Trips in May 2023 Part 1
I’m in a much better place
mentally than I was 6 or so weeks ago (still not quite 100%), and I’ve been in
a typing mode as of late:
May was another busy month for
me and my travels throughout the country, including a couple of long weekends
away and a railtour. The extra bank
holidays making all the difference.
1st May – Kennet
& Avon Canal walk
For the 1st trip of
May I decided to carry on with my Kennet & Avon canal walk, this time with
the section from Bath towards Avoncliff, to link up with the part I did on Good
Friday. The day began with the 07:50-odd
train from Grateley to take me to Salisbury giving me time to head to
Sainsburys for lunch items before a 166 took me to Warminster where I exited
into some unexpected rain (thankfully didn’t last for long) and headed towards
the bus stop to board a First Discover D1 service (bus 69511).
The bus did a loop around
Warminster before heading towards Bath via Westbury, Trowbridge & Bradford
on Avon (plus many other smaller places along the way). After Bradford on Avon, it was full &
standing with a large crowd waiting for it at Winsley (think everybody managed
to get on board). A few did alight at
Dundas Aqueduct & Claverton but remained busy until reaching Bath bus
station, where after swinging via M&S to make use of the toilets I headed
on my way towards Pulteney Bridge on the River Avon.
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| Pulteney Weir on River Avon, Bath |
I walked along the River Avon
underneath the railway bridge and turning left onto the Kennet & Avon canal
and climbed the flight of locks, making a small detour into Sydney Gardens
before continuing along the canal away from Bath. The towpath was very busy with other
walkers/cyclists & joggers (seemed there was a jogging club from one of the
universities based on a group of students passing wearing the same top), the
canal itself was busy with boat movements & also wakeboarders (which is
good to see people out enjoying the canal).
After Bath the towpath
continued towards Bathampton where I had a little detour towards the Bathampton
Meadows leading to Batheaston, then followed the road to Bathwick (all the
places starting with Bath!) At Bathwick
I picked up a footpath which crossed the River Avon on the railway bridge (Bath
– Chippenham) before heading across a field and a level crossing of the railway
(Bath – Bradford line) into an area which has massively changed since I was
growing up, a lot more houses in what used to be a bus depot area.
* |
| 165130 approaching the Level Crossing on Ferry Lane, Claverton |
I re-joined the canal in
Bathampton and carried on heading along it as the housing gave way to
countryside with some beautiful views of the valley. At Claverton I took a small detour to see the
Warleigh Weir on the River Avon (which was very busy with families out enjoying
the water), before carrying on towards Dundas Aqueduct where another small
detour took me along the remains of the Somerset Coal Canal before heading back
to the Aqueduct, going down some steep steps to get a photo from the ground
level.
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| Dundas Aqueduct South Side (Kennet & Avon Canal) |
I climbed back up to the canal
level and continued my walk towards Avoncliff, the towpath becoming a lot
quieter (both in terms of other users & also noise levels as there wasn’t
any main roads close by). This section
for me was the most enjoyable, for the woodland cover and the sun coming out
after hiding away behind clouds. At
Avoncliff I went underneath the aqueduct and carried on walking on the canal,
branching away along a path towards the River Avon. A path which I followed towards Bradford on
Avon as it went via the Barton Farm Country Park. At Bradford I continued along the River Avon
path towards the town bridge which felt like a good place to end my walk as I
headed towards the station with a few minutes to spare before a busy 5 coach
158 formation rolled up to take me to Salisbury, where I had a 45 minute break
in the sunshine (broken up with a passing 66) before a pair of 159s rolled in
from Exeter to take me to Grateley, the end of an enjoyable canal walk.
Not sure when I will get round
to filling in the gap between Devizes & Hungerford (other than breaking it
up at Pewsey). Plus, to do the section
from Bath towards Bristol (meeting up with coverage from April 2021).
4th May – Onwards
to Newcastle
I had booked a long weekend in
Newcastle, mix of walks, some bus routes & maybe some trains as well. The trip began with the 17:59 service from
Grateley to Basingstoke followed by a pair of 444s to Waterloo, where with
around 80 minutes to waste before my booked train north I decided to walk to
Kings Cross to waste some time, and to save on the cost of using the
underground. I was booked on the 20:27
Lumo service because it was a lot cheaper than the LNER train at both 20:00
& 21:00.
803005 was the unit in charge
for the Edinburgh train, where I made a bee-line for one of the unreserved
seats at the very front of the train, just for that bit of extra comfort with
extra legroom. The train was reasonably
busy but unlike the last time I used Lumo from London it wasn’t hopelessly
crush loaded. Anyhow an uneventful
journey (went via platform 3 at York) and soon Newcastle was reached. Due to the arrival time being 23:05 I didn’t
have that many options available for accommodation but when I was booking found
the Travelodge down at the riverside quite reasonably priced. Around 10 minutes after arriving at Newcastle
I had arrived at the hotel, got myself checked in and made myself comfortable.
 |
| 803005 at Newcastle |
5th May – 2 long
bus journeys & a disused railway walk
The day for me began with a
walk in the rain, up some steep stairs towards the city centre, swinging via a
Sainsburys Local for breakfast before making my way to the Eldon Square bus
station for the 08:45 Stagecoach service to Carlisle (the route 685). Originally, I was considering going for the
07:30 service but decided on a later start and because the 07:30 normally threw
out an Enviro200 rather than a double decker the 08:45 did. I got the front seat of Stagecoach 11156 as
it made its way out of Newcastle staying north of the river until
Corbridge. The bus did empty out at
Hexham (allowing me to swap sides) before continuing west via Haydon Bridge,
Haltwhistle & Brampton, some nice scenic views from the top of the bus as
the rain from earlier was left behind in Newcastle.
2 and a bit hours after
leaving Newcastle, the bus turned into Carlisle bus station, giving me time to
grab lunch and to stalk out for the return of a bus vinyled up to celebrate the
Kings Coronation which was this weekend (hence why I ran away to the North
East!). After a couple of photos, I got
myself an advance ticket on the day for the next Northern service towards
Metrocentre, a nice 158 on a semi-fast service (Haltwhistle, Hexham & Prudhoe,
which makes for a better journey than the last time I did this line on a 156
which called pretty much at every station other than Dunston.
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| Stagecoach Bus 10015 (PX12 DLY) in Carlisle |
Anyhow this 158 took me to
Metrocentre, where I had a gentle walk towards the Asda at Gibside Way, the
starting point for my next long bus journey, the route 1 to Whitley Bay. I made myself comfortable on Go North East’s 5460
(a Wright StreetLite) as it headed towards the main Metrocentre interchange,
before heading south on a tour of Fellside & Whickham before heading
towards Gateshead Interchange before heading across the Tyne, getting very busy
in Newcastle city centre for the trip out towards Wallsend (where the bus did
empty out).
After Wallsend the bus
continued towards North Shields, Tynemouth & Cullercoats and finally
Whitley Bay. I alighted from the bus at
Whitley Bay and headed to the Dunes hotel to get checked in. I’ve used this particular hotel a couple
times before and found it quite good value for money, although this time I was
in a room above the pub rather than above the main hotel (so it was a bit loud
at night). Anyhow I dropped off some
weight from my bag, and headed back out.
Originally, I was considering a Metro evening to hunt down some of my
last few Metro units needed for a mile but I couldn’t drum up the energy for
that.
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| 158817 at Metrocentre Station |
Instead, I headed on a Go
North East route 309 service towards Blyth (bus 6116) where I had two options
of either walking along the coast back to Whitley Bay or walking along a couple
of old railway lines. In the end I
picked the railway lines (which turned out a good move as the wind did pick
up). This walk took me along what I
believe was the remains of the old Blyth branch line, before remains of a line
only pulled up in recent times (as it still shows on Google Maps). This path took me towards Newsham where I
crossed the railway on the current freight only line which will eventually get
reopened to the public.
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| Remains of a railway stop sign at B1523 (Plessey Road), New Devaval |
After the railway I headed
along the Plessey Waggonway, deciding to cut out doing a little loop and onto
an old colliery railway route, heading south via some trees. The path was quite mixed with wood chippings,
to mud and loose stones. It was very
peaceful in terms of both traffic noise and other users, some nice views as
well. This path took me towards Seaton
Delaval where I had two options to reach my next disused railway line walk,
deciding to go via New Hartley, crossing the freight line again at a level
crossing on a sharp bend. I was a bit
worried that the pavement would randomly come to an end, but thankfully it
remained as I reached the Avenue, passing a strange pillar in woodland,
something I have no idea what it was for.
 |
| Unknown brick structure on St Michaels Avenue, Seaton |
The next disused railway route
was the former Avenue Branchline of the Blyth and Tyne Railway leading towards Monkseaton,
a path which judging by signage had recently been upgraded and was fully open
once more (always a risk with these walks, getting to a path to find it’s
closed for various reasons forcing a detour or replan if no alternative is
available). The surface quality was good
as I carried on walking through the countryside, reaching the urban area after
an hour or so. At Monkseaton I joined
the road network for the short walk towards the Spoons at Whitley Bay for
dinner, before heading to the hotel to rest after an enjoyable walk. The weather had held out with a couple times
where it looked like it was going to rain but thankfully it remained dry.
6th May – A revisit
to Chathill & pretending to be a train again
The area in the North East has
plenty of options of old railway line walks, some are easier to reach than
others (in terms of public transport), with good weather forecasted I
eventually picked a walk along the Bowes Railway Path which led into the Tanfield
Railway Path. The day started with a
Tyne & Wear Metro service to North Shields followed by a Stagecoach run
Route 11 service to South Shields, mainly to cover the Tyne Tunnel by bus. Not the fastest way to reach South Shields as
after Jarrow it goes via places like Biddick Hall, Harton Moor & Horsley
Hill but an interesting route to do nether the less.
At South Shields I made a
connection to a Metro service to take me to Jarrow where I started my walk
heading towards the Monkton Cycleway which led towards Monkton village for a
short section of road walking before picking up the Bowes Railway Path, which
led towards the Bowes railway centre at Springwell. I followed the signed path as it went around
the railway centre (including some heavy overgrown railway lines near the
quarry). After I picked up the former
railway line once again, I carried on towards the A1, taking a small detour to
visit the Angel of the North before returning to the railway path.
 |
| Angel of the North |
The railway path walk continued
towards Kibblesworth and a long climb which felt like it climbed for a good
couple of miles, beautiful countryside views and very peaceful. The Bowes Railway path came to an end near Andrews
House station on the Tanfield Railway, another little heritage railway, one on
my list to revisit for the famous Causey Arch.
The first mile or so of the Tanfield Railway path followed the railway
until Sunniside Station where the heritage line came to an end and the mixed
used path went onto the former trackbed until the beautiful Watergate Forest
Park, which even included a little waterfall which I had another short detour
to visit for some photos
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| Waterfall within Watergate Forest Park, Lobley Hill, Gateshead |
After the Forest Park, the
path continued into the urban area of Dunston Hill, coming to an end with a
footbridge over the A1 near Dunston station.
I picked up the Teams Cycleway which makes use of another old railway
route towards Low Teams, one of the suburbs of Gateshead, where I switched to
road to head towards Newcastle station, crossing the Tyne on the Redheugh Bridge,
arriving with a few minutes to spare (after swinging via Sainsburys for some
extra drink as I had drunk nearly everything I had).
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| A Northern 158 crossing the King Edward VII Bridge over River Tyne, Newcastle |
My first move on the railway
was a XC HST to take me to Alnmouth, I had forgotten how nice the HST interiors
are on XC, although it was a slow journey losing around 10 minutes in the
Morpeth area. Alnmouth was a station
where I needed to tick off the northbound platform (as when I visited it the
first time round in 2016 it was linearly from the morning Chathill – Newcastle
train to an East Coast service). I had
around 30 minutes at Alnmouth before 158870 rolled in to take me the final 11
miles to Chathill, solely as a little revisit.
Sadly, since my last visit,
the waiting shelter on the southbound platform has got fenced off due to the
building being damaged (probably during a storm). I noticed the stones on the platform edge
were also in need of some TLC as they were broken up. With no seats I spent the 40-odd minutes at
the station taking some photos of passing trains watching the fog closing in,
soon the 158 returned to take me south towards Morpeth, where I stepped back to
a required 801218 for the run to Newcastle (Morpeth to Newcastle should be easy
enough to cover for 158 coverage on a future trip, although famous last words
as no doubt Northern will diagram 156s for the ECML services keeping the faster
158s for stoppers).
 |
| 158870 departs Chathill Station |
At Newcastle, I headed towards
the Metro, doubling back via Gateshead due to a missing service, before heading
to Whitley Bay, with all the anti-social behaviour on show as the train carried
on. At Whitley Bay I headed to grab a late-night
pizza from a takeaway near the hotel, before relaxing for the remainder of the
night (although not like I could go to sleep due to the loud music from the pub
below). An enjoyable walk, if not a bit
long (in hindsight I could have finished it at Dunston, or even walked towards
the Metrocentre rather than Newcastle city centre).
7th May – Visiting the
Weardale Railway
When reading a magazine, I
noticed that the Weardale Railway had resumed running all the way to Bishop
Auckland West from Stanhope on selected days, of which this Sunday was one of
those. After researching the timings worked
with my booked train to London so I decided a trip on a heritage line would be
a good way to spend the Sunday.
Originally, I was planning on using the train each way but looking at
Google Maps it flagged up a bus option which would cut the cost down.
After checking out of the
Dunes Hotel in Whitley Bay (a place I would use again), it was out into the
light rain and a gentle walk towards the sea front where I picked up a Go North
East route 309 service (bus 6114) from Park Avenue to take me to Newcastle
Haymarket bus station for a different view.
Once in Newcastle city centre, I swung via a Sainsburys local for
breakfast before having a gentle walk over the High-Level Bridge (via the
cathedral) to Gateshead Interchange where I boarded a Go North East operated
route X21 service (bus 6357) on the Bishop Auckland service.
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| The Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas, Newcastle |
This was quite a good run as
it ran nonstop from Gateshead to Low Fell, then nonstop to Chester-Le-Street
involving some high-speed running on the A1.
An interesting route towards Bishop Auckland (one I would recommend),
where it terminated in the bus station area where I had another gentle walk
towards the station, swinging via a path alongside the River Gaunless and
Morrisons. I went via the National Rail
station first of all for some better photos and making use of the new-ish
station connection path to Bishop Auckland West.
The train in operation today
on the Weardale line was pacer, 142078.
Nice to step back in time a few years where this train would be a
regular feature in the North East (I had forgotten how comfy the seats
are). The train was reasonably busy as
it set off on the Weardale line, all new track for me and I spent the time
looking out of the window at the rolling scenery for the trip to Stanhope, the current
end of the line (it used to continue towards Eastgate).
 |
A pacer at Bishop Auckland (West)
|
At Stanhope I had a little
walkabout before returning to the train, sitting on the opposite side for
different views for the run back towards Bishop Auckland West. One good thing is you can see out of the front
of the train, bit like some of those older DMUs. An enjoyable run, and I can’t imagine it
won’t be long before a charter company offers a railtour to Stanhope once
more. At Bishop Auckland station, I
headed towards a bus stop outside the station to flag down an Arriva operated
route 6 service (bus 1466) to take me to Durham, where I headed up the hill
with an on-the-day advance ticket for an Edinburgh bound 801212 (think it was
something like £4 purchased on the TVM).
This reasonably busy 801 took
me to Newcastle (wouldn’t have wanted to book a ticket on the 5 coach Newcastle
terminator service which was in front, for that was busy due to kickball in
Newcastle). At Newcastle I had a short
wait before 800112 rolled in from Aberdeen [it was the cheapest option when I
was booking tickets], getting my seat for the fast run to London (Darlington
& York). Can’t remember if the train
arrived on time or was a few minutes late as it was nearly 2 months ago!.
 |
| 66108 passing Durham Station |
I was booked in a Travelodge
in Twickenham, solely to avoid the hassle of a rail replacement bus from
Guildford to Andover, so I had a couple of options to reach Twickenham. As the sun was out I decided to take a walk
along the Regent’s Canal towards Camden Road station, getting lucky with a low mileage
378219 for the run to Clapham Junction, changing to a busy pair of 450s for the
run to Richmond, where I exited the station for another short walk towards
Twickenham via St Margaret’s & the Moormead and Bandy Recreation Ground,
reaching the Travelodge near Twickenham station, where after a shower headed to
sleep for the Monday was an early start.
A reasonable Travelodge, although probably not one I would want to stay
in during summer months as I reckon there would be some outside noise if the
window needed to be open for air.
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| 455731 arriving at St Margarets Station |
8th May – A Day on
the Buses in Essex
It was an early start, so
early the night buses were still running when I left the Travelodge and headed
to a bus stop on York Road in Twickenham to catch a route 490 service (run by Abellio
London, 8839) which got very busy after Hatton Cross as it headed towards
Heathrow Terminal 5 via Terminal 4. At
Heathrow Terminal 5 I headed to the Piccadilly line to take a service to
Heathrow Terminals 2+3 exiting to head towards the bus station (via WH Smiths
for an overpriced breakfast, but options were limited that time of the
morning).
The main reason for heading to
Heathrow so early was to catch one of the 2-hourly Arriva run route 724
services all the way to Harlow, made longer as the bus I caught (3771) went via
Terminal 5 before heading towards Uxbridge, Watford, Welwyn, Hertford &
finally Harlow. I was glad to get off at
Harlow to have a quick walk (and visit to the toilet) but an enjoyable run
looking out of the window at different parts of the country I had never been to
before.
 |
Arriva Bus 3771 at Heathrow Central Bus Station on the 724 to Harlow.
|
Next up in Harlow was another
Arriva bus route, the 510 to Stansted Airport (bus 4113) for another enjoyable
run, the bus getting busier as the journey went on (I guess £2 for the bus fare
is a lot cheaper than whatever the price is for the train). This journey ended in the bus/coach area of
Stansted Airport with another short wait before the next bus, an Airlink X30
service to Southend. Normally a bus
which costs a bit of money to ride as it’s quite nice inside, so a bargain for
£2. This bus headed towards Southend via
Chelmsford and did have some fast running in places, although did get caught up
in traffic both ways so I missed the next leg of my rough plan giving me an
extra 30 minutes in Southend, time to visit some shops for food + drink items.
My next bus journey was on the
First run route 28 service to Basildon, featuring bus 47530, another
interesting run with some nice views in places.
At Basildon I had around 35 minutes to waste before my next service, so
I popped into the town centre area (all the closed-up shops making for a
depressing sight, but a sign of the times for high streets), before heading
back to the bus station for an Airlink X10 (bus 67168). Not as nice as the X30 in terms of seating
but an enjoyable fast run towards Chelmsford even with the detour of going via
a modern housing area with all the new houses (both built and under
construction).
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| First Essex Airlink Bus 36837 (YN69 XXU) at Southend Bus Station |
I was a bit worried as this
bus only gave a 10-minute connection into my next bus route (had I made the
earlier 28 in Southend I would have had 70 minutes at Chelmsford which I was
going for a little explore). Thankfully
the late start was recovered as the bus arrived a few minutes early into the
bus station at Chelmsford allowing me time to catch the last route 351 bus of
the day to Brentwood, stopping just outside the railway station (bus 44544). A fitting end for my day on the buses as I
headed towards the station, catching a 345 to Shenfield to connect with dud
720565 + required 720116 for the fast run to Stratford, changing to the Jubilee
Line to take me to Waterloo and onto a 159 working a Salisbury stopper to take
me & my big heavy bag home.
 |
| First Essex Bus 44544 (YX13 AKF) near Brentwood Railway Station on a Route 351 |
An enjoyable day on the buses
in Essex, making use of the £2 fares, just what the doctor ordered after a busy
few days in the North East.
12th May – A trip
to Yorkshire on a strike day
When both the unions announced
strike days for the 12th + 13th May my heart sunk as I
had planned a Saturday on the buses towards North Yorkshire, however I managed
to change some plans to book on a Grand Central service to Wakefield rather
than LNER to Leeds (might have cost an extra £3 but hey-ho). I had a place in Dewsbury which I had used a
couple times before so getting to Dewsbury from Wakefield wasn’t that hard as
there was 2 buses an hour.
The trip began on the revised
13:3X service from Grateley to Basingstoke, followed by a lightly loaded single
444 to Waterloo (from Portsmouth). In
London I had time for a nice walk towards Kings Cross, swinging via Charing
Cross (felt strange being roped off with no trains), then via the theatre district
& a couple garden areas to reach Kings Cross in plenty of time to board
180102 for the fast run to Wakefield Kirkgate.
Very strange being on the ECML and seeing no Great Northern/Thameslink
trains running and hardly any LNER services, I think the train arrived a good 5
minutes early into Doncaster due to a clear path.
 |
| 180102 at London Kings Cross |
At Wakefield Kirkgate, I
decided on a last-minute change of plan, and instead of heading towards the bus
station, headed out on foot towards the Calder & Hebble Navigation via
suburban Wakefield due a missing towpath alongside the River Calder (I think
the original towpath has been lost to time & flood defence work). Once I picked up the towpath I headed along
the Navigation (both river & canal sections), crossing over the river via
the railway bridge (walkway below the tracks).
Quite a few old railway bridges along the way and very rural in places.
 |
| Calder and Hebble Navigation between Calder Grove & Horbury Bridge |
I had good timing as it just
about started getting dark when I reached the start of the Dewsbury arm of the
canal, the point I covered last year, so I headed towards the road network to
walk towards the town centre, swinging via Asda before reaching the Wellington
Arms pub, my base for the next couple of nights.
13th May – Buses to
North Yorkshire
It was an early start for me
as I headed to Dewsbury Bus Station to catch the first route 203 service
towards Leeds. It was on Arriva bus 1924
on a lightly loaded service to Leeds bus station where I had around 45 minutes
to waste before the next bus service, so I headed into the city centre to visit
a Tesco Express for some breakfast before heading back to join the queue for
the Whitby bus. Probably made longer due
to the train strikes limiting services between Leeds & York (I passed the
railway station in Leeds, and it was all locked up with some replacement buses
outside).
It was onto the Route 840
Coastliner for Whitby, one of the main reasons why I didn’t cancel this trip,
solely because at the time the £2 bus fares were ending in June and I’ve heard
that the Coastliner routes are meant to be very scenic. It was onto bus 3630 which was quite busy on
departure, dropping off passengers along the way out of Leeds (I can’t help
thinking these Coastliners should either be limited stop out of Leeds or
effectively “pick up/set-down” only to force local passengers onto alternative
bus routes).
One thing I would say, the
seats are not the most comfortable due to the shape of the seatback digging
into my back. During the large turnover
of passengers at York I managed to relocate to the front seat for the views as
the bus headed towards Malton, then Pickering & a detour into Goathland
(Heartbeat country), before heading to Whitby.
Some excellent views of the moors, certainly I can see why this is one
of the most scenic routes in England.
 |
| Coastliner Bus 3630 (BT66 MVN) in Whitby |
At Whitby, I met up with my
good friend Stu who was planning to walk the old railway route towards
Scarborough, something I had considered doing but was very wary with the times
at the Scarborough end for the last Leeds bus.
I joined him at the start with the short section of old railway route in
Whitby, swinging back towards the bus station before it reached the
viaduct. A nice catch-up. Next up for me was the Arriva run route X4
(with bus 1436) towards Middlesborough.
I had previously done this bus route back in 2020 from Saltburn to
Whitby and enjoyed the views as it headed towards Saltburn via the coast & Loftus,
before going towards Redcar then running nonstop to Middlesborough. Certainly, an enjoyable bus route for the sea
views.
At Middlesborough I had around
35 minutes to waste before the next Scarborough bus, so I headed out of the bus
station into the town centre in search of a free toilet and to get some fresh
air. Back to the bus station and it was
onto the X93 service (Arriva Poppy bus 7401) which was meant to be going all
the way to Scarborough but due to a driver shortage was only running to Whitby
today. A nice fast run out of
Middlesborough towards Guisborough before following the main road across the
moors towards Whitby. Even more scenic
than the Coastliner bus in my eyes, even if I was near the back of a busy bus.
 |
| View from bus (X93) between Charltons & Moorsholm |
Back at Whitby again, with a
bit of chaos as there was a large crowd waiting for this cancelled bus, and it
was a 30-minute wait before the next X94 from Whitby to Scarborough rolled in,
a single decker 1435 which left passengers behind due to being too full. A nice run towards Scarborough going via
Robin’s Hood Bay (where the bus did empty out somewhat). I took the bus to the end at Scarborough
railway station, seeing the queue for the next Leeds bus which was behind this
one. However, I was never planning to
take the Leeds bus from the railway station as I set out on a gentle walk
picking up the old railway line path and cutting via the very scenic Peasholm
Park.
I was heading to the starting
point of the route 843 to Leeds, ironically the same bus as I had in the
morning to Whitby (3630) and as I boarded before the crowds in the town centre,
I managed to bag the front seat, making sure to bag the one on the left-hand
side because the ones on the right-hand side had collapsed cushions. Needless to say, the bus picked up a lot more
passengers as it headed towards Scarborough station where there was another
large queue.
 |
| Coastliner Bus 3630 (BT66 MVN) at the Alpamare bus stop in Scarborough |
Away from Scarborough rather
full, going via Seamer & towards Malton (where the bus went into the garage
where I presume it got topped up with some windscreen washer fluid). After Malton it was back towards York, where
the busy bus got even busier in the city centre with a large crowd waiting for
it at the railway station. Sadly, for
the many waiting not many were allowed on due to the bus being full (the driver
ensuring he didn’t go over the maximum allowed). For those waiting they had an hour wait for
the last bus to Leeds, where I hope some would have been more sensible and
walked into the city centre area to try and board the bus before it reached the
station.
The run out of York was fast,
only stopping to allow passengers to exit the bus. A few alighted at Tadcaster but the bus
remained full all the way to Leeds bus station, the driver going set down only
at the many bus stops within the city. I
alighted at the bus station to see the dreaded C word popping up on the
departure board for the next Huddersfield via Dewsbury bus, so with an hour to
wait before the next bus I headed towards the railway station as a replacement
bus was showing (the line via Dewsbury was closed this weekend for planned
engineering works).
I reached the railway station,
which like in the morning was all locked up with just some replacement buses
outside and a bit of confusion before a coach rolled in (Blue Sky Coaches BF63
ZPV) on a service for Dewsbury & Huddersfield so I got on board for the
trip towards Dewsbury, before walking back to the pub to relax for the
remainder of the evening. An enjoyable
day on the buses in North Yorkshire, looking out of the window at the passing
scenery.
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| A closed up Leeds Station |
14th May – Old
railway lines to Huddersfield
Today was one of those “I’ve
got many ideas, which one to go for” style of days, eventually deciding on a
walk from Dewsbury towards Huddersfield.
After having a cooked breakfast, I checked out of the pub and headed
towards the Calder Greenway path leading towards the River Calder, where I did
some footpaths following the river (although not like there was many views due
to the trees) towards Thornhill Road, switching sides to head towards the
Calder & Hebble Navigation, leaving the waterside near Ravensthorpe
station.
However, a blocked bridleway
due to railway improvement works, meant I had to do a U-turn back to the water
to walk along the path to pick up the Bridleway a bit further on. This bridleway had elements of old railway
line (maybe from the days the line used to be 4 tracks) as I headed towards the
road, returning to the water near Shepley Bridge Marina to walk back towards Ravensthorpe
to cover the towpath of the Greenwood Cut, and a path on the north side of the
river back to the road bridge near the station.
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| Railway bridge over the River Calder in Dewsbury |
I joined the road network for
a short period, walking towards a short section of the old Spen Valley Line
remained as a mixed used path into Mirfield.
In Mirfield I joined the road once more to pick up the Calder Greenway
path once more where it runs along the remains of the old Huddersfield Branch
line of the Midland Railway, heading via Battyeford and the Bradley Viaduct
into the Bradley area of Huddersfield, before picking up the Birkby Bradley
Greenway (which again, used the former Midland Railway branch line).
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| Bradley Viaduct (Former Midland Railway Huddersfield Branch Line) |
One pickle was at Deighton
station where the greenway was closed due to railway upgrade works with a
poorly signposted diversion, eventually I picked up the greenway after a trip
via some woodland. This greenway went
towards Huddersfield town centre itself, the “new town” area. It was a short walk from the end of the
greenway path towards the station, swinging via Tesco for some food & other
supplies where I would board my last TPE service run by First Group. This was a moderately busy 185103 + 185104 on
a York service for the novelty of a trip via Wakefield Kirkgate &
Woodlesford to reach Leeds (as the mainline via Dewsbury was closed).
I exited the station at Leeds
for another short walk, this time picking up a path along the River Aire
switching to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal going underneath the railway. I carried on towards Whitehall Road, doing a
short double back via the River Aire and via the city centre to visit some shops
for dinner items before heading to the station to board my booked London train,
sadly it was an Intercity 225 set, and I had an aisle seat so I had to hope the
window seat would remain empty to allow me to use the plug socket. 91127 was pushing the train with no seat
reservations showing which was causing confusion at every stop as it was a busy
train and people wanted their reserved seat.
Eventually the train arrived
at Kings Cross, around 10 minutes late, caused by it being a 91 pushed set and
the bouncing Mk4 coaches (which simply don’t ride at all well and bounce worse
than a pacer). I had time for another
cross London walk to avoid paying out for the underground, this time going via
some back streets, swinging via Lincoln Inn Fields and the Strand before
reaching Waterloo with time to spare before a pair of 158s took me to Grateley
in comfort. An enjoyable weekend away in
Yorkshire, I’m glad I didn’t cancel the trip due to the strikes as I had a good
day on the Saturday with the buses.
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| Go Ahead London Bus LT511 (LTZ1511) on Melbourne Place, London |
More photos are available here: Flickr Album
