2011 - Day Out 7: Shropshire

Date: Saturday 09 April 2011

Time for the WARP's to meet up again for our first trip in British Summertime and this time we head to Shropshire. First up, I catch the 08:06 National Express West Midlands Service 276 from Wollaston on which a One Day NBus ticket is purchased for the first and leg of our journey today, and Mr UK Buses boards during the journey into Stourbridge. We arrive in Stourbridge, where we change onto National Express West Midlands Service 257 to Kingswinford and we change onto National Express West Midlands Service 255 to get us into Wolverhampton, on which we pass through Swindon and Wombourne along the way. We arrive in Wolverhampton at about 09:15 where we meet up with Mr Lunn. After Mr Lunn gets his breakfast from Gregg's, and Mr UK Buses actually gets cash out of an ATM, see picture evidence left, the gang is complete when we meet up with Mr WME, who throughout the day have many conversations about Mr UK Buses actually carrying cash on him (we are all getting over the shock of the ATM and Mr UK Buses using it, the Stafford Road "Hub" and bikes.

Time to get to our first destination and we join the big queue in Lichfield Street for our journey on Arriva Midlands 09:45 891 Service to Bridgnorth and we manage to squeeze into our midi bus and it is standing room only where, along the way, we pass many people waiting at bus stops for this hourly service, with the driver not letting anyone on because there is "no room", but just before we arrive in Bridgnorth, we head onto the Stanmore Industrial Estate to pick up a couple of Arriva drivers from the Bridgnorth outstation, so the health and safety rules DO NOT apply to drivers then! We arrive in Bridgnorth shortly after where the sardines, sorry passengers, alight at Bridgnorth High Town.

We have an hour before our next journey, so we head to the local JD Wetherspoons, "Jewel of the Severn", where we have a well deserved drink after our journey from Wolverhampton. It is also a place where we chat about "Book-A-Banga" with Mr WME, could this be part of the upcoming Wolverhampton Transport Review? I also check the latest F1 news and find out who qualified where for the Malaysian Grand Prix - no surprises to find out that Sebastian Vettel is pole, with Hamilton second, Webber third and Button fourth. Chats and checking over, and bladder stops out of the way, we head to the bus stop in the glowing sun to catch our next bus, Arriva Midlands 11:37 437 Service to Shrewsbury. We wait and wait, and it is now midday so it is decided that we head back to the Wetherspoons and as we do, the law of sods kicks in and the bus appears so it is a quick dash back to the bus stop to catch our late Service 437. We head through the Shropshire countryside on a bus with plenty of room for this journey, and despite the bus turning up nearly half an hour late, the driver has managed to catch up time and we arrive in Shrewsbury a few minutes later than planned.

It is nearly time for lunch, so we spend a few minutes taking photographs at the bus station, while Mr Lunn spends a penny, and we then make our way to our second Wetherspoons of the day, "The Shrewsbury Hotel" and since Mr UK Buses and myself visit to this establishment a couple of years ago, we find out that the speed of service has not vastly improved. After a near 10 minute wait at the bar to purchase our drinks, we finally take a seat and study the menu for lunch, but it is the usual meals, with Mr UK Buses opting for the curry, Mr Lunn and Mr WME opting for the gourmet burger and beer meal, and myself opting for the standard beer and burger meal deal. Meals ordered, and we find out that the kitchen staff are beating the bar staff for speed of service and it is not long before our meals are on the table and being demolished by us. We spend a few more minutes to let our grub go down with Mr Lunn spending a penny before we decide to have a brisk walk in the summer sunshine through the town centre where Mr WME's pub radar is in top working order and we head up by the church and pay a visit to "The Three Fishes", a splendid little pub with friendly staff, so a "cheers" photo, see picture right, is required. It is now time to go back to the bus station to catch our next bus, so we have another walk through the town centre and arrive at the station where it is not long before our bus arrives and also a chance for Mr Lunn to spend a penny before we board.

We board the Arriva Midlands 519 Service to our next destination and we make our way again through the Shropshire countryside and also with the countryside smells making there way through the open windows into the bus, I hope it was the country air and not the curry air from Mr UK Buses. This journey takes about an hour to get to Newport passing through places such as Roden, High Ercall, Tiberton and Edgmond. This route seems to be taking its toll on Mr UK Buses, see picture left, and he has a little nap during the journey, which means that we have a quiet journey except for the murmuring sounds coming from the direction of Mr UK Buses. We arrive in Newport, and we get off our bus at the bus station, which is just off the main High Street, and it is time for a bladder stop, and also a time for Mr Lunn to point out that there are new bladder facilities being built opposite, so we know where to go on our next visit to the town of Newport. We make our way to the next drinking establishment, and we go to The Barley, which is situated on Stafford Street and it is time for the Grand National, but we don't get to see which horse has won as we need to leave to get our next bus, so Mr UK Buses finds out that he has not won anything when we get on the bus.

We catch our next bus at Newport Bus Station and it is the Arriva Midlands 16:30 Service 481 journey which takes us out of Shropshire and into Staffordshire, where it is only a thirty minute journey to Stafford. As we pass Stafford railway station, we get ready to get off our bus and it is a little stroll to take us on our drinking establishment and we head to "The Lamb Inn", where we have a chat about our day whilst also watching the news to confirm who has won the Grand National, something that Mr UK Buses wanted to avoid. we spend just under half an hour in the lamb before we make our way to the nearest bus stop in Chell Road to get the gang back into Wolverhampton, but Mr Lunn has to make a dash back into The Lamb Inn to spend a penny before we catch the bus.

We board the 17:40 journey to Wolverhampton on Arriva Midlands 76 Service, which will take approximately one hour, passing through Penkridge along the way. As we arrive in Wolverhampton, we say goodbye to Mr WME who gets off close to home, but Mr UK Buses, Mr Lunn and myself stay on the bus into the City, and we get off at Broad Street, with a short walk, which Mr Lunn is finding hard and desperate to empty his bladder, so we go to Wetherspoons "The Moon Under Water" for the required bladder stop and a quick drink before we head back home. After a quick drink, Mr UK Buses and myself say our goodbyes to Mr Lunn, and we head around the corner into Queen Street, to catch our 19:15 National Express West Midlands 256 Service back to Stourbridge.

It takes us just under an hour before we arrive back in Stourbridge, and it is our turn for a bladder stop, so we make a quick detour and use the facilities at Wetherspoons "The Chequers Inn" to relieve our bladders and a final drink before we catch our bus home, the 0835 Service 276A operated by Black Diamond. I say my goodbyes to Mr UK Buses and make a visit to "Happy House" in Wollaston for a Chinese take away tea when I get back home.

Another good trip, with the sun shining all day for us on our first trip of British Summertime. Let's hope the sun stays with us for our trips during the rest of 2011, with the next trip for Mr UK Buses and myself planned in a couple of weeks, where we make our first trip of the year to London.