier in the day. On the way in I saw an X4 coming in ‘Not in Service’ presumably having dropped off all the way in. It was running around 40 minutes late and I think was going to go back light to catch it’s time up, however I think when it arrived and saw the crowd waiting had no choice but to go back out. Another one arrived literally right behind it so between them they swallowed up the crowd and left heading back to Middlesbrough both with full loads!
I’d been debating whether to have an hour in Whitby and catch the E400 an hour behind back across to Middlesbrough or whether to just stay on the one I was on. However when I saw the crowd waiting in Whitby I just decided to stay on 7576 all the way back to Middlesbrough. There must have been 50ish waiting to head back to Teesside, this was at 4pm so I can only imagine what it would’ve been like later! Though I guess the X94s would have been heading back then too so not as bad potentially. I wasn’t going to hang around to find out.
After a while loading and a road closure on the way out of Whitby, we had a good run over the moors and arrived into Middlesbrough about 15 minutes late. I’d debated bailing at Ormesby roundabout and catching a 63 home but they were all in chaos so I just carried on down to the bus station. I literally just missed the 1720 X3 back to Redcar, the 1735 X4 was of course one of the two late ones I’d seen in Whitby so that was a non-runner and the other options were a Streetlite on the 64, slow Temsa on the 62 or waiting half an hour for the next X3 which is what I did in the end, Temsa 4702 taking me on a storming run back to Redcar, arriving 6 mins early!



That gave me time to grab some chips for my tea and then catch the 63 home at 1908, well loaded for a 7pm departure almost full leaving Redcar. These run half hourly on a night and really do load well.



A quick 10 min trip up the road and I was back home, another great value day out this time using Arriva’s £9 NE regionwide day ticket. I had no problems with journeys not turning up but there was the inevitable late running which is primarily due to huge passenger loadings on the Coast services at this time of year. Thankfully they’d managed to run all of the X93s as double deck though all 3 X94 boards were single deck yesterday, apart from the one trip I caught where 7402 had swapped onto it. The Temsa (4704) had a run to Middlesbrough and got swapped for B7 7424 which was swapped back onto its X94 board when it got back to Whitby… the first time that one has been out in a few weeks!

Thanks for that really interesting report. I think it is great to explore the smaller places as well as the fabulous towns in this area. Like you, I took 30 minutes out to walk into Robin Hood's Bay, well worth doing and I adore Whitby. The other place you must do here is Staithes, you'll need a whole hour to walk down and back but the village is so gorgeous it is totally worth it. I did this plus 45 minutes in Saltburn and would like to have included Loftus too.

These routes must be great money spinners for Arriva, especially on good weather days, and it won't just be ENCTS passes it will be real passengers who don't want the hassle of parking in the towns. So when I see or hear about unreliability, missing journeys, breakdowns, buses half an hour late, Streetlites (or Temsas!) where it should be deckers (stated having regard to @TheGrandWazoo's comments on the 'Routes downgraded... thread!) it really grieves me to see the industry doing itself so much damage. These are not captive passengers, most have made a choice, do not let them down. IMHO the X93 should be treated as a front-line route with newish double deckers for the whole allocation (inc X94) which cascades buses out after 3 hard years not cascading them in from work on the X15/X18 etc north of Newcastle! Both Whitby and Redcar should have enough deckers for the full need, including appropriate spares, with Redcar using them elsewhere if there are spares. If Redcar have no use for them then use them at Stockton, certainly the X12 is capable of running them. As for the X4, how about either a new allocation of B8Rs or else Pulsar's cascaded from a new allocation? StreetLites are really not appropriate for the longer journeys on this route.

Still not travelled on a Temsa Avenue, keen to do this sometime. They are 12 years old now - will they go on much longer?

The strike was indeed centred on Bethesda and the Penrhyn quarry. I've seen it written that the building of houses in Tregarth (which was a few scattered dwellings) was because such people would not be tolerated in Bethesda! I was told not to even mention it in the pub!

Parking by Ogwen Cottage has got so silly in the 20 or so years that I've been visiting the area, and the police have begun cracking down on it. Hopefully, the T10 can get some trade. It is that bit that I've had more sympathy for and it did used to have a Sherpa service (S6?) operated by Silver Star; the run from Betws to Corwen seems more questionable!

I'm led to believe that Abersoch has indeed gone that way. It has a White Stuff, Fat Face and Crew Clothing so suspect it's a North Waleian St Mawes so your driver's comments are probably on the money, with locals now being relegated to Pwllheli or Caernarfon.

Thanks again for the photos and the travelogue...

ps surprised no-one has mentioned the Snowdon Sherpa livery being reminiscent of something in another national park or two?

Yes the Snowdon Sherpa (although I note it is in Welsh as Sherpa Wyddfa on the bus I pictured) colours are pretty similar to Stagecoach in the Lakes!

I think the Snowdon Sherpa S6 service ran just a few years, generally at weekends only. There was once an early morning run into Bangor which was a positioning journey for a Llew Jones National Express run - I planned a trip using this - but it was withdrawn before I could do it.

I think Abersoch featured in the Sunday Times 'Best Places to Live' guide - kiss of death in some respects...!

 

[ian1944]

Backtracking a few posts, I remember Rhosneigr years ago as a nice Anglesey village with a good beach. Is it bus-connected now, e.g. on a roundabout route between Holyhead and Menai Bridge? And while Pwllheli isn't up to much, nowhere with a breakdown truck called Blodwen (near the station, then) can be all bad.

 

[RELL6L]

I’m having a good year on trips out - I took trip number 11 on Wednesday in West Yorkshire. Last year I headed to the same area, the Arriva union having agreed a wage settlement, only to discover the night before, from reading this forum, that it had been rejected by the drivers and they were on strike again immediately! Some hasty reworking was required and I missed out all the Arriva sections. This year there is a First Leeds strike potentially imminent so I thought I would take advantage of a sunny day to cover some other parts of West Yorkshire, including some smaller towns and lesser routes. I have visited all the larger towns and cities and this time really just passed through Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield without exploring.

So 6am saw me parked in Pontefract with a quick explore, you can’t go into the castle at that time (hardly surprising), but the town centre was bustling with market stalls being set up. Good plus point for whoever runs it – the toilets at the bus station were open even at this early hour (I promise not to go on about these in my reports!). My first journey was to take the Arriva 148 to Wakefield. I was expecting a Pulsar, hoping for a decker, disappointed when an E200 turned up! But it was OK, even this early quite a few alighted from the Knottingley direction and we carried a decent number of passengers from Pontefract and the intermediate stops into Wakefield, still arriving a few minutes early. I like Wakefield city centre, dominated by the cathedral right in the middle of things, and I had time here to get a roll and coffee and stock up with food for later.

My next leg was on the Team Pennine X1 to Holmfirth. This, and the whole allocation on the route all day, was one of the Holmfirth Explorer branded Optare Tempos, all with personalised registrations hiding their 14 year age. They have been refurbished with working USB chargers and mine seemed a splendid vehicle. It had arrived early but for some reason didn’t pull into the stand until after the due departure time and was 5-6 minutes late throughout. We had upwards of 20 passengers as we headed out of the city centre but most were for destinations near the edge of town with many factories on the main road out through Durkar, on which there is no parallel Arriva service. I can’t help feeling Arriva are missing out on some of their core Wakefield local market here. We were down to about 5 passengers after crossing the M1. The second purpose of this journey was school traffic and we picked up loads of children in Clayton West, once the terminus of a branch line off the Huddersfield to Sheffield line and now seemingly middle class. These children were dropped off at Shelley College and we then continued past the impressive railway viaduct at Denby Dale and through New Mill with a few passengers, arriving at the middle of Holmfirth a few minutes late. Holmfirth is of course famous for The Last of the Summer Wine and looked very good in the morning sunshine, although the best features are in shade at this time.

My next leg was on the Stotts 335 to Meltham. There were three Stotts Solos at Holmfirth bus station with their drivers chatting, none was showing the 335 but I knew mine would be the one coming off the K20A, for which one was blinded. At the departure time the bus duly changed to the 335 but did not depart, the driver taking a look into the engine compartment before setting off. There was a warning buzzer going off for the whole journey and I see from BusTimes that after returning to Holmfirth the bus was swapped for another one and hasn’t been out since. We toured some back streets in Holmfirth and Netherthong on our way to Meltham with some good countryside views, arriving in Meltham on time. I visited Meltham on my West Yorkshire trip last year as an add-on to my original plans in place of the Arriva parts I couldn’t do, that time there were road works making the village one large traffic jam, this time it was much quieter and very pleasant. The 335 is a scenic route throughout but the better part is near Slaithwaite. My route out of Meltham was on another Stotts route, the 911 to Honley, run inevitably by another white Solo. Again we were on time across another rural hilly section with good views of the countryside. I wanted to alight in Honley as I had seen an attractive cobbled street just off the village centre when passing through before. I was now entering a section of my planned trip with some pretty ambitious connections, backup plans in place if any of these failed. I only had four minutes at Honley but the next bus was running a couple of minutes late so I had time to see what I wanted. Then onto the First 308 to Huddersfield, a Volvo B9TL running the hourly shorts to Honley. I have done the full route before and this route turns right at Berry Brow and takes a pretty direct route into the town centre. Not that many passengers on this journey. I wasn’t visiting Huddersfield this time, I only had four minutes scheduled at the bus station and as we were running slightly late I alighted at Queen Street South and walked the short distance to Queensgate, a pretty uninspiring street, to take my next bus.

I mentioned I was taking some lesser routes and the next was the Arriva 261 to Mirfield, run by a Solo, plenty big enough for the few passengers. This route heads out of the town through Dalton and then does a circuit of Kirkheaton and Upper Heaton, including some great country views at the top of the villages. It then emerges into Mirfield by the river and canal and I alighted here and took a short walk along the canal before heading to the town centre. The Arriva 202 and 203 are the main routes between Huddersfield and Dewsbury, continuing to Leeds, but take different routes through Mirfield, only the 203 serving the centre of the town. I duly took an E400 on the 203 to continue my journey to Dewsbury. This was another town I had visited before and was merely passing through to spend more time in smaller places.

My next leg was to Batley on the 281 or 283. These services interwork with the 280 and all outgoing 281s and 283s arrive as 280s first. It was clear from BusTimes that the incoming 280 was running late and I therefore expected to make my three-minute connection onto a 281 without a problem. Clearly the live departure boards at the bus station are tuned into the interworking of these routes as it was projecting my departure to be 11 minutes late, which is how the 280 was running. However that included the 5 minute stand time and the driver didn’t take any, so we left on a Pulsar a mere 7 minutes late. But the traffic in the centre of Dewsbury at this time was awful. These are not major roads, just town centre roads leading to car parks, loading and pick up/ drop off, but they were very crowded and slow. By the time we had left the town centre with a decent load we were 15 minutes late, running in the times of the next bus – except this one was even later. Its clearly not always this bad, at times the buses don’t lose any time, so how bus companies are expected to make this work I don’t know. The delays continued and clearly some journeys were lost later in the day. So I arrived at Batley with just 8 minutes in theory. The attractive town centre of Batley will be remembered for a long time for the senseless killing of MP Jo Cox in 2016 and there were reminders of this around the town square and town hall which I recalled from the TV coverage.

Meanwhile I was checking my next leg, the Arriva 201 towards Leeds. Although a bus was showing it had not left Heckmondwike terminus and BusTimes shows it as sitting there for 45 minutes. So I spent more time in Batley town centre before heading down to the bus station for the next departure 30 minutes later. I was worried this might be late due to extra passengers but this journey, a Wright Gemini DB300, had a positive driver who was bang on time. Despite the gap there were not many passengers, but I suspect that the 200/201 routes carry more between Morley and Leeds than they do south of Morley. The First 51/52 direct from Morley to Leeds are now only every 15 minutes and take almost as long as the Arriva 200/201 via White Rose Centre. I originally planned 45 minutes at Morley but this was now only 15 minutes due to the missing 201. Morley seemed a pleasant town centre with a main pedestrianised street and all the bus routes picking up together opposite the town hall.

Once again I was able to take more than my allotted 15 minutes in Morley as my next bus was also running late. This was the Arriva 425 to Bradford, which had come from Wakefield. It was 12 minutes late leaving Wakefield town centre for some reason, despite a long period since its arrival, and still 9 minutes late at Morley. The bus was a Volvo B5LH hybrid which gave a very odd ride. At each stop, including traffic lights and roundabouts etc, the engine cut out, then setting off the battery gave us a decent lurch forwards for about 100 yards and then started slowing down, at which point the engine cut in, selected a gear and took over the load. I suspect this isn’t quite how it is meant to work and it would be off-putting for drivers behind thinking the bus is going to accelerate and then it delays before doing so. A reasonable load and plenty alighting and boarding as we went through a number of villages before entering Bradford on one of the main corridors. We made up more time and were only 4 minutes late arriving at Bradford.

Bradford was another city I was not visiting and I had only scheduled 8 minutes here, meaning that at Morley I had not expected to make this connection. It was to the Transdev Flyer A2 towards the airport and Harrogate, taking it as far as Yeadon. This was an Optare Versa, again with working USB chargers. A fair number of people boarded bound for the airport while there was also a fair amount of local traffic. The route is paralleled by local services for much of the time within Bradford but nothing outside the city and it is the only bus to Apperley Bridge. Once there were frequent services up here but the train service has been improved and the bus services fallen away. We reached Yeadon pretty much on time from where I was exposing myself to First services for a while.

From Yeadon I had planned to take the First 27 to Horsforth. I had been watching the outbound bus for this journey and it was not very late, but at Yeadon the departure board said it was cancelled. On BusTimes it didn’t track any more for the rest of the day and it certainly didn’t turn up. What did turn up however was a 34 from Otley which I should have missed, it left Otley 9 minutes late and lost more time since then. The bus, a green Streetdeck, was over 20 minutes late at Yeadon and about the same when I got off on the main road at the edge of Horsforth. I walked up across the ring road and into Horsforth village. Quite attractive but rather too gentrified for my liking, parked Range Rovers and the like spoiling the well-presented buildings and hanging baskets. From the village centre my next section was a 50 (it could have been a 50A) to Leeds. These services each run about every 24 minutes but with variations, not consistent for long enough to rely on fixed times each hour. Some way in it sort-of combines with the 49, perhaps once they ran at similar frequencies, but now the 49 is every 15 minutes so its just a mess. Again I got a bus – another Streetdeck – that had been scheduled to leave before I got there, but only because the driver was having a vape off the bus before we set off – indeed the next one arrived on stand as we were leaving and caught us up later. The route runs through a number of residential areas around Horsforth and Hawksworth before reaching busier Kirkstall after which we seemed to have a fairly clear run and had made up a few minutes by the time we arrived at the city centre. I alighted at the city hall and walked – Leeds being another place I ‘wasn’t’ visiting – straight through to the bus station.

I managed to make it to the bus station just in time to catch a 141 to Castleford. The 141 interworks with the 164 so it was inward journeys on the 164 I had been watching, this one being an E400 among a sea of Pulsars. I think the interworking is to avoid Selby vehicles, which are not all compliant with the clean air zone, coming into Leeds, the route being worked by Castleford. The parallel 140 does not interwork at the Leeds end although I assume it will interwork with the new 165 which is supposed to be starting in July. It seemed very slow heading out of Leeds with heavy traffic but we didn’t lose much time on this pretty unremarkable route. There isn’t much to see at Castleford but I did want to see one thing so I stayed on the 141 for a couple of stops after the bus station to alight at Aire Street. Here there is a fabulous pedestrian bridge across the river Aire, opened in 2008 and well worth stopping off for. There’s nothing else in Castleford so I hurried back to the bus station and just made it to the next 140 to return on the final leg to Pontefract. This was a Pulsar and the route included the junction 32 retail outlet, somewhere I had not seen. Finally back at Pontefract, the market stalls had all gone and the atmosphere was very different with music coming from the pubs and younger people enjoying the sunny evening.

Just under 12 hours from start to finish with 15 bus journeys. Not all exactly according to my ambitious plan but I recovered from the missing journeys and late running to finish about the same time as I intended. A very enjoyable expedition addition to my knowledge and experiences of West Yorkshire.

As usual, some pictures:
Pontefract


Holmfirth


Meltham


Honley


View near Upper Heaton


The canal at Mirfield


Batley


Morley


Horsforth


Bridge over the River Aire at Castleford

Backtracking a few posts, I remember Rhosneigr years ago as a nice Anglesey village with a good beach. Is it bus-connected now, e.g. on a roundabout route between Holyhead and Menai Bridge? And while Pwllheli isn't up to much, nowhere with a breakdown truck called Blodwen (near the station, then) can be all bad.

Rhosneigr is on two routes run by Gwynfor Coaches. The 25 runs between Holyhead and Aberffraw, with three journeys, and the 45 runs from Llangefni to Rhosneigr, with four journeys. Connections at Aberffraw or Llangefni to Menai Bridge and Bangor. And there is a station!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I’m having a good year on trips out - I took trip number 11 on Wednesday in West Yorkshire. Last year I headed to the same area, the Arriva union having agreed a wage settlement, only to discover the night before, from reading this forum, that it had been rejected by the drivers and they were on strike again immediately! Some hasty reworking was required and I missed out all the Arriva sections. This year there is a First Leeds strike potentially imminent so I thought I would take advantage of a sunny day to cover some other parts of West Yorkshire, including some smaller towns and lesser routes. I have visited all the larger towns and cities and this time really just passed through Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield without exploring.

So 6am saw me parked in Pontefract with a quick explore, you can’t go into the castle at that time (hardly surprising), but the town centre was bustling with market stalls being set up. Good plus point for whoever runs it – the toilets at the bus station were open even at this early hour (I promise not to go on about these in my reports!). My first journey was to take the Arriva 148 to Wakefield. I was expecting a Pulsar, hoping for a decker, disappointed when an E200 turned up! But it was OK, even this early quite a few alighted from the Knottingley direction and we carried a decent number of passengers from Pontefract and the intermediate stops into Wakefield, still arriving a few minutes early. I like Wakefield city centre, dominated by the cathedral right in the middle of things, and I had time here to get a roll and coffee and stock up with food for later.

My next leg was on the Team Pennine X1 to Holmfirth. This, and the whole allocation on the route all day, was one of the Holmfirth Explorer branded Optare Tempos, all with personalised registrations hiding their 14 year age. They have been refurbished with working USB chargers and mine seemed a splendid vehicle. It had arrived early but for some reason didn’t pull into the stand until after the due departure time and was 5-6 minutes late throughout. We had upwards of 20 passengers as we headed out of the city centre but most were for destinations near the edge of town with many factories on the main road out through Durkar, on which there is no parallel Arriva service. I can’t help feeling Arriva are missing out on some of their core Wakefield local market here. We were down to about 5 passengers after crossing the M1. The second purpose of this journey was school traffic and we picked up loads of children in Clayton West, once the terminus of a branch line off the Huddersfield to Sheffield line and now seemingly middle class. These children were dropped off at Shelley College and we then continued past the impressive railway viaduct at Denby Dale and through New Mill with a few passengers, arriving at the middle of Holmfirth a few minutes late. Holmfirth is of course famous for The Last of the Summer Wine and looked very good in the morning sunshine, although the best features are in shade at this time.

My next leg was on the Stotts 335 to Meltham. There were three Stotts Solos at Holmfirth bus station with their drivers chatting, none was showing the 335 but I knew mine would be the one coming off the K20A, for which one was blinded. At the departure time the bus duly changed to the 335 but did not depart, the driver taking a look into the engine compartment before setting off. There was a warning buzzer going off for the whole journey and I see from BusTimes that after returning to Holmfirth the bus was swapped for another one and hasn’t been out since. We toured some back streets in Holmfirth and Netherthong on our way to Meltham with some good countryside views, arriving in Meltham on time. I visited Meltham on my West Yorkshire trip last year as an add-on to my original plans in place of the Arriva parts I couldn’t do, that time there were road works making the village one large traffic jam, this time it was much quieter and very pleasant. The 335 is a scenic route throughout but the better part is near Slaithwaite. My route out of Meltham was on another Stotts route, the 911 to Honley, run inevitably by another white Solo. Again we were on time across another rural hilly section with good views of the countryside. I wanted to alight in Honley as I had seen an attractive cobbled street just off the village centre when passing through before. I was now entering a section of my planned trip with some pretty ambitious connections, backup plans in place if any of these failed. I only had four minutes at Honley but the next bus was running a couple of minutes late so I had time to see what I wanted. Then onto the First 308 to Huddersfield, a Volvo B9TL running the hourly shorts to Honley. I have done the full route before and this route turns right at Berry Brow and takes a pretty direct route into the town centre. Not that many passengers on this journey. I wasn’t visiting Huddersfield this time, I only had four minutes scheduled at the bus station and as we were running slightly late I alighted at Queen Street South and walked the short distance to Queensgate, a pretty uninspiring street, to take my next bus.

I mentioned I was taking some lesser routes and the next was the Arriva 261 to Mirfield, run by a Solo, plenty big enough for the few passengers. This route heads out of the town through Dalton and then does a circuit of Kirkheaton and Upper Heaton, including some great country views at the top of the villages. It then emerges into Mirfield by the river and canal and I alighted here and took a short walk along the canal before heading to the town centre. The Arriva 202 and 203 are the main routes between Huddersfield and Dewsbury, continuing to Leeds, but take different routes through Mirfield, only the 203 serving the centre of the town. I duly took an E400 on the 203 to continue my journey to Dewsbury. This was another town I had visited before and was merely passing through to spend more time in smaller places.

My next leg was to Batley on the 281 or 283. These services interwork with the 280 and all outgoing 281s and 283s arrive as 280s first. It was clear from BusTimes that the incoming 280 was running late and I therefore expected to make my three-minute connection onto a 281 without a problem. Clearly the live departure boards at the bus station are tuned into the interworking of these routes as it was projecting my departure to be 11 minutes late, which is how the 280 was running. However that included the 5 minute stand time and the driver didn’t take any, so we left on a Pulsar a mere 7 minutes late. But the traffic in the centre of Dewsbury at this time was awful. These are not major roads, just town centre roads leading to car parks, loading and pick up/ drop off, but they were very crowded and slow. By the time we had left the town centre with a decent load we were 15 minutes late, running in the times of the next bus – except this one was even later. Its clearly not always this bad, at times the buses don’t lose any time, so how bus companies are expected to make this work I don’t know. The delays continued and clearly some journeys were lost later in the day. So I arrived at Batley with just 8 minutes in theory. The attractive town centre of Batley will be remembered for a long time for the senseless killing of MP Jo Cox in 2016 and there were reminders of this around the town square and town hall which I recalled from the TV coverage.

Meanwhile I was checking my next leg, the Arriva 201 towards Leeds. Although a bus was showing it had not left Heckmondwike terminus and BusTimes shows it as sitting there for 45 minutes. So I spent more time in Batley town centre before heading down to the bus station for the next departure 30 minutes later. I was worried this might be late due to extra passengers but this journey, a Wright Gemini DB300, had a positive driver who was bang on time. Despite the gap there were not many passengers, but I suspect that the 200/201 routes carry more between Morley and Leeds than they do south of Morley. The First 51/52 direct from Morley to Leeds are now only every 15 minutes and take almost as long as the Arriva 200/201 via White Rose Centre. I originally planned 45 minutes at Morley but this was now only 15 minutes due to the missing 201. Morley seemed a pleasant town centre with a main pedestrianised street and all the bus routes picking up together opposite the town hall.

Once again I was able to take more than my allotted 15 minutes in Morley as my next bus was also running late. This was the Arriva 425 to Bradford, which had come from Wakefield. It was 12 minutes late leaving Wakefield town centre for some reason, despite a long period since its arrival, and still 9 minutes late at Morley. The bus was a Volvo B5LH hybrid which gave a very odd ride. At each stop, including traffic lights and roundabouts etc, the engine cut out, then setting off the battery gave us a decent lurch forwards for about 100 yards and then started slowing down, at which point the engine cut in, selected a gear and took over the load. I suspect this isn’t quite how it is meant to work and it would be off-putting for drivers behind thinking the bus is going to accelerate and then it delays before doing so. A reasonable load and plenty alighting and boarding as we went through a number of villages before entering Bradford on one of the main corridors. We made up more time and were only 4 minutes late arriving at Bradford.

Bradford was another city I was not visiting and I had only scheduled 8 minutes here, meaning that at Morley I had not expected to make this connection. It was to the Transdev Flyer A2 towards the airport and Harrogate, taking it as far as Yeadon. This was an Optare Versa, again with working USB chargers. A fair number of people boarded bound for the airport while there was also a fair amount of local traffic. The route is paralleled by local services for much of the time within Bradford but nothing outside the city and it is the only bus to Apperley Bridge. Once there were frequent services up here but the train service has been improved and the bus services fallen away. We reached Yeadon pretty much on time from where I was exposing myself to First services for a while.

From Yeadon I had planned to take the First 27 to Horsforth. I had been watching the outbound bus for this journey and it was not very late, but at Yeadon the departure board said it was cancelled. On BusTimes it didn’t track any more for the rest of the day and it certainly didn’t turn up. What did turn up however was a 34 from Otley which I should have missed, it left Otley 9 minutes late and lost more time since then. The bus, a green Streetdeck, was over 20 minutes late at Yeadon and about the same when I got off on the main road at the edge of Horsforth. I walked up across the ring road and into Horsforth village. Quite attractive but rather too gentrified for my liking, parked Range Rovers and the like spoiling the well-presented buildings and hanging baskets. From the village centre my next section was a 50 (it could have been a 50A) to Leeds. These services each run about every 24 minutes but with variations, not consistent for long enough to rely on fixed times each hour. Some way in it sort-of combines with the 49, perhaps once they ran at similar frequencies, but now the 49 is every 15 minutes so its just a mess. Again I got a bus – another Streetdeck – that had been scheduled to leave before I got there, but only because the driver was having a vape off the bus before we set off – indeed the next one arrived on stand as we were leaving and caught us up later. The route runs through a number of residential areas around Horsforth and Hawksworth before reaching busier Kirkstall after which we seemed to have a fairly clear run and had made up a few minutes by the time we arrived at the city centre. I alighted at the city hall and walked – Leeds being another place I ‘wasn’t’ visiting – straight through to the bus station.

I managed to make it to the bus station just in time to catch a 141 to Castleford. The 141 interworks with the 164 so it was inward journeys on the 164 I had been watching, this one being an E400 among a sea of Pulsars. I think the interworking is to avoid Selby vehicles, which are not all compliant with the clean air zone, coming into Leeds, the route being worked by Castleford. The parallel 140 does not interwork at the Leeds end although I assume it will interwork with the new 165 which is supposed to be starting in July. It seemed very slow heading out of Leeds with heavy traffic but we didn’t lose much time on this pretty unremarkable route. There isn’t much to see at Castleford but I did want to see one thing so I stayed on the 141 for a couple of stops after the bus station to alight at Aire Street. Here there is a fabulous pedestrian bridge across the river Aire, opened in 2008 and well worth stopping off for. There’s nothing else in Castleford so I hurried back to the bus station and just made it to the next 140 to return on the final leg to Pontefract. This was a Pulsar and the route included the junction 32 retail outlet, somewhere I had not seen. Finally back at Pontefract, the market stalls had all gone and the atmosphere was very different with music coming from the pubs and younger people enjoying the sunny evening.

Just under 12 hours from start to finish with 15 bus journeys. Not all exactly according to my ambitious plan but I recovered from the missing journeys and late running to finish about the same time as I intended. A very enjoyable expedition addition to my knowledge and experiences of West Yorkshire.

As usual, some pictures:View attachment 137456
Pontefract

View attachment 137457
Holmfirth

View attachment 137458
Meltham

View attachment 137459
Honley

View attachment 137460
View near Upper Heaton

View attachment 137461
The canal at Mirfield

View attachment 137462
Batley

View attachment 137463
Morley

View attachment 137464
Horsforth

View attachment 137465
Bridge over the River Aire at Castleford


Rhosneigr is on two routes run by Gwynfor Coaches. The 25 runs between Holyhead and Aberffraw, with three journeys, and the 45 runs from Llangefni to Rhosneigr, with four journeys. Connections at Aberffraw or Llangefni to Menai Bridge and Bangor. And there is a station!

Thanks again for another day out, and I do remember that you were frustrated (in part) by the Arriva Yorkshire strike last year.

I've visited West Yorkshire a few times in recent years though I've never done the bit in the hills around Meltham. I did the run from Wakey to Holmfirth in Dec 2017 (I was "resting" between employment) and travelled on a Yorkshire Tiger Tempo and those same vehicles are still working hard on the same route.

More recently (probably last December), I had a trip out around spots such as Batley, Morley and Pontefract. The latter is a lovely town and that bus station is a Metro operated one; in fact, it was one of the first modern bus stations in West Yorkshire and is still pretty decent though now nearly 40 years old, it doesn't show it. The market place area and the castle are very attractive and it seems a more vibrant and wealthier place than some of the other spots. Batley seems quite down at heel in comparison, save for the modern and rather grandiose bus station!

Lovely photos and Honley looks very nice. I've never bothered so perhaps I should return to Kirklees?

*** NEW POST ***

I’ll start with an apology… this was a long and multi-faceted day out so sorry if it’s a bit long. I’ll try to keep it short, and hopefully it’s an interesting read. I'll try to keep away from the usual moans too.

It was a return to my native North East. It involved a trip to Northumberland, covering many places I've visited since the days when United was still the dominant operator. The day started in Morpeth, the affluent county town. The bright and airy bus station replaced a late 1970s predecessor some years ago. Another observation was how service frequencies have declined in recent years as services to Ashington and Blyth are now half hourly (rather than every 20 mins). More sadly, Arriva removed part of the Newcastle service so that 4 buses per hour is reduced to 3 but without a timetable recast so a 15/15/30 pattern exists – given the relative speed vs the car and the poorly located station, Arriva really should be capitalising on this market. However, I was instead heading into the hills and a trip up Coquetdale to Rothbury.

The X14 arrived from Newcastle with a very healthy load, necessitating a 2017 e400mmc to Sapphire spec, recently displaced by new fleet from the Ashington to Newcastle expresses. It was a comfortable beast as we made our way through beautiful countryside, criss-crossing the River Coquet. Turns out that the National Trust is really pushing non-car travel to their attractions and so it proved as we arrived at Cragside House where about 40 passengers exited. More left at Rothbury (as did I). I grabbed a takeaway coffee as the decker headed to the nearby village of Thropton, with a chance to snap the former United enquiry office, though the adjacent former depot was redeveloped in the late 1980s for housing.


Former United Rothbury office

Next was Alnwick to Rothbury; always just a school run with a Friday market day service, Spirit Buses launched a commercial service in 2014 and whilst that operator is no more, a six day, three round trip service still exists operated by Phoenix Buses. A Peugeot Boxer minibus was not luxurious but perfectly fine for the 25 minute trip across the uplands, affording stunning views of the Cheviot Hills. We descended into the small bus station at Alnwick, a quirky hangover as Arriva still own it (rebuilt in the late 1980s) with the adjacent former enquiry office retained for driver welfare/breaks despite the depot closing in 2011. I’m surprised they still bother though guess it’s until someone makes an offer on the entire site. Station signage is a bit dated and the services away from the main routes seem to be struggling by with limited council funding. The next journey was the X20 from Alnwick to Newcastle via Ashington. This route comprises the former 420 to Ashington, and then the X20 fast route when the Newcastle to Ashington corridor was experiencing competition. Clearly, the route does well, being a decker operated route these days with another 2017 mmc.

The Arriva e400mmc that brought me to Rothbury - the Peugeot to Alnwick was tailing it


Out in the wild - the view towards the Cheviots

This is a stunning route and we were afforded views of Alnmouth and the castle at Warkworth. We were then treated to the arrival of “girls on the lash” at Hadston… one was celebrating her birthday (with a Dirty Thirty sash) and they were clearly off to enjoy the attractions of Newcastle. At subsequent stops, more friends appeared until about 12-15 were there, talking and laughing (but not annoyingly) before they began drinking cocktails out of cans and applying false nails… I have never seen THAT before!

Alnmouth from a distance

It was an exit at Ashington. Once again, a modern but basic bus station though far less vibrant than in previous years. One thing that is really noticeable has been the loss of local town services in these Arriva towns. Ashington and Blyth had several local routes, now subsumed into long distance routes (which are now slower as a result) or they’ve declined or disappeared. One survivor is the tendered 434 linking Ashington with Bedlington via the isolated settlements of Cambois and North Blyth. They are detached on the north side of the River Blyth and have that same dislocated feel as other places like Severn Beach or Port Clarence near Middlesbrough. In the glorious sunshine, they looked lovely with North Blyth possessing a row of brightly painted terraced houses as we bounced around on another Phoenix Coaches welfare mini, though this was a newer Fiat Ducato. The 434 oddly doesn’t run to Bedlington town centre but to Bedlington Station, where trains will soon return (in 2024) to adversely affect the main bus routes to Newcastle.

This was the end of our planned itinerary and so we began winging it with the next bus being the 2 to Blyth. Arriva’s decision to close their Jesmond depot means Blyth has relinquished operation of the 2 to Ashington route though the Pulsar that arrived was one on loan from Redcar with plenty of confusing internal notices! I wouldn’t normally spend time in Blyth but I had a travelling companion and we decided to have an explore. Blyth bus station is still much the same as always, but the adjacent depot has had the front shed removed to create more parking. We walked through the harbour area and past the old lighthouse, commenting on the redevelopment of the area (in contrast to North Blyth just across the estuary, it is almost gentrification). After a good walk and a bite to eat, we decided to head south to Whitley Bay and in gorgeous sunshine, enjoyed the views of Seaton Sluice and St Marys Lighthouse courtesy of a Coast and Cobalt B9 Gemini of Go North East.


The geographic boundary that is the River Blyth - the houses are North Blyth


The inlet at Seaton Sluice

Whitley Bay was a childhood seaside destination, and was a bit of a border town. The town services and services into south Northumberland were United operations who maintained a combined depot/bus station in the town. Services into North Tyneside were the preserve of Northern’s Percy Main depot. The latter still exists but is much reduced (though it looks as if Go North East are seizing the Arriva routes recently deregistered) whilst Arriva’s presence in the town is a shadow of what it was. Stagecoach has surprisingly entered the area (which it never did) with the winning of the Nexus tendered 317 and it was this that would take us to North Shields via a circuitous route on a very standard e200. Of course, from here, the logical step would be to use the Shields Ferry as the Explorer is valid on that and the Metro (but is it valid on Phoenix Coaches… never asked). A gallop to the ferry meant we caught it and enjoy the voyage across the Tyne.



Shields is a town where the town centre is clearly ailing and it’s sad to see the large number of closed shops and retail units. Now, I don’t normally bother with bashing specific buses but deviated from this with good reason. Stagecoach has four elderly (W/X reg) open top Tridents that have just been repainted and are employed on promo work but also are used on good days on random boards on the “Economic” services to Sunderland from South Shields. A short coffee stop and we would be able to enjoy one – never done any open top route in the North East so that was to be rectified, with a trip past the Stagecoach depot at Chichester and out to Marsden where we decamped. Pleasantly, the next “Eco” back to Shields was one of the Sunderland LPG fuelled e300s; one wonders how long these might keep going with the cost benefit differential disappearing thanks to the Ukraine conflict.


Passing the Stagecoach depot at Chichester in South Shields

It was a return back to South Shields Interchange and then onto the Metro for the short trip to Jarrow. Once again, I was soon recalling my youth, perhaps prompted by sitting on a 40 year old Metro car, knowing it was possibly one of the last trips I'll enjoy as testing and building of the replacements is quickly progressing. We arrived into Jarrow, and I sprinted out of the station knowing I had a tight connections. I fondly remember the compact depot and bus station that Northern had there, though the area has long since been redeveloped. Mirroring Arriva's travails, Go North East’s presence here has diminished. Where historically the 310 and 319 would have Olympians and Atlanteans, my next trip on the 10/11 via the Tyne Tunnel is now a Stagecoach affair, and I was on another mundane Stagecoach e200 as per the 317, again in an area that they would never have served in the past. My journey took me back to North Shields where the building of a new transport interchange is progressing so that services will have a focal point instead of being scattered across the town centre. I navigated my way to catch my penultimate bus of the day. The 306 was a Jesmond route but is now interworked by Blyth depot and so the Wright DAF Gemini’s extensive internal promotion for the MAX X11 was sadly lost on most. On a glorious evening, we headed through Billy Mill (when did the roundabout go?) and then on the Coast Road, stopping to dive into various settlements and then past the beautiful art deco façade of the former Wills cigarette factory (now thankfully converted to flats). Interestingly, Arriva and GNE have had a coordinated service along the Coast Road brokered by Nexus so that headways are regular. On my earlier 309, GNE even had joint timetables though none were on this one (and I suspect it's a Go initiative)




My Metro train arriving into South Shields

A sun-bathed Newcastle evening allowed a brief glimpse of the now closed Arriva Jesmond depot and then into the Haymarket bus station. It won’t be long until the numbers of Arriva and Go North East vehicles reach parity, it feels, and the lengthening shadows perhaps accentuated my feelings of melancholy. After a long day with many different trips (and modes), it was time for the final bus. It was the X15 to Alnwick but operated by one of the 2022 e400mmcs that Arriva bought for Ashington depot. I have to say how disappointing these are – they are standard bus vehicles for use on what should be goldmine routes. They have above-average customer journey lengths yet just standard bus seats. The lack of promotion is evident and disappointing – just one sign internally with a stern NO VAPING writ large. I got off in Morpeth, knackered but happy to have enjoyed a great day out.

Views? Well, the weather was fabulous and I loved the journeys. A real mix from lush countryside, bleak moorland, idyllic coasts, the Northumberland/North Tyneside rustbelt, and the sophistication of the city. Every bus turned up when scheduled which is a relief these days. I got to see some parts of the area that were unknown to me, even after all these years. It’s always nice to be surprised. Smaller operators are few but Phoenix and GCT are carving a niche whilst Stagecoach continue to extend their tendrils into unfamiliar territory. They are decent and competent and are capitalizing on the GNE Gilbert era where (aside from X lines) there was too much faffing with brand updates and pleasing the enthusiast fraternity and not enough focus on service and cost. However, under the Nigel Featham wing, it might be that Go North East will be best placed to seize opportunities caused by Arriva’s retrenchment. At the risk of another Arriva rant, I say this… Arriva Northumbria appears to besurviving only through the continued dedication and pride of the local staff, and that goodwill is being burned through. The introduction of the Northumberland line trains will dent some of their flagship routes, yet the operations are devoid of leadership and imagination. Those Arriva drivers currently at Walkergate won’t move to Blyth or Ashington and what odds about the continued challenges on driver recruitment for Arriva. After a decline in the mid-late 2000s, the operation seemed to have stablised and improving about 10 years ago. It now feels like an implosion and I’ll call it now… we probably won’t see a recognizable Arriva operation North of the Tyne in five years.

Hope you enjoyed the writing and the photos

 

[RELL6L]

Thanks again for another day out, and I do remember that you were frustrated (in part) by the Arriva Yorkshire strike last year.

I've visited West Yorkshire a few times in recent years though I've never done the bit in the hills around Meltham. I did the run from Wakey to Holmfirth in Dec 2017 (I was "resting" between employment) and travelled on a Yorkshire Tiger Tempo and those same vehicles are still working hard on the same route.

More recently (probably last December), I had a trip out around spots such as Batley, Morley and Pontefract. The latter is a lovely town and that bus station is a Metro operated one; in fact, it was one of the first modern bus stations in West Yorkshire and is still pretty decent though now nearly 40 years old, it doesn't show it. The market place area and the castle are very attractive and it seems a more vibrant and wealthier place than some of the other spots. Batley seems quite down at heel in comparison, save for the modern and rather grandiose bus station!

Lovely photos and Honley looks very nice. I've never bothered so perhaps I should return to Kirklees?

*** NEW POST ***

I’ll start with an apology… this was a long and multi-faceted day out so sorry if it’s a bit long. I’ll try to keep it short, and hopefully it’s an interesting read. I'll try to keep away from the usual moans too.

It was a return to my native North East. It involved a trip to Northumberland, covering many places I've visited since the days when United was still the dominant operator. The day started in Morpeth, the affluent county town. The bright and airy bus station replaced a late 1970s predecessor some years ago. Another observation was how service frequencies have declined in recent years as services to Ashington and Blyth are now half hourly (rather than every 20 mins). More sadly, Arriva removed part of the Newcastle service so that 4 buses per hour is reduced to 3 but without a timetable recast so a 15/15/30 pattern exists – given the relative speed vs the car and the poorly located station, Arriva really should be capitalising on this market. However, I was instead heading into the hills and a trip up Coquetdale to Rothbury.

The X14 arrived from Newcastle with a very healthy load, necessitating a 2017 e400mmc to Sapphire spec, recently displaced by new fleet from the Ashington to Newcastle expresses. It was a comfortable beast as we made our way through beautiful countryside, criss-crossing the River Coquet. Turns out that the National Trust is really pushing non-car travel to their attractions and so it proved as we arrived at Cragside House where about 40 passengers exited. More left at Rothbury (as did I). I grabbed a takeaway coffee as the decker headed to the nearby village of Thropton, with a chance to snap the former United enquiry office, though the adjacent former depot was redeveloped in the late 1980s for housing.


Former United Rothbury office

Next was Alnwick to Rothbury; always just a school run with a Friday market day service, Spirit Buses launched a commercial service in 2014 and whilst that operator is no more, a six day, three round trip service still exists operated by Phoenix Buses. A Peugeot Boxer minibus was not luxurious but perfectly fine for the 25 minute trip across the uplands, affording stunning views of the Cheviot Hills. We descended into the small bus station at Alnwick, a quirky hangover as Arriva still own it (rebuilt in the late 1980s) with the adjacent former enquiry office retained for driver welfare/breaks despite the depot closing in 2011. I’m surprised they still bother though guess it’s until someone makes an offer on the entire site. Station signage is a bit dated and the services away from the main routes seem to be struggling by with limited council funding. The next journey was the X20 from Alnwick to Newcastle via Ashington. This route comprises the former 420 to Ashington, and then the X20 fast route when the Newcastle to Ashington corridor was experiencing competition. Clearly, the route does well, being a decker operated route these days with another 2017 mmc.

The Arriva e400mmc that brought me to Rothbury - the Peugeot to Alnwick was tailing it


Out in the wild - the view towards the Cheviots

This is a stunning route and we were afforded views of Alnmouth and the castle at Warkworth. We were then treated to the arrival of “girls on the lash” at Hadston… one was celebrating her birthday (with a Dirty Thirty sash) and they were clearly off to enjoy the attractions of Newcastle. At subsequent stops, more friends appeared until about 12-15 were there, talking and laughing (but not annoyingly) before they began drinking cocktails out of cans and applying false nails… I have never seen THAT before!

Alnmouth from a distance

It was an exit at Ashington. Once again, a modern but basic bus station though far less vibrant than in previous years. One thing that is really noticeable has been the loss of local town services in these Arriva towns. Ashington and Blyth had several local routes, now subsumed into long distance routes (which are now slower as a result) or they’ve declined or disappeared. One survivor is the tendered 434 linking Ashington with Bedlington via the isolated settlements of Cambois and North Blyth. They are detached on the north side of the River Blyth and have that same dislocated feel as other places like Severn Beach or Port Clarence near Middlesbrough. In the glorious sunshine, they looked lovely with North Blyth possessing a row of brightly painted terraced houses as we bounced around on another Phoenix Coaches welfare mini, though this was a newer Fiat Ducato. The 434 oddly doesn’t run to Bedlington town centre but to Bedlington Station, where trains will soon return (in 2024) to adversely affect the main bus routes to Newcastle.

This was the end of our planned itinerary and so we began winging it with the next bus being the 2 to Blyth. Arriva’s decision to close their Jesmond depot means Blyth has relinquished operation of the 2 to Ashington route though the Pulsar that arrived was one on loan from Redcar with plenty of confusing internal notices! I wouldn’t normally spend time in Blyth but I had a travelling companion and we decided to have an explore. Blyth bus station is still much the same as always, but the adjacent depot has had the front shed removed to create more parking. We walked through the harbour area and past the old lighthouse, commenting on the redevelopment of the area (in contrast to North Blyth just across the estuary, it is almost gentrification). After a good walk and a bite to eat, we decided to head south to Whitley Bay and in gorgeous sunshine, enjoyed the views of Seaton Sluice and St Marys Lighthouse courtesy of a Coast and Cobalt B9 Gemini of Go North East.


The geographic boundary that is the River Blyth - the houses are North Blyth


The inlet at Seaton Sluice

Whitley Bay was a childhood seaside destination, and was a bit of a border town. The town services and services into south Northumberland were United operations who maintained a combined depot/bus station in the town. Services into North Tyneside were the preserve of Northern’s Percy Main depot. The latter still exists but is much reduced (though it looks as if Go North East are seizing the Arriva routes recently deregistered) whilst Arriva’s presence in the town is a shadow of what it was. Stagecoach has surprisingly entered the area (which it never did) with the winning of the Nexus tendered 317 and it was this that would take us to North Shields via a circuitous route on a very standard e200. Of course, from here, the logical step would be to use the Shields Ferry as the Explorer is valid on that and the Metro (but is it valid on Phoenix Coaches… never asked). A gallop to the ferry meant we caught it and enjoy the voyage across the Tyne.



Shields is a town where the town centre is clearly ailing and it’s sad to see the large number of closed shops and retail units. Now, I don’t normally bother with bashing specific buses but deviated from this with good reason. Stagecoach has four elderly (W/X reg) open top Tridents that have just been repainted and are employed on promo work but also are used on good days on random boards on the “Economic” services to Sunderland from South Shields. A short coffee stop and we would be able to enjoy one – never done any open top route in the North East so that was to be rectified, with a trip past the Stagecoach depot at Chichester and out to Marsden where we decamped. Pleasantly, the next “Eco” back to Shields was one of the Sunderland LPG fuelled e300s; one wonders how long these might keep going with the cost benefit differential disappearing thanks to the Ukraine conflict.


Passing the Stagecoach depot at Chichester in South Shields

It was a return back to South Shields Interchange and then onto the Metro for the short trip to Jarrow. Once again, I was soon recalling my youth, perhaps prompted by sitting on a 40 year old Metro car, knowing it was possibly one of the last trips I'll enjoy as testing and building of the replacements is quickly progressing. We arrived into Jarrow, and I sprinted out of the station knowing I had a tight connections. I fondly remember the compact depot and bus station that Northern had there, though the area has long since been redeveloped. Mirroring Arriva's travails, Go North East’s presence here has diminished. Where historically the 310 and 319 would have Olympians and Atlanteans, my next trip on the 10/11 via the Tyne Tunnel is now a Stagecoach affair, and I was on another mundane Stagecoach e200 as per the 317, again in an area that they would never have served in the past. My journey took me back to North Shields where the building of a new transport interchange is progressing so that services will have a focal point instead of being scattered across the town centre. I navigated my way to catch my penultimate bus of the day. The 306 was a Jesmond route but is now interworked by Blyth depot and so the Wright DAF Gemini’s extensive internal promotion for the MAX X11 was sadly lost on most. On a glorious evening, we headed through Billy Mill (when did the roundabout go?) and then on the Coast Road, stopping to dive into various settlements and then past the beautiful art deco façade of the former Wills cigarette factory (now thankfully converted to flats). Interestingly, Arriva and GNE have had a coordinated service along the Coast Road brokered by Nexus so that headways are regular. On my earlier 309, GNE even had joint timetables though none were on this one (and I suspect it's a Go initiative)




My Metro train arriving into South Shields

A sun-bathed Newcastle evening allowed a brief glimpse of the now closed Arriva Jesmond depot and then into the Haymarket bus station. It won’t be long until the numbers of Arriva and Go North East vehicles reach parity, it feels, and the lengthening shadows perhaps accentuated my feelings of melancholy. After a long day with many different trips (and modes), it was time for the final bus. It was the X15 to Alnwick but operated by one of the 2022 e400mmcs that Arriva bought for Ashington depot. I have to say how disappointing these are – they are standard bus vehicles for use on what should be goldmine routes. They have above-average customer journey lengths yet just standard bus seats. The lack of promotion is evident and disappointing – just one sign internally with a stern NO VAPING writ large. I got off in Morpeth, knackered but happy to have enjoyed a great day out.

Views? Well, the weather was fabulous and I loved the journeys. A real mix from lush countryside, bleak moorland, idyllic coasts, the Northumberland/North Tyneside rustbelt, and the sophistication of the city. Every bus turned up when scheduled which is a relief these days. I got to see some parts of the area that were unknown to me, even after all these years. It’s always nice to be surprised. Smaller operators are few but Phoenix and GCT are carving a niche whilst Stagecoach continue to extend their tendrils into unfamiliar territory. They are decent and competent and are capitalizing on the GNE Gilbert era where (aside from X lines) there was too much faffing with brand updates and pleasing the enthusiast fraternity and not enough focus on service and cost. However, under the Nigel Featham wing, it might be that Go North East will be best placed to seize opportunities caused by Arriva’s retrenchment. At the risk of another Arriva rant, I say this… Arriva Northumbria appears to besurviving only through the continued dedication and pride of the local staff, and that goodwill is being burned through. The introduction of the Northumberland line trains will dent some of their flagship routes, yet the operations are devoid of leadership and imagination. Those Arriva drivers currently at Walkergate won’t move to Blyth or Ashington and what odds about the continued challenges on driver recruitment for Arriva. After a decline in the mid-late 2000s, the operation seemed to have stablised and improving about 10 years ago. It now feels like an implosion and I’ll call it now… we probably won’t see a recognizable Arriva operation North of the Tyne in five years.

Hope you enjoyed the writing and the photos

Thanks for your comments on my report and your own fabulous report. Agreed that Batley has not been 'levelled up' as much as some places in the area, Pontefract is now really pleasant. Honley good - but only for 5-10 minutes, nothing much else to see!

Your trip was great. Very much in the footsteps of one I did in September 2021, although it was before this thread opened I reported on it in the Arriva thread post 353:

Arriva Buses (including Greenline)

I guess they'll see how well or not these services perform and if they look like they might be long-term successful they'll no doubt commission adl2 not quite properly put together a new fleet either for them or for other services in and around Kent allowing some shuffles and cascades

www.railforums.co.uk

(edit - the wording that appears here is wrong but the link works!)

You responded in the following post. This included Morpeth - Rothbury - Alnwick (clearly on the same journeys), much of the X20, also the 434, although it was run by a Go Ahead Scania decker then, and down to Whitley Bay. I also stopped off at Newbiggin and Seaton Sluice and I was similarly positive about parts of Blyth! I haven't done as much south of the river although I have done Sunderland to South Shields (not on an open topper!) and the ferry from there.

Agree about Arriva, the X routes into Northumberland are premium routes and should have premium buses, similarly the X93 as I ranted about a few posts ago. The closure of Jesmond might make a short term gain but at a cost of losing more of the business in what is still pretty good bus territory. I see my photos included a distant view of Alnmouth as well - but I found time last year to visit the village properly off the X18 which goes closer. I am really pleased that the X14 now serves Cragside, when I went it did not and just dropped off one worker at a side gate. Cragside is a brilliant place to visit and the X14 is an obvious way to do so, but a load of 40 is very encouraging.

By the way, you refer to the services (from Morpeth) to Ashington and Blyth being reduced from every 20 minutes to every 30 minutes. Yes to Blyth (the 2), but the 35 to Ashington is still every 20 minutes during the week, just every 30 on Saturdays, as is the X21. Bizarrely, on Saturdays, every 35 arriving at Woodhorn then runs empty to Newbiggin to take up an X21, while the X21s arriving in Newbiggin run empty to Woodhorn to take up a 35. How daft is that!

Edit: not the same journeys Morpeth-Rothbury-Alnwick, I hadn’t realised the times of Rothbury to Alnwick had changed. In 2021 it was two return journeys numbered 15, now it is 3 return journeys numbered 471, a rare improvement!

I agree that a frequency of 15/15/30 on the Newcastle section is not good, but it’s not easy to fix this. In order for the X15 and X18 to connect at Alnwick they need to be 30 minutes apart on the southern section. The only way I can see to change this would be to extend X15 journey times and mess up the X14, probably not worth doing.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Thanks for your comments on my report and your own fabulous report. Agreed that Batley has not been 'levelled up' as much as some places in the area, Pontefract is now really pleasant. Honley good - but only for 5-10 minutes, nothing much else to see!

Your trip was great. Very much in the footsteps of one I did in September 2021, although it was before this thread opened I reported on it in the Arriva thread post 353:

Arriva Buses (including Greenline)

I guess they'll see how well or not these services perform and if they look like they might be long-term successful they'll no doubt commission adl2 not quite properly put together a new fleet either for them or for other services in and around Kent allowing some shuffles and cascades

www.railforums.co.uk

(edit - the wording that appears here is wrong but the link works!)

You responded in the following post. This included Morpeth - Rothbury - Alnwick (clearly on the same journeys), much of the X20, also the 434, although it was run by a Go Ahead Scania decker then, and down to Whitley Bay. I also stopped off at Newbiggin and Seaton Sluice and I was similarly positive about parts of Blyth! I haven't done as much south of the river although I have done Sunderland to South Shields (not on an open topper!) and the ferry from there.

Agree about Arriva, the X routes into Northumberland are premium routes and should have premium buses, similarly the X93 as I ranted about a few posts ago. The closure of Jesmond might make a short term gain but at a cost of losing more of the business in what is still pretty good bus territory. I see my photos included a distant view of Alnmouth as well - but I found time last year to visit the village properly off the X18 which goes closer. I am really pleased that the X14 now serves Cragside, when I went it did not and just dropped off one worker at a side gate. Cragside is a brilliant place to visit and the X14 is an obvious way to do so, but a load of 40 is very encouraging.

By the way, you refer to the services (from Morpeth) to Ashington and Blyth being reduced from every 20 minutes to every 30 minutes. Yes to Blyth (the 2), but the 35 to Ashington is still every 20 minutes during the week, just every 30 on Saturdays, as is the X21. Bizarrely, on Saturdays, every 35 arriving at Woodhorn then runs empty to Newbiggin to take up an X21, while the X21s arriving in Newbiggin run empty to Woodhorn to take up a 35. How daft is that!

Edit: not the same journeys Morpeth-Rothbury-Alnwick, I hadn’t realised the times of Rothbury to Alnwick had changed. In 2021 it was two return journeys numbered 15, now it is 3 return journeys numbered 471, a rare improvement!

I agree that a frequency of 15/15/30 on the Newcastle section is not good, but it’s not easy to fix this. In order for the X15 and X18 to connect at Alnwick they need to be 30 minutes apart on the southern section. The only way I can see to change this would be to extend X15 journey times and mess up the X14, probably not worth doing.

Crikey - just read your report again and it's remarkably similar. Note to self... must be more innovative! TBF, I remembered you'd done the Rothbury to Alnwick (and so you must have done the X14) but the rest is eerily similar. I'll just have to head back up North and do something more interesting that you've not done

The 434 has had many operators. It was, of course, United/Northumbria as the 444, had a spell with Serene Travel (irony corner) and possibly Northumbria Coaches before returning to Arriva as the 434 and then to Go North East. A recent loss to Phoenix and yes, deckers on a weekday but I was on a Saturday and hence the frequency stuff.

Talking of which, I do understand the issue with the connections at Alnwick. I just wonder what the more important market is... a balanced headway to Morpeth or the connections to/from the X18 and the X15. I'd suggest the former but it's not ideal. The restoration of the 15 min headway would, of course, be preferable but don't see it happening.

 

[RELL6L]

Crikey - just read your report again and it's remarkably similar. Note to self... must be more innovative! TBF, I remembered you'd done the Rothbury to Alnwick (and so you must have done the X14) but the rest is eerily similar. I'll just have to head back up North and do something more interesting that you've not done

The 434 has had many operators. It was, of course, United/Northumbria as the 444, had a spell with Serene Travel (irony corner) and possibly Northumbria Coaches before returning to Arriva as the 434 and then to Go North East. A recent loss to Phoenix and yes, deckers on a weekday but I was on a Saturday and hence the frequency stuff.

Talking of which, I do understand the issue with the connections at Alnwick. I just wonder what the more important market is... a balanced headway to Morpeth or the connections to/from the X18 and the X15. I'd suggest the former but it's not ideal. The restoration of the 15 min headway would, of course, be preferable but don't see it happening.

Yes - very similar. But there's not so many options now - if you are going to go to Rothbury then you either come back again or do what we both did. Very many years ago I did another option, from Rothbury to Otterburn, then Bellingham then Hexham, somehow this selection of very infrequent services connected. That was a time I came up from London overnight and went back the next night on a Metroliner double deck coach, I think it was Tyne & Wear PTE that ran it.

I agree that Morpeth-Newcastle really could do with a 20 minute frequency instead of the 30/15/15. I think this could be done by interworking the X14 and X15, have the X15 leave Newcastle 10 earlier and return 10 later, using this 10 minutes with slightly extended stays at Morpeth and Alnwick (leaving the Berwick section unchanged), leave the X18 totally unchanged and have the X14 leaving Newcastle at 48 and arriving back at 21 between the peaks. Evening peak journeys would remain more as now as Alnwick connections stop mattering this late. That doesn't leave the X14 enough time to get to Thropton and back so some journeys would have to terminate at Morpeth from both directions, those from Thropton would connect onto the other services. Then choose which journeys matter most to run through, eg peaks into Newcastle, key journeys serving Cragside. I don't know how the duties work - chances are it would need more resources somehow. Idle speculation though, I shouldn't think it will happen - but even less likely they'll bring back the fourth bus per hour!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Yes - very similar. But there's not so many options now - if you are going to go to Rothbury then you either come back again or do what we both did. Very many years ago I did another option, from Rothbury to Otterburn, then Bellingham then Hexham, somehow this selection of very infrequent services connected. That was a time I came up from London overnight and went back the next night on a Metroliner double deck coach, I think it was Tyne & Wear PTE that ran it.

I agree that Morpeth-Newcastle really could do with a 20 minute frequency instead of the 30/15/15. I think this could be done by interworking the X14 and X15, have the X15 leave Newcastle 10 earlier and return 10 later, using this 10 minutes with slightly extended stays at Morpeth and Alnwick (leaving the Berwick section unchanged), leave the X18 totally unchanged and have the X14 leaving Newcastle at 48 and arriving back at 21 between the peaks. Evening peak journeys would remain more as now as Alnwick connections stop mattering this late. That doesn't leave the X14 enough time to get to Thropton and back so some journeys would have to terminate at Morpeth from both directions, those from Thropton would connect onto the other services. Then choose which journeys matter most to run through, eg peaks into Newcastle, key journeys serving Cragside. I don't know how the duties work - chances are it would need more resources somehow. Idle speculation though, I shouldn't think it will happen - but even less likely they'll bring back the fourth bus per hour!

Doubtless those Rothbury services were market day related and imagine it was Rothbury Motors and/or Howard Snaith operating them. Just looking and there is a Tues/Thurs upper Coquetdale service to some obscure villages that I imagine is quite pleasant.

As for your Metroliner, that would've been the Non Stop Clipper, operated by TWPTE's Armstrong Galley coaching unit.

 

[RELL6L]

The weather promised a good day for Friday – although I didn’t realise how hot it was going to be! So I was up bright and early for a trip to a part of the country I had not visited for a while – the Suffolk coast. I have done a few trips here in the past, starting at places as obscure as Orford and Walberswick, this time I started at Felixstowe, a town I had not stopped off at before. I had in fact been through it twice, once from the Bawdsey Ferry and once from the Harwich ferry, but both times straight through to Ipswich. I arrived in time to have a decent look around the town. Overshadowed by the massive port next to it, the seafront and area by the pier are attractive, although not to the extent of the places I was to visit later, while the actual town centre was OK but could have been anywhere.

From Felixstowe I took the First 73, marketed as ‘Village Links’, to Woodbridge. This was an E200 driven by a new driver who had clearly not been out on the route before, with a more experienced one showing him the ropes. We had three passengers who went all the way to Woodbridge and a couple of others who joined on route, but it is hardly a great village ‘service’, passing Martlesham Heath with a sizeable retail park and massive BT offices. For no particular reason we were about 10 minutes late by the time we reached Woodbridge. Woodbridge is an attractive small town with two areas of interest, the old part of the town around the market hall, and the waterfront. I didn’t have time to go to both so I chose the waterfront, where there is a very attractive old “Tide Mill” as well as lots of boats. It was low tide so not at its most attractive and all photos of the mill were into the sun but still pleasant.

The next leg was the First 64 further up the coast to Aldeburgh, a route run by a mixture of StreetDecks and B7RLEs. I had checked my bus when it left Ipswich and knew it was a B7RLE which turned up just a few minutes late and had a fair few passengers. A StreetDeck came through the other way while I was waiting and this discharged a very good load at Woodbridge with plenty more continuing towards Ipswich. I remember years ago the 63, 64 and 65 provided three buses an hour to Woodbridge and included one hourly to Framlingham, now there is just one journey each way to Framlingham clearly fitting in with a school run. There are still two buses an hour between Ipswich and Woodbridge much of the day but with longer gaps at peak times. Quite attractive up through Wickham Market and Saxmundham but nothing special with the scenery.

Aldeburgh can hardly be described as a hidden gem because it is very well known, but it remains a lovely coastal town. There were a number of people around but it wasn’t that busy, perhaps because it was only mid-morning. There were a number of luxury seafood vendors set up on the beach and plenty of other attractions for older middle class visitors, no kiss-me-quick hats here. Bizarrely there is also an element of bus competition! The First 64 runs in hourly from Ipswich via Saxmundham and Leiston while BorderBus run a 522 half hourly as far as Saxmundham and on to Yoxford, hourly to Halesworth and Beccles. There are peak hour journeys but a much reduced service, the buses instead doing school and college runs around Beccles, Bungay and Leiston. Most of the daytime service is run by Scania double deckers. The competition looks relatively restrained and the buses don’t run at identical times. I assume the 522 is commercial as I can’t quite see why this would be subsidised, there is also a 521 partly paralleling the 522 but running via more out-of-the-way villages, this also covers a Leiston school journey but could be Suffolk sponsored.

From Aldeburgh I took a BorderBus 522 to Leiston to spend half an hour there. I had somehow convinced myself there might be something to see there, but really there isn’t. I then took the next BorderBus 522 further on through Saxmundham and up to Halesworth. This is quite an attractive small town with a busy pedestrianised street in the middle which appeared to be thriving. From here I took the First Eastern Counties 99A to Southwold, another favourite. This was a Volvo B9TL double decker, the two-hourly service being worked from Lowestoft and interworked with the 99 at Southwold. I was the only passenger on board as we left Halesworth, one other joined during the journey but that was pretty much it. Certainly not justifying a double decker and, sadly, a route now largely neglected. Halesworth is the nearest station for Southwold and once the service, I think then run by Anglian, was designed to connect Southwold to the outside world here, but that seems to be forgotten now – even though the train service is now better. A stark contrast with Aldeburgh and its three buses per hour to the nearest station at Saxmundham.

Southwold is another gem but very much discovered and there were plenty of day trippers around, most arrived no doubt by car. Lovely by the coast, by the lighthouse, the green and the town centre. The bus now stops a little further away from the main attractions, I am sure it used to run to the green or even the pier, but its not a long walk. My next leg was with BorderBus again on the 146. This is a service they started from scratch many years ago, built up some demand, nurtured it and it now runs at least hourly throughout the day, even half hourly in part in the morning, although not early or late, again using buses between school runs. However on Friday I felt that BorderBus rather dropped the ball, the route being in part a victim of its own success. My journey out of Southwold was run by a 29 seat E200, and there were 36 of us on board when we left Southwold, plus an assortment of prams and buggies. Further passengers were left behind at Kessingland. The driver apologised for the bus being so small and it being crowded and did arrange for a larger vehicle to be available to take over, but only from just before Beccles. We still had standing passengers and were 10 minutes late by the time we got here, a newer E200MMC took over and I then alighted in Beccles. The two later buses out of Southwold were E200s as well, given that there are many morning journeys into Southwold, including three journeys run by double deckers, it seems pretty odd, on a lovely sunny day, to have the last three return journeys run by E200s. To my surprise the next First 99 I saw as also an E200, again I would have thought the key route along the coast would be all double deckers on a sunny day. Most passengers on my 146 were going beyond Beccles and the service clearly attracts people from Norwich. Around Lowestoft it is fairly urban, although it avoids the town, and it does go past the Carlton Colville transport museum. The museum was closed but I got a glimpse of some lovely machinery visible from the road.

I had vaguely intended to continue from Beccles to Norwich on the First X2/X22, alight at County Hall and walk to the station. However it already nearly 4pm and it was clear that the service was in some disarray. Three consecutive departures from Lowestoft had not run, the first one that did was absolutely rammed. Really not good enough First, no departures from Lowestoft between 2.00 and 3.00, similar cancellations from Norwich including the 902 school run. I considered, with this and Friday evening traffic – we had already hit some on the edge of Lowestoft - and some cancellations on the trains it would be safer to return by train from Beccles, on a train I know was running – although half the service on the East Suffolk line was not! So I went to Beccles station and took two class 755 trains via Ipswich back to Felixstowe.

A gorgeous hot sunny day and some lovely coastal towns. Nothing particularly interesting on the bus front but an enjoyable trip.

Some photos:

Felixstowe


Woodbridge


Wickham Market, taken from the 64


Aldeburgh


Competition in Aldeburgh


Leiston


Halesworth


Southwold


Southwold

 

[Ken H]

Thanks @RELL6L. Suffolk seems so far away from the Dales its like a foreign country. It all looks so clean and tidy. Not been here for decades.

Hope you go to Maldon some day - My Gt Grandmother came from there. Another place so far away.

 

[RELL6L]

Thanks @RELL6L. Suffolk seems so far away from the Dales its like a foreign country. It all looks so clean and tidy. Not been here for decades.

Hope you go to Maldon some day - My Gt Grandmother came from there. Another place so far away.

Thank you. Suffolk is very pleasant. Love the Dales though!
Agreed on Maldon, it is an extremely attractive small town. I have been there three times, some photos below, two of the town, one from across the estuary when I walked from Heybridge Basin to Maldon (lovely walk).

Interestingly, having written and posted my report in some haste yesterday I now see, thanks to the East Anglian thread, that First are making some improvements to service thanks to BSIP money from Norfolk County Council. Somehow this includes doubling of the 99A between Halesworth and Southwold to hourly during the day, while the Halesworth to Bungay section, also increased to hourly, gets tacked onto an improved service through to Norwich. Very positive. However the new timetable for the 99A still makes no mention of rail connections at Halesworth for Southwold. Some other improvements in Norfolk too - the X29 to Fakenham improved to every 30 minutes!

 

[Ken H]

Thanks for the pics @RELL6L. Appreciated.

 

[RELL6L]

Thanks for the pics @RELL6L. Appreciated.

Its a lovely place Maldon, you should visit if you can. Particularly lovely down by the river on the south side, but also the walk from Heybridge Basin is really good.

Going back I have done many trips in East Anglia. Suffolk used to have a reasonable rural network but it has been pared back time and again and there's not a great deal left in some places. Decent routes like Haverhill to Sudbury, Ipswich to Diss via Eye, buses to Framlingham, buses to Snape, now Newmarket to Bury St Edmunds, much cut back or even vanished. Norfolk appears to have fared much less badly and rural areas like the Broads still have a level of service and now Norfolk have BSIP money which they are using to improve some services. Essex still has good coverage and some surprisingly rural parts well worth exploring. I don't have anywhere in East Anglia I feel I 'must do', visits now are largely covering old ground and not prioritised compared to heading north to new territory for me. But its relatively close and also sometimes has sunnier weather than other parts of the country so its often an option.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The weather promised a good day for Friday – although I didn’t realise how hot it was going to be! So I was up bright and early for a trip to a part of the country I had not visited for a while – the Suffolk coast. I have done a few trips here in the past, starting at places as obscure as Orford and Walberswick, this time I started at Felixstowe, a town I had not stopped off at before. I had in fact been through it twice, once from the Bawdsey Ferry and once from the Harwich ferry, but both times straight through to Ipswich. I arrived in time to have a decent look around the town. Overshadowed by the massive port next to it, the seafront and area by the pier are attractive, although not to the extent of the places I was to visit later, while the actual town centre was OK but could have been anywhere.

From Felixstowe I took the First 73, marketed as ‘Village Links’, to Woodbridge. This was an E200 driven by a new driver who had clearly not been out on the route before, with a more experienced one showing him the ropes. We had three passengers who went all the way to Woodbridge and a couple of others who joined on route, but it is hardly a great village ‘service’, passing Martlesham Heath with a sizeable retail park and massive BT offices. For no particular reason we were about 10 minutes late by the time we reached Woodbridge. Woodbridge is an attractive small town with two areas of interest, the old part of the town around the market hall, and the waterfront. I didn’t have time to go to both so I chose the waterfront, where there is a very attractive old “Tide Mill” as well as lots of boats. It was low tide so not at its most attractive and all photos of the mill were into the sun but still pleasant.

The next leg was the First 64 further up the coast to Aldeburgh, a route run by a mixture of StreetDecks and B7RLEs. I had checked my bus when it left Ipswich and knew it was a B7RLE which turned up just a few minutes late and had a fair few passengers. A StreetDeck came through the other way while I was waiting and this discharged a very good load at Woodbridge with plenty more continuing towards Ipswich. I remember years ago the 63, 64 and 65 provided three buses an hour to Woodbridge and included one hourly to Framlingham, now there is just one journey each way to Framlingham clearly fitting in with a school run. There are still two buses an hour between Ipswich and Woodbridge much of the day but with longer gaps at peak times. Quite attractive up through Wickham Market and Saxmundham but nothing special with the scenery.

Aldeburgh can hardly be described as a hidden gem because it is very well known, but it remains a lovely coastal town. There were a number of people around but it wasn’t that busy, perhaps because it was only mid-morning. There were a number of luxury seafood vendors set up on the beach and plenty of other attractions for older middle class visitors, no kiss-me-quick hats here. Bizarrely there is also an element of bus competition! The First 64 runs in hourly from Ipswich via Saxmundham and Leiston while BorderBus run a 522 half hourly as far as Saxmundham and on to Yoxford, hourly to Halesworth and Beccles. There are peak hour journeys but a much reduced service, the buses instead doing school and college runs around Beccles, Bungay and Leiston. Most of the daytime service is run by Scania double deckers. The competition looks relatively restrained and the buses don’t run at identical times. I assume the 522 is commercial as I can’t quite see why this would be subsidised, there is also a 521 partly paralleling the 522 but running via more out-of-the-way villages, this also covers a Leiston school journey but could be Suffolk sponsored.

From Aldeburgh I took a BorderBus 522 to Leiston to spend half an hour there. I had somehow convinced myself there might be something to see there, but really there isn’t. I then took the next BorderBus 522 further on through Saxmundham and up to Halesworth. This is quite an attractive small town with a busy pedestrianised street in the middle which appeared to be thriving. From here I took the First Eastern Counties 99A to Southwold, another favourite. This was a Volvo B9TL double decker, the two-hourly service being worked from Lowestoft and interworked with the 99 at Southwold. I was the only passenger on board as we left Halesworth, one other joined during the journey but that was pretty much it. Certainly not justifying a double decker and, sadly, a route now largely neglected. Halesworth is the nearest station for Southwold and once the service, I think then run by Anglian, was designed to connect Southwold to the outside world here, but that seems to be forgotten now – even though the train service is now better. A stark contrast with Aldeburgh and its three buses per hour to the nearest station at Saxmundham.

Southwold is another gem but very much discovered and there were plenty of day trippers around, most arrived no doubt by car. Lovely by the coast, by the lighthouse, the green and the town centre. The bus now stops a little further away from the main attractions, I am sure it used to run to the green or even the pier, but its not a long walk. My next leg was with BorderBus again on the 146. This is a service they started from scratch many years ago, built up some demand, nurtured it and it now runs at least hourly throughout the day, even half hourly in part in the morning, although not early or late, again using buses between school runs. However on Friday I felt that BorderBus rather dropped the ball, the route being in part a victim of its own success. My journey out of Southwold was run by a 29 seat E200, and there were 36 of us on board when we left Southwold, plus an assortment of prams and buggies. Further passengers were left behind at Kessingland. The driver apologised for the bus being so small and it being crowded and did arrange for a larger vehicle to be available to take over, but only from just before Beccles. We still had standing passengers and were 10 minutes late by the time we got here, a newer E200MMC took over and I then alighted in Beccles. The two later buses out of Southwold were E200s as well, given that there are many morning journeys into Southwold, including three journeys run by double deckers, it seems pretty odd, on a lovely sunny day, to have the last three return journeys run by E200s. To my surprise the next First 99 I saw as also an E200, again I would have thought the key route along the coast would be all double deckers on a sunny day. Most passengers on my 146 were going beyond Beccles and the service clearly attracts people from Norwich. Around Lowestoft it is fairly urban, although it avoids the town, and it does go past the Carlton Colville transport museum. The museum was closed but I got a glimpse of some lovely machinery visible from the road.

I had vaguely intended to continue from Beccles to Norwich on the First X2/X22, alight at County Hall and walk to the station. However it already nearly 4pm and it was clear that the service was in some disarray. Three consecutive departures from Lowestoft had not run, the first one that did was absolutely rammed. Really not good enough First, no departures from Lowestoft between 2.00 and 3.00, similar cancellations from Norwich including the 902 school run. I considered, with this and Friday evening traffic – we had already hit some on the edge of Lowestoft - and some cancellations on the trains it would be safer to return by train from Beccles, on a train I know was running – although half the service on the East Suffolk line was not! So I went to Beccles station and took two class 755 trains via Ipswich back to Felixstowe.

A gorgeous hot sunny day and some lovely coastal towns. Nothing particularly interesting on the bus front but an enjoyable trip.

Some photos:
View attachment 138855
Felixstowe

View attachment 138856
Woodbridge

View attachment 138857
Wickham Market, taken from the 64

View attachment 138858
Aldeburgh

View attachment 138859
Competition in Aldeburgh

View attachment 138860
Leiston

View attachment 138861
Halesworth

View attachment 138862
Southwold

View attachment 138863
Southwold

As ever @RELL6L , a very entertaining trip report.

I don't know what I enjoy more... somewhere you take us that I recognise and know, or something completely new to me. This is the latter as I've never been to Southwold. and in fact, haven't been to Ipswich or Saxmundham this century! The southern part of Suffolk is one of those great blindspots in my UK travelling...probably the greatest.

Great photos and some interesting observations. Good that you had a new Streetdeck and it is encouraging that First are sufficiently confident in investing in the area whereas the fleet profile had been appalling, and of course, they have reduced much of their Suffolk operations over the last 30 years. Interesting about the issues in Lowestoft... I am likely in Eastern Counties territory soon and will be interesting to see how things are.

Once again, great photos. You definitely pick your days!

 

[RELL6L]

As ever @RELL6L , a very entertaining trip report.

I don't know what I enjoy more... somewhere you take us that I recognise and know, or something completely new to me. This is the latter as I've never been to Southwold. and in fact, haven't been to Ipswich or Saxmundham this century! The southern part of Suffolk is one of those great blindspots in my UK travelling...probably the greatest.

Great photos and some interesting observations. Good that you had a new Streetdeck and it is encouraging that First are sufficiently confident in investing in the area whereas the fleet profile had been appalling, and of course, they have reduced much of their Suffolk operations over the last 30 years. Interesting about the issues in Lowestoft... I am likely in Eastern Counties territory soon and will be interesting to see how things are.

Once again, great photos. You definitely pick your days!

Thanks for your response. Like you I enjoy reading about both new and familiar places and also visiting both. When I started trips with the camera about 15 years ago I visited Suffolk several times, but it’s much harder to get to a variety of places now, services have been cut back so much.

Southwold is a lovely place though, do visit. OK probably more grannies per square mile than almost anywhere and very middle class, but a well loved and attractive town.

 

[Ken H]

Trip date Monday 17th July 2023
Photos taken on a Samsung Galaxy S9

I drove to Harrogate. Parked up ina place I know its free parking. I headed for the bus station looking for a bus to Wetherby.

There was a Harrogate Bus Company FJ58 LSV waiting to do a 7 run which is to Leeds via Wetherby, Boston Spa, Clifford, Braham, Thorner and Seacroft. The bit between Wetherby and Leeds was the WYRCC 41 back in the 1960's (WYRCC = West Yorkshire Road Car Co)

FJ58LSV is a Volvo with B7RLE with Wright Eclipse 2 body configured B44F new Burnley and Pendle Feb 2009. Pic is in Harrogate Bus Station.



The route takes you out of Harrogate past Plompton Rocks and Spoffoth and into Wetherbys minimalist bus station. This was the site of a bus garage and decent sized bus station back in the 1960's and 70's

Buses go to Harrogate (the 7 and Connexions X70), York, Tadcaster, Castleford and Leeds direct. One wonders if 3 buses an hour to/from Harrogate is needed but my bus was fairly well loaded.


Carrying on we went through Walton, past Wealdton prison, then Boston Spa, Clifford and Bramham, past loads of stone houses. Out into the country, then Thorner, then through Whingate council estate and into Seacroft bus station.

Seacroft was a wasteland of old iron and brick clay workings in the 1900's, with some coal mining in Crossgates and Gipton. After the first world war Leeds council started on a large scale council house building programme - 'Homes fit for heroes'. In the 60's they built Seacroft Town Centre with a small supermarket and many smaller shops. My one royal claim to fame is I saw the Queen drive close to home in Chapel Allerton on her way to open it in 1965. I would have been 9. The 1960's centre has been replaced by a mega Tesco.


The bus station has 8 stands. They have electronic signs as the bus stop flag, but they show when buses are due – but they done cope with cancelled and late buses, so pretty useless. Cancelled buses show how long till their sceduled departure time, then disappear. Also there is a list of departures by each stop. But no indication of where they go en route. Also there is no information about the Transdev Coastliner services to Scarborough and Whitby that go from Seacroft Green a 5 minute walk away.

I wanted to amble through North Leeds so wanted a First Leeds to take me to the end of Easterly Rd (where it meets Roundhay Rd), and I needed a 50 or a 50A. There are supposed to be 4 an hour but 2 were no shows, so a bit of a wait.


I got SL57 VWU, a Wright Street Deck fleet no 35268 configured H45/28F new Feb 2028, fleet no 35268 on the 50A 1457 cross city route to Horsforth. Pic is of the bus in the layover space at Seacroft.


The bus ambles through classic Leeds council estate houses, with the odd tower block thrown in. The bus was busy as 2 secondary schools had just chucked out. But I think everyone got a seat. I got off at the charmingly named 'Boggart Hill Drive' bus stop, Which is actually on the A58 Easterly Rd

Crossing Easterly Rd (A58) I got to a stop on Roundhay road where the Harrogate Bus Company service to Wethrby X98/X99 stops. This was a First Leedsworking till recently but taken on by HBC. The X98 goes up the A58 to Wetherby, and in WYRCC days was the 39. The X98 goes through East Keswick and was WYRCC 39. West Yorkshire Metro renumbered them in the 70's , then added an X because they miss out some stops in Harehills. But the last digits are part of the old numbers!

The bus stop for the bus I wanted had an empty timetable case so nothing to say when buses ran.

I got an X99 and it took the few stops to Carr Lane.


The bus was SK70 BWN, an ADL Enviro 400 MMC, configured H41/27F, new Dec 2020 New to Yorkshire Coastliner Fleet no 2016 I wasnt on the bus long to get a feel for it but it stopped quite a lot so didnt really get up to speed. This is one of the Sky Class vehicled branded for this route. Pic is at the stop where Easterly Rd meets Roundhay Rd.


Carr Lane goes from Thorner to Shadwell so I could have walked across. Its only 3 miles between the villages. But I was bus riding...

Its a short walk to the turning circle in Shadwell for the First 7S. You have to cross 'Coal Road, a lane that was supposed to take coal from East Leeds to Harewood House long ago.

It was a 25 minute wait (&s are every half hour), so I walked into Shadwell, but didnt get to the shops. Its hard to get lost in Shadwell, its just one main street! I waited at Gateland Lane where the buses turned in back loader days, by reversing into the main road! They built the turning circle when one man buses were introduced.

Shadwell is another stone village, that has been in Leeds for many decades. Nice little church. A girl I went to school with - her dad was vicar there. I tried to get a better pic of the church but wasn't an easy place to photograph.


The 7S is basically the old Leeds City Transport 37 which did the same route except it used to go to the Central Bus Station, not City Square. Part of the 'Scott Hall Group. Now the 7's (7, 7A and 7S)

My bus was BP11 JWA, a Volvo B5LH Wright Eclipse Gemini 2, configured H41/23F. Fleet number 39221 new Aug 2011. This was the 1614 from Shadwell.


The bus route just goes down Shadwell Lane. Lots of large houses built about 1890, now mostly flats, but there is the old borstal on the left after Birthwood Hill. Only got a back pic-sorry. Its at Moortown Corner.




I got off at Moortown Corner and awaited the 36 back to Harrogate. There was one due at 1628 but it was a little late. This was BL65YYX, fleet number 3624, a Volvo B5TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 configured CH35/28F (CH = Coach Highbridge double deck). Upstairs its 1 + 2 seating in leather seats. Legroom is impressive and my bus had working USB power. This was a comfortable ride, the best of the day. Pic is at Moortown Corner. The bus had a destination of Starbeck so assume it was running into the depot.


Slow progress up Harrogate Road north of the Ring Road as there is no First service up there now. But once out in the country it only stopped at Harewood and Pannal, then was really a local Harrogate bus to the bus station. Bit of a trip round the east side of the railway to get to the bus station – I expected to go round via Bettys.

Then the walk back to my car, grabbing a sarnie in Sainsbury on the way. Always nice to walk across the Stray (The Stray is a grassed area that surrounds much of Central Harrogate. Always nicely kept), then drove home.

 

[RELL6L]

Trip date Monday 17th July 2023
Photos taken on a Samsung Galaxy S9

I drove to Harrogate. Parked up ina place I know its free parking. I headed for the bus station looking for a bus to Wetherby.

There was a Harrogate Bus Company FJ58 LSV waiting to do a 7 run which is to Leeds via Wetherby, Boston Spa, Clifford, Braham, Thorner and Seacroft. The bit between Wetherby and Leeds was the WYRCC 41 back in the 1960's (WYRCC = West Yorkshire Road Car Co)

FJ58LSV is a Volvo with B7RLE with Wright Eclipse 2 body configured B44F new Burnley and Pendle Feb 2009. Pic is in Harrogate Bus Station.
View attachment 139508


The route takes you out of Harrogate past Plompton Rocks and Spoffoth and into Wetherbys minimalist bus station. This was the site of a bus garage and decent sized bus station back in the 1960's and 70's

Buses go to Harrogate (the 7 and Connexions X70), York, Tadcaster, Castleford and Leeds direct. One wonders if 3 buses an hour to/from Harrogate is needed but my bus was fairly well loaded.


Carrying on we went through Walton, past Wealdton prison, then Boston Spa, Clifford and Bramham, past loads of stone houses. Out into the country, then Thorner, then through Whingate council estate and into Seacroft bus station.

Seacroft was a wasteland of old iron and brick clay workings in the 1900's, with some coal mining in Crossgates and Gipton. After the first world war Leeds council started on a large scale council house building programme - 'Homes fit for heroes'. In the 60's they built Seacroft Town Centre with a small supermarket and many smaller shops. My one royal claim to fame is I saw the Queen drive close to home in Chapel Allerton on her way to open it in 1965. I would have been 9. The 1960's centre has been replaced by a mega Tesco.


The bus station has 8 stands. They have electronic signs as the bus stop flag, but they show when buses are due – but they done cope with cancelled and late buses, so pretty useless. Cancelled buses show how long till their sceduled departure time, then disappear. Also there is a list of departures by each stop. But no indication of where they go en route. Also there is no information about the Transdev Coastliner services to Scarborough and Whitby that go from Seacroft Green a 5 minute walk away.

I wanted to amble through North Leeds so wanted a First Leeds to take me to the end of Easterly Rd (where it meets Roundhay Rd), and I needed a 50 or a 50A. There are supposed to be 4 an hour but 2 were no shows, so a bit of a wait.


I got SL57 VWU, a Wright Street Deck fleet no 35268 configured H45/28F new Feb 2028, fleet no 35268 on the 50A 1457 cross city route to Horsforth. Pic is of the bus in the layover space at Seacroft.
View attachment 139510

The bus ambles through classic Leeds council estate houses, with the odd tower block thrown in. The bus was busy as 2 secondary schools had just chucked out. But I think everyone got a seat. I got off at the charmingly named 'Boggart Hill Drive' bus stop, Which is actually on the A58 Easterly Rd

Crossing Easterly Rd (A58) I got to a stop on Roundhay road where the Harrogate Bus Company service to Wethrby X98/X99 stops. This was a First Leedsworking till recently but taken on by HBC. The X98 goes up the A58 to Wetherby, and in WYRCC days was the 39. The X98 goes through East Keswick and was WYRCC 39. West Yorkshire Metro renumbered them in the 70's , then added an X because they miss out some stops in Harehills. But the last digits are part of the old numbers!

The bus stop for the bus I wanted had an empty timetable case so nothing to say when buses ran.

I got an X99 and it took the few stops to Carr Lane.


The bus was SK70 BWN, an ADL Enviro 400 MMC, configured H41/27F, new Dec 2020 New to Yorkshire Coastliner Fleet no 2016 I wasnt on the bus long to get a feel for it but it stopped quite a lot so didnt really get up to speed. This is one of the Sky Class vehicled branded for this route. Pic is at the stop where Easterly Rd meets Roundhay Rd.
View attachment 139511

Carr Lane goes from Thorner to Shadwell so I could have walked across. Its only 3 miles between the villages. But I was bus riding...

Its a short walk to the turning circle in Shadwell for the First 7S. You have to cross 'Coal Road, a lane that was supposed to take coal from East Leeds to Harewood House long ago.

It was a 25 minute wait (&s are every half hour), so I walked into Shadwell, but didnt get to the shops. Its hard to get lost in Shadwell, its just one main street! I waited at Gateland Lane where the buses turned in back loader days, by reversing into the main road! They built the turning circle when one man buses were introduced.

Shadwell is another stone village, that has been in Leeds for many decades. Nice little church. A girl I went to school with - her dad was vicar there. I tried to get a better pic of the church but wasn't an easy place to photograph.
View attachment 139512

The 7S is basically the old Leeds City Transport 37 which did the same route except it used to go to the Central Bus Station, not City Square. Part of the 'Scott Hall Group. Now the 7's (7, 7A and 7S)

My bus was BP11 JWA, a Volvo B5LH Wright Eclipse Gemini 2, configured H41/23F. Fleet number 39221 new Aug 2011. This was the 1614 from Shadwell.


The bus route just goes down Shadwell Lane. Lots of large houses built about 1890, now mostly flats, but there is the old borstal on the left after Birthwood Hill. Only got a back pic-sorry. Its at Moortown Corner.

View attachment 139513


I got off at Moortown Corner and awaited the 36 back to Harrogate. There was one due at 1628 but it was a little late. This was BL65YYX, fleet number 3624, a Volvo B5TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 configured CH35/28F (CH = Coach Highbridge double deck). Upstairs its 1 + 2 seating in leather seats. Legroom is impressive and my bus had working USB power. This was a comfortable ride, the best of the day. Pic is at Moortown Corner. The bus had a destination of Starbeck so assume it was running into the depot.
View attachment 139514

Slow progress up Harrogate Road north of the Ring Road as there is no First service up there now. But once out in the country it only stopped at Harewood and Pannal, then was really a local Harrogate bus to the bus station. Bit of a trip round the east side of the railway to get to the bus station – I expected to go round via Bettys.

Then the walk back to my car, grabbing a sarnie in Sainsbury on the way. Always nice to walk across the Stray (The Stray is a grassed area that surrounds much of Central Harrogate. Always nicely kept), then drove home.

Interesting report, thank you. Shadwell looks like the sort of place I like to fit into a trip when I can, like you I don't mind a short walk to get somewhere new. I did the other end of the 50/A from Horsforth into Leeds last month. Not done the 7 between Wetherby and Seacroft, that's one I would like to try.

Unconnected but very sadly it looks like the 60 between Maryport and Silloth is to be withdrawn this weekend. The Cumbria - sorry Cumberland - website says that other operators have been contacted to see if they wish to offer a replacement - I suspect they won't. This short service up the coast, with great views over to Scotland, will be a very sad loss. Last chance this week!

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[TheGrandWazoo]

Thanks to @Ken H for that trip report. A few journeys there that I've done in recent years though not the Harrogate to Wetherby. Definitely the three buses an hour is overkill on that corridor. As for the Sky Class on the X89/X99, I've enjoyed that and, compared to the Streetdecks that were previously used by First Leeds. Being originally from North Yorkshire, I am contractually obliged to resent Harrogate though I do accept that it's a very nice place to wander around.

*** NEW TRIP REPORT ***

Like @Ken H , I took the opportunity to have a more local trip out recently, courtesy of First sending me a free day ticket. I should be more patient and selective in terms of the weather, as per @RELL6L. However, I was impatient and consequently headed out on a day with the weather predicted to be wet...but they always overstate how bad it is. Also, I had a couple of things to do in western Bristol so thought I'd tie those in too.

So I began the day parking the car in Midsomer Norton, catching the 522 Bath to Bristol service. The recent history of this route is rather odd. It was the 178 for many years, losing its infrequent evening and Sunday journeys c.2014 (?), was truncated to run Bristol to Radstock hourly and sped up in Keynsham (2016?), threatened with withdrawal and finally axed by First in late 2022. In stepped @Citistar to operate a tendered 178 shuttling between Midsomer Norton and Brislington using a single Solo for six months until suddenly... we got the 522. A BSIP (Bus Service Improvement Plan) supported hourly service with deckers, all day and night and on Sundays! I was on a peak journey so was interested to see the passenger numbers - I reckon we had about a dozen people on board. No criticism of @Citistar but one wonders what the six or so month interim period where the hourly headway was lost had done to passenger numbers, but such is the world of government support! My steed was one of the First CNG gas buses delivered in 2020 for city routes but now employed on the 522 fairly regularly. We carved our way through dampening villages such as Timsbury and the lush countryside with a layover in Keynsham. The traffic into Bristol was relatively light (it was Friday) and much better than usual. I vacated the Scania near Bristol Bridge and made the short walk to "the Centre" as it's known.


My first bus - with a wrap for driver recruitment


The rain was torrential, and I was soaked by the time I got to catch my bus, just near the plinth where the Colston statue was toppled.

It was a short trip on the 4 up Corn Street on standard B9TL painted in the purple Citylines 3/4 livery, still working whereas service reductions have seen some of that batch move to Essex/Cornwall. I got off at Clifton Down (errand #1), retuning 90 mins later to catch a 2A with an identical (if older) B9 - one of a batch that I remember being delivered new for my local route in 2007! That took me to Westbury Park where errand #2 was performed. I waited at the stop and a third B9 duly arrived - the only thing of note was the pub opposite. The Westbury Park Tavern has a place in comedic TV; it was the pub (Kebab and Calculator) that appeared in the Young Ones, 40 years ago! By this point, I'd invested in an umbrella!


B9 and the Kebab and Calculator

We wove our way through various bits of Bristol, seeing the Victorian terraces give way to 1950s council houses and 1970s suburbia. My B9 deposited me at Cribbs Causeway and the Mall shopping centre. I was still damp (and had the start of trenchfoot) so popped into the nearby Costa to get a caffeine hit that I took away with me. I wandered back to the bus station and saw my next bus was waiting. Stagecoach West has developed a sizeable operation in North West Bristol and one route that they assumed control of is the 12 from Bristol Parkway to Severn Beach. I remember this as Wessex 625 with an MPD; for reasons beyond me (tied in with schools?), it now gets Stagecoach Gold deckers! One such was waiting for me - an MMC sent south from Gloucester to provide compliant stock for the new city service that replaced the P&R routes in Bristol. This was an overload of luxury (for £2) to be honest as we splished and splashed our way out from Cribbs and through Easter Compton - the views from the edge of the escarpment are usually better than the drizzle allowed. We then did a loop of the large and growing distribution park, even picking up one passenger braving the incessant rain at a shelterless stop, before entering the village of Severn Beach.

I've been to Severn Beach before. It has that sort of geographic and social isolation that I've felt elsewhere, such as Port Clarence in Teesside or Cambois near Blyth. A place apart, sat in it's own bubble, hemmed in by the Severn Estuary, motorways, and at the end of the line...literally. I got off - it was still raining. I had a brief walk onto the sea wall and looked at the bridges and a murky Wales in the distance before retiring to Shirley's Cafe - very much a place for locals and especially on a day like that. I had a jacket potato with chilli, and tried to dry out, cursing the waterproofness (or lack of) of my coat, pondering my time in this other worldly place.


Luxury to Severn Beach

A place apart


Foreshore and Second Severn Crossing


Class 165 to Bristol and industry in the distance

I then wandered to the station where the hourly train provides the link with civilisation. It was a GWR class 165 and we had about 6 passengers on board as we finally left - the fare to Bristol being another £2 - an absolute bargain for 40 mins. An eventful journey and I was really surprised to see the number of people getting on at St Andrews Road having finished various shifts, and quite a few at Avonmouth. Opposite me was a guy who was cycling home. His Rapha top indicative of a keen cyclist but oddly juxtaposed with him having a can of Kronenburg... set my mind racing! The train line really is a delight as it passes from industrial Avonmouth, through working class Sea Mills, and then the bohemian inner city such as Clifton Down and Redland.

We arrived into Temple Meads. It was still raining. I walked down the ramp past various buses waiting time outside the station and then... steady rain transformed into a cloudburst. Even the umbrella was limited in its protection as the wind drove the rain almost horizontally and I was relieved to see my final bus tracking... the 172 back to Midsomer Norton. Unlike the 522, this follows the 376 (Wells route) from Bristol via Pensford before it parts company at Hallatrow. Again, it's a BSIP initiative but with convoluted history. A commuter service historically, it became the 379 Bristol to Radstock in c.2012 because of developer funding, running hourly, and was later extended to Bath. The money ran out and so it was axed in 2016 (?) save for the commuter journeys, supported by Bath and Nth Somerset council as the 177 until Covid put paid to that. So it was a surprise when the 379 reappeared in 2022 (as the 178 was being axed/reduced) running hourly, and now BSIP funds have enabled it to become the 172 running half hourly. So yes, in October 2022, the Bristol to Radstock route was axed, reduced to a stub feeding into buses at Brislington P&R every 90 mins, and now there's 3 buses an hour. How mental is that?



Downpour at Temple Meads

The 172 is operated not by Bath or Bristol depot but by Wells, interworked with other routes. Those operations are desperately requiring investment. My steed was 33832 - not in Mendip Explorer colours but still in Urban. It was delivered to Manchester, and was part of the loan fleet to Diamond when First sold Bolton before arriving in Bath in 2020. It was a surprising decent machine but the standard First interior was looking a bit scuffed and the eLeather seats need a refurb. Get the moquette out, refurb these for use elsewhere (Bath City?) and get some new fleet on the Mendip routes! Still, it was a pleasant ride as the rain finally abated to be a more drizzle like spell and we climbed through the foothills of the Mendips through the old Somerset coalfield. Pensford was the home of Acker Bilk (ask your grandad) and the miners institute building still stands, and we passed more coal heritage in Paulton as we finally arrived back.


Decent bus but for key trunk routes?

Observations of the day... don't go out for a leisure trip when torrential rain is forecast! The First operations in Bristol are functioning ok but the money being spent on BSIP schemes is a bit misdirected, especially when rural areas are now reliant on the Westlink Demand Responsive Transport service that simply does not work; it's an expensive folly. Money is being frittered away and I don't see the long term sustainability of what is being done. I love Bristol and enjoy visiting the city and urge others to enjoy it. The city itself is great and areas such as Clifton are well known as being attractive but there's so many other vibrant places. Severn Beach is definitely a place apart and I'd recommend doing the train/bus combo for a visit. As for the buses themselves... the First B9s still dominate the city but they are now showing their age. The splurge of investment in 2020 with the gas buses (now feels old technology as electric and hydrogen hold sway) swept away the B7TLs but after three years (yes, I know - Covid) there needs to be some further new vehicles to continue that management of the fleet profile. Perhaps the mooted investment in electric for Weston and Wells can assist in that, and yes, the Mendip routes are crying out for new fleet - from getting investment every 6/7 years, the fleet is now 9 years old at best with most of it older.

Anyhow, hope there's enough of interest to local and far flung observers!