Last Friday looked like it was going to be a sunny day away from the South East and I was able to take advantage of this and take a trip somewhere scenic, my last few trips having been comparatively lacking in countryside scenery, with the added bonus of doing a circuit which was not possible every day of the week.
So at 8.00 I was in the Shropshire village of Pontesbury where I had chosen to start as it was easy to park and looked slightly more attractive than Minsterley, a slightly larger village down the road dominated by the Muller factory. My first bus was on the Minsterley Motors service 553, the company obviously named after the larger village but now based outside it, which I took to Bishops Castle on an Optare Versa. Clearly this journey was a school run for Bishops Castle Community College but there were other passengers travelling to Pontesbury and Minsterley before we took to the more remote countryside along the A488. The road passed through a steep valley before reaching a road junction near the village of Gravels where it almost appeared we were about to be hijhacked! A minibus was parked off the side of the road but we came to a halt in the middle of the road and the minibus pulled out right across the road. But no balaclavas or machine guns, just around 8 school children who got off the minibus which had presumably brought them from the nearby villages, and onto our bus. The minibus reversed and we continued on our way, picking up a few more children to arrive at Bishops Castle around half full. The bus did not follow the route shown by BusTimes but instead dropped all the school children at the school then took me to the centre of the town, where the bus then has an hour before its next journey.
Bishops Castle is a real gem. It is totally off the beaten track and is a delightful small town set on quite a steep hill with old buildings, many painted in bright colours. The town is popular with walkers and has an ‘alternative’ art and craft community but at 9am on a Friday morning it was quiet as I wandered around the narrow streets.
My next leg was the two days a week 745 towards Ludlow, also operated by Minsterley Motors. When I checked BusTimes the previous day I was concerned to see that the route had disappeared, but it was still on Minsterley’s website and a check of vehicles showed it had run on Monday, but I still made a quick phone call on Thursday to check it still ran. The Shropshire tender apparently runs until March and it runs at least until then, just on Mondays (Ludlow market day) and Fridays. A check on the Minsterley Motors map on BusTimes showed a Solo on the way and it turned up about 5 minutes late. There were four of us boarding at Bishops Castle and passes are valid, even though it was not yet 9.30. We then continued south down the A488 to the lovely village of Clun, an adorable place with a river, the remains of a castle and several shops. It would be lovely to spend a little time here but that isn’t possible by bus, with one bus each way two days a week. Seven more passengers joined here and one further along the valley at Clunton, but no more further passengers even on a lengthy double run to Lydbury North. I think 12 passengers on such a rural run is pretty good these days, I reckon I was the youngest and I suspect few of them had an alternative means of transport for such a journey. The oldest and lamest passenger was on the phone and then announced that his connecting train at Craven Arms was on time, I knew this as it was my next leg too. I think four of us alighted at Craven Arms, there was time for a very quick look before walking up to the station, buying a ticket and crossing the footbridge. The old passenger from the bus was just arriving via an alternative route through a nearby housing estate which provided direct access to the northbound platform, I’m not sure he could have managed the bridge.
I was taking the train so that I could spend a few minutes in Church Stretton. Even though it was an overtime ban day in England, Transport for Wales trains were not affected and of course, for train purposes, the main line from Hereford to Manchester is in Wales! Announcements were all bilingual with Welsh first, I never knew there was a Welsh for Manchester but the word Piccadilly after it gave the game away! I was lucky the line was running well because previous days had been affected by over-running engineering work near Leominster and the following day there was an incident at Craven Arms and no trains at all. My train was in fact a few minutes late and was four carriages hauled by a class 67. I alighted at Church Stretton and had to walk fairly briskly around my pre-planned route to enjoy the best of this delightful town centre. The town sits under the peak of Long Mynd to its west and has been a popular resort town since Victorian times with many attractive buildings. It is a contrast with Bishops Castle, larger and clearly more prosperous and much busier. I only had about 15 minutes here, hence the precision planning, before catching the Minsterley Motors 435 bus to Shrewsbury. My bus was an MCV bodied Volvo B7RLE, the only non-Optare bus in the Minsterley fleet. This was running a few minutes late which gave me a little more time in this delightful town.
The 435 took me north to Shrewsbury, diverting off the A49 to serve Great Ryton and Condover. The centre of Shrewsbury was quite busy and I alighted in the square to take in a little of the town centre. This is a strategic centre for bus travel and I had been here many times before, using the opportunities to explore most of the centre of this delightful place, the back streets near the city centre being highlights along with the Old Market Hall and the bridges – the town sitting on a bend in the river Severn. From here I walked down and across Welsh Bridge to board my next bus within the one way system of Frankwell.
The next leg of my trip was the Tanat Valley 74 to Llanymynech which runs twice a day. This was another Optare Versa in a smart dark blue colour scheme. A few passengers on board although some were for the Shrewsbury suburbs we passed through and a few alighted at the first village of Ford. Others got off at Alberbury, Coedway and at Crewgreen we turned up a steep hill to a small estate which gave a great view of Admiral Rodney’s Pillar on the top of a nearby hill. Here the last other passenger left but one joined for a short trip as far as the nearest petrol station in Llandrinio from which it was clear he intended to return on the same bus in about 20 minutes. I asked if my pass was valid all the way to Llanymynech and was told it was even though we were in Wales for a good part of the journey. Some lovely distant views on this section. Llanymynech was in the news during Covid as the England-Wales border runs up the A49, the main street in the village, with pubs on either side of the road. At one time there were lockdowns one side or the other and at one time the Welsh pub was forced to close while at another time the English one was, while citizens from the two countries were not supposed to cross the border. The A49 was quite busy but the Montgomery Canal, passing underneath, was very tranquil.
At Llanymynych I made a mistake, compounded by an over-cautious misjudgement later. My next leg was to take the T12 north to Oswestry to spend a while there before heading back south to Welshpool. I had planned this because the 74 from Shrewsbury arrives about 10 minutes after the 2-hourly southbound T12 should have left. The T12 is a bit complicated on BusTimes because it has two operators but the route map does show where the buses are. I was checking my northbound bus which was on time, but I failed to spot that the southbound bus I should have missed was running late. In fact I could have spent about 7 minutes in Llanymynech (not really enough but it would have done) and headed directly to Welshpool. I never actually saw the southbound bus as I was exploring the canal when it passed and it was only when I got back to the bus stop that I realised what I could have done. Although this bus stop was on the Welsh side of the road the driver of the northbound T12, a Tanat Valley Optare Tempo in Traws Cymru colours, said I could again use my pass on the bus. As we set off I found out why the southbound one had been late – roadworks on the A49 in the next village of Pant with poor traffic management causing long delays. To me they seemed quite bad and we were held up for about 15 minutes and it looked worse the other way. I was then concerned, with Friday afternoon traffic on a busy artery, that my intended T12 southbound a bit later would be affected even more and I would not get to Welshpool in time for my leg back to Shrewsbury which would leave me at risk of not getting back to Pontesbury at all. In the event I was quite wrong here, the T12 I decided not to take was only 10 minutes late getting to Welshpool and I could easily have continued as planned.
I still had half an hour in Oswestry and explored the pleasant area to the west of the town centre around the remains of the old castle, of which little remains. The best buildings in the town are around here, the main town centre being mostly typical chain store shops. Having decided not to head south to Welshpool I then chose to take the village route to Shrewsbury, the 576, also operated by Tanat Valley. For some reason this does not track on BusTimes even though the timetable is shown. Any bus on the 576 simply does not appear. My bus was a 72-plate E200 MMC, one of a trio of newer vehicles and a contrast to the rather older vehicles on most of Tanat Valley’s routes. This heads to Shrewsbury first keeping west of the A5 and going through the village of Knockin, with its famous “Knockin shop”, then over to the east of the A5 and through Baschurch and Bomere Heath. The countryside is pleasant but not dramatic like further west and the villages not desperately interesting, Bomere Heath in particular looks like suburbia anywhere. There were plenty of passengers though, both starting from Oswestry and leaving at villages on the way and several more joining all the way along to go to Shrewsbury, despite this now being mid afternoon. Quite encouraging I thought for this supported service. Taking this was a good choice as the direct Arriva X5 was running well off track and the journey I might have caught arrived at Shrewsbury over an hour late, whereas my 576 was on time. The 2A running north from Oswestry was also much delayed.
Arriving at Shrewsbury on time meant I could add an extra twist to my day instead of just heading back to Pontesbury and going home. I took the next Minsterley Motors 552 – this and the 553 are basically the same route and the buses actually show 552/3 on the blind. This time the bus was an Optare Metrocity and I stayed on this beyond Pontesbury and Minsterley to the village of Stiperstones, up into the hills and well off the beaten track. There are a few houses here and the road up gives some great views of the hills, but the real reason the village gets 5+ journeys a day is that the Minsterley Motors depot is nearby, down a narrow track beyond the village. This meant that I could spend 25 minutes at Stiperstones taking in the views before the same bus reappeared to head back to Shrewsbury, with me travelling as far as Pontesbury. To be fair there were other passengers from Shrewsbury to Snailbeach and Stiperstones and another passenger joined with me on the return journey at Stiperstones. This quaint little diversion off the main road was completely new to me and a great way to end a most enjoyable trip.
So I should have headed via Welshpool as planned, although I wouldn’t then have visited Stiperstones. If I had been alert and gone to Welshpool on the earlier bus I could have gone to Stiperstones but would not have gone to Oswestry. As it was I did Oswestry and Stiperstones, leaving the routes to Welshpool for another time. I have been to Welshpool a couple of times before, even starting a trip there which included walking over the Pontcysyllte aqueduct and visiting Barmouth and Aberdyfi, so not too much of a loss. A very scenic day out on a lovely sunny day. All my bus journeys of the day except two were on Optare vehicles and I did not even catch sight of a double decker.
More good weather this weekend I think, unfortunately I have other commitments all days.
Some pictures:
Bishops Castle
Bishops Castle
Clun
Between Craven Arms and Church Stretton
Church Stretton
Shrewsbury
Llanymynech
Oswestry
Stiperstones
So at 8.00 I was in the Shropshire village of Pontesbury where I had chosen to start as it was easy to park and looked slightly more attractive than Minsterley, a slightly larger village down the road dominated by the Muller factory. My first bus was on the Minsterley Motors service 553, the company obviously named after the larger village but now based outside it, which I took to Bishops Castle on an Optare Versa. Clearly this journey was a school run for Bishops Castle Community College but there were other passengers travelling to Pontesbury and Minsterley before we took to the more remote countryside along the A488. The road passed through a steep valley before reaching a road junction near the village of Gravels where it almost appeared we were about to be hijhacked! A minibus was parked off the side of the road but we came to a halt in the middle of the road and the minibus pulled out right across the road. But no balaclavas or machine guns, just around 8 school children who got off the minibus which had presumably brought them from the nearby villages, and onto our bus. The minibus reversed and we continued on our way, picking up a few more children to arrive at Bishops Castle around half full. The bus did not follow the route shown by BusTimes but instead dropped all the school children at the school then took me to the centre of the town, where the bus then has an hour before its next journey.
Bishops Castle is a real gem. It is totally off the beaten track and is a delightful small town set on quite a steep hill with old buildings, many painted in bright colours. The town is popular with walkers and has an ‘alternative’ art and craft community but at 9am on a Friday morning it was quiet as I wandered around the narrow streets.
My next leg was the two days a week 745 towards Ludlow, also operated by Minsterley Motors. When I checked BusTimes the previous day I was concerned to see that the route had disappeared, but it was still on Minsterley’s website and a check of vehicles showed it had run on Monday, but I still made a quick phone call on Thursday to check it still ran. The Shropshire tender apparently runs until March and it runs at least until then, just on Mondays (Ludlow market day) and Fridays. A check on the Minsterley Motors map on BusTimes showed a Solo on the way and it turned up about 5 minutes late. There were four of us boarding at Bishops Castle and passes are valid, even though it was not yet 9.30. We then continued south down the A488 to the lovely village of Clun, an adorable place with a river, the remains of a castle and several shops. It would be lovely to spend a little time here but that isn’t possible by bus, with one bus each way two days a week. Seven more passengers joined here and one further along the valley at Clunton, but no more further passengers even on a lengthy double run to Lydbury North. I think 12 passengers on such a rural run is pretty good these days, I reckon I was the youngest and I suspect few of them had an alternative means of transport for such a journey. The oldest and lamest passenger was on the phone and then announced that his connecting train at Craven Arms was on time, I knew this as it was my next leg too. I think four of us alighted at Craven Arms, there was time for a very quick look before walking up to the station, buying a ticket and crossing the footbridge. The old passenger from the bus was just arriving via an alternative route through a nearby housing estate which provided direct access to the northbound platform, I’m not sure he could have managed the bridge.
I was taking the train so that I could spend a few minutes in Church Stretton. Even though it was an overtime ban day in England, Transport for Wales trains were not affected and of course, for train purposes, the main line from Hereford to Manchester is in Wales! Announcements were all bilingual with Welsh first, I never knew there was a Welsh for Manchester but the word Piccadilly after it gave the game away! I was lucky the line was running well because previous days had been affected by over-running engineering work near Leominster and the following day there was an incident at Craven Arms and no trains at all. My train was in fact a few minutes late and was four carriages hauled by a class 67. I alighted at Church Stretton and had to walk fairly briskly around my pre-planned route to enjoy the best of this delightful town centre. The town sits under the peak of Long Mynd to its west and has been a popular resort town since Victorian times with many attractive buildings. It is a contrast with Bishops Castle, larger and clearly more prosperous and much busier. I only had about 15 minutes here, hence the precision planning, before catching the Minsterley Motors 435 bus to Shrewsbury. My bus was an MCV bodied Volvo B7RLE, the only non-Optare bus in the Minsterley fleet. This was running a few minutes late which gave me a little more time in this delightful town.
The 435 took me north to Shrewsbury, diverting off the A49 to serve Great Ryton and Condover. The centre of Shrewsbury was quite busy and I alighted in the square to take in a little of the town centre. This is a strategic centre for bus travel and I had been here many times before, using the opportunities to explore most of the centre of this delightful place, the back streets near the city centre being highlights along with the Old Market Hall and the bridges – the town sitting on a bend in the river Severn. From here I walked down and across Welsh Bridge to board my next bus within the one way system of Frankwell.
The next leg of my trip was the Tanat Valley 74 to Llanymynech which runs twice a day. This was another Optare Versa in a smart dark blue colour scheme. A few passengers on board although some were for the Shrewsbury suburbs we passed through and a few alighted at the first village of Ford. Others got off at Alberbury, Coedway and at Crewgreen we turned up a steep hill to a small estate which gave a great view of Admiral Rodney’s Pillar on the top of a nearby hill. Here the last other passenger left but one joined for a short trip as far as the nearest petrol station in Llandrinio from which it was clear he intended to return on the same bus in about 20 minutes. I asked if my pass was valid all the way to Llanymynech and was told it was even though we were in Wales for a good part of the journey. Some lovely distant views on this section. Llanymynech was in the news during Covid as the England-Wales border runs up the A49, the main street in the village, with pubs on either side of the road. At one time there were lockdowns one side or the other and at one time the Welsh pub was forced to close while at another time the English one was, while citizens from the two countries were not supposed to cross the border. The A49 was quite busy but the Montgomery Canal, passing underneath, was very tranquil.
At Llanymynych I made a mistake, compounded by an over-cautious misjudgement later. My next leg was to take the T12 north to Oswestry to spend a while there before heading back south to Welshpool. I had planned this because the 74 from Shrewsbury arrives about 10 minutes after the 2-hourly southbound T12 should have left. The T12 is a bit complicated on BusTimes because it has two operators but the route map does show where the buses are. I was checking my northbound bus which was on time, but I failed to spot that the southbound bus I should have missed was running late. In fact I could have spent about 7 minutes in Llanymynech (not really enough but it would have done) and headed directly to Welshpool. I never actually saw the southbound bus as I was exploring the canal when it passed and it was only when I got back to the bus stop that I realised what I could have done. Although this bus stop was on the Welsh side of the road the driver of the northbound T12, a Tanat Valley Optare Tempo in Traws Cymru colours, said I could again use my pass on the bus. As we set off I found out why the southbound one had been late – roadworks on the A49 in the next village of Pant with poor traffic management causing long delays. To me they seemed quite bad and we were held up for about 15 minutes and it looked worse the other way. I was then concerned, with Friday afternoon traffic on a busy artery, that my intended T12 southbound a bit later would be affected even more and I would not get to Welshpool in time for my leg back to Shrewsbury which would leave me at risk of not getting back to Pontesbury at all. In the event I was quite wrong here, the T12 I decided not to take was only 10 minutes late getting to Welshpool and I could easily have continued as planned.
I still had half an hour in Oswestry and explored the pleasant area to the west of the town centre around the remains of the old castle, of which little remains. The best buildings in the town are around here, the main town centre being mostly typical chain store shops. Having decided not to head south to Welshpool I then chose to take the village route to Shrewsbury, the 576, also operated by Tanat Valley. For some reason this does not track on BusTimes even though the timetable is shown. Any bus on the 576 simply does not appear. My bus was a 72-plate E200 MMC, one of a trio of newer vehicles and a contrast to the rather older vehicles on most of Tanat Valley’s routes. This heads to Shrewsbury first keeping west of the A5 and going through the village of Knockin, with its famous “Knockin shop”, then over to the east of the A5 and through Baschurch and Bomere Heath. The countryside is pleasant but not dramatic like further west and the villages not desperately interesting, Bomere Heath in particular looks like suburbia anywhere. There were plenty of passengers though, both starting from Oswestry and leaving at villages on the way and several more joining all the way along to go to Shrewsbury, despite this now being mid afternoon. Quite encouraging I thought for this supported service. Taking this was a good choice as the direct Arriva X5 was running well off track and the journey I might have caught arrived at Shrewsbury over an hour late, whereas my 576 was on time. The 2A running north from Oswestry was also much delayed.
Arriving at Shrewsbury on time meant I could add an extra twist to my day instead of just heading back to Pontesbury and going home. I took the next Minsterley Motors 552 – this and the 553 are basically the same route and the buses actually show 552/3 on the blind. This time the bus was an Optare Metrocity and I stayed on this beyond Pontesbury and Minsterley to the village of Stiperstones, up into the hills and well off the beaten track. There are a few houses here and the road up gives some great views of the hills, but the real reason the village gets 5+ journeys a day is that the Minsterley Motors depot is nearby, down a narrow track beyond the village. This meant that I could spend 25 minutes at Stiperstones taking in the views before the same bus reappeared to head back to Shrewsbury, with me travelling as far as Pontesbury. To be fair there were other passengers from Shrewsbury to Snailbeach and Stiperstones and another passenger joined with me on the return journey at Stiperstones. This quaint little diversion off the main road was completely new to me and a great way to end a most enjoyable trip.
So I should have headed via Welshpool as planned, although I wouldn’t then have visited Stiperstones. If I had been alert and gone to Welshpool on the earlier bus I could have gone to Stiperstones but would not have gone to Oswestry. As it was I did Oswestry and Stiperstones, leaving the routes to Welshpool for another time. I have been to Welshpool a couple of times before, even starting a trip there which included walking over the Pontcysyllte aqueduct and visiting Barmouth and Aberdyfi, so not too much of a loss. A very scenic day out on a lovely sunny day. All my bus journeys of the day except two were on Optare vehicles and I did not even catch sight of a double decker.
More good weather this weekend I think, unfortunately I have other commitments all days.
Some pictures:
Bishops Castle
Bishops Castle
Clun
Between Craven Arms and Church Stretton
Church Stretton
Shrewsbury
Llanymynech
Oswestry
Stiperstones
Your trip is exactly what I would have done had I not stumbled across the 678 accidentally. Like you, I was impressed by the loadings to Ilfracombe on the Coaster, and would like to think that they will again be running in 2024. The 155/346 is a bit of a bind to change but at least there's some margin built in rather than it being tightly timed and connections missed. Also, the loss of a through route is sad but the busy bit is the 155. The 346 is pretty thin territory though I know what you mean on the views from a decker; I did it one Saturday a few years ago on a glorious sunny morning north of Tiverton and the views were superb. Not so great in a Solo but economics rule! Thanks again for sharing, and I'd echo 
