2016 - Day Out 03: Weston-Supre-Mare

Its time to go out on the coaches again and we catch Greenline Coaches for a day trip to Weston-Super-Mare.

I leave the house at 7.50am and make my way into Wollaston, where after a few minutes wait, the National Express West Midlands Service 276 arrives and I board and just as we depart Wollaston at 8.05am, I send the obligatory text to Mr UKBuses to tell him that we are on the way. After 5 minutes we pass through Norton, where Mr UKBuses boards and we then make our way into Stourbridge, where we alight the bus at Stourbridge Interchange and make our way to the coach boarding point in Birmingham Street. After about 10 minutes wait and a "fresh air" break, we are surprised when the Greenline Coaches mini coach pulls up, as we board we are informed that we are meeting up with the main coach en-route. We make our way to Hagley where we expect to change onto the main coach, but we keep on going and after about 20 minutes we arrive in the suburbs of Bromsgrove, Marlbrook to be more precise and pull over at a bus stop outside of The Toby Carvery, where we wait for our main coach. We are surprised when a Nash's coach, see picture below right, pulls up behind us and our driver informs us to alight and board the coach behind.

We board our coach and we are told it is a free for all and to sit where we like, luckily we are able to sit next to each other and get the last couple of remaining seats on the back row. A passenger in front of us tells me that I look uncomfortable and that I haven't got a lot of leg room, which she basically meant that she wants me to move so she can sit next to her mate. I get myself comfortable in my original seat and find out that I have no problem with the leg room at all and once Mr UKBuses has belted up, we leave Bromsgrove behind and make our way to Weston-Super-Mare. We make our way through the suburbs of Bromsgrove and when we arrive at Wychbold, we join the M5 Motorway at Junction 5 and head southbound. We travel about 50 miles where we stop at MichaelWood services to have some "fresh air" and stretch our legs and as we alight, Mr UKBuses has decided to stay on the coach, well he nearly did as he forgot to take his seat belt off as he tried to stand up.

After our break, we make our way back to the coach, having some "fresh air" before boarding and after everyone has boarded, we make our way back onto the M5 Motorway and we pass Bristol and Portishead and after about 30 miles, we leave the M5 at Junction 21 and make our way through the suburbs of Weston-Super-Mare, arriving on the sea front at approximately 11.45am. Mr UKBuses decides to cut his body in half again as he forgets to undo his seat belt for the second time and after he has unbuckled himself, we alight the coach into the fabulous pouring rain, which started as we arrived on the sea front. There is only one thing for us to do now whilst the rain is pouring, we kill two birds with one stone and as we are hungry and getting wet, we quickly walk along the seafront, with me jumping over the sea wall so that I can try and take a picture of a First Bristol, Bath and The West bus which has been painted in traditional Badgerline livery for Mr UKBuses. With the picture taken we carry on with our walk and a bit further down the seafront, we pass the Grand Pier and arrive at our destination.

We head into J D Wetherspoon's "The Cabot Court Hotel" where we can dry off and also have some lunch. Luckily it was not as busy as it was on our previous visit and get served virtually straight away. With the drinks purchased, we find a seat and peruse the menu before we order some much needed food. Mr UKBuses opts for his usual BBQ Chicken Melt (minus the melt!) and I opt for a Beer and Burger meal. It doesn't take long for our meal to arrive and we tuck in, see picture left. After the food has been devoured and we make use of the facilities after finishing off our drinks (and we didn't have to go far!), we make our way back out onto the seafront where it has now stopped raining. We make our way into the town centre and along Regent Street where we take our first bus ride of the day and we board a Crosville service 103 bus to Searles Crescent. We purchase our WestonRider tickets and take a seat and after about 15 minutes we arrive at our destination.

With no seat belts to decapitate Mr UKBuses, we alight at Searles Crescent and the bus stop is directly opposite the First Bristol, Bath and The West depot in Weston-Super-Mare. A few photographs are taken and after taking what we could we have a little walk a few hundred yards down the road, where pictures are taken of vehicles parked up at the depot of Coombs Travel, see picture right. With the pictures taken at both travel companies depots and the lunchtime pint taking its toll, we have a slow walk down the road, where luckily, there is an Asda store with customer toilets available for use. We didn't buy anything but we did make use of the customer toilets. After using the customer facilities, we make our way back to the bus stop by the Asda store and we have a choice of buses back to Weston-Super-Mare and as we caught the Crosville service to Searles Crescent, we decide to use the First Bristol, Bath and The West service 3 back. We travel along virtually the same route into Weston-Super-Mare and after 15 minutes we are back and alight at Regent Street. Upon alighting, Mr UKBuses spots the Badgerline liveried bus that was spotted earlier, so he decides to sprint ahead and get a better photograph of it.

With the little sprint taking its toll on Mr UKBuses, we decide to have a pint and head into J D Wetherspoon's "The Dragon Inn", but after seeing how busy it was and also a stag party taking place, we decide to have a drink elsewhere and we just go around the corner where we pop into "The Tavern In The Town". We have a bit of time to kill before we catch our next bus, so we take a seat and have a rest with Mr UKBuses deciding to sit by facing towards the television so he can watch a bit of the Euro 2016 football action. It is nearly time for our next bus, so we finish our drinks and make our way across the road where we catch Crosville's Service 100, where we take our seats upstairs in the fresh air. We make our way along the seafront and after twenty minutes, we arrive at Sand Bay where we alight to take a few photographs, see picture left and a very, very quick "fresh air" break before we board again and take our open top seats and make our way back into Weston-Super-Mare, spotting some bikes stuck up some trees along the way! We arrive back in Weston-Super-Mare and alight at Regent Street.

Time for another pint and we make our way back into "The Dragon Inn", which is now much quieter and as the sun is shining brightly know, we decide to sit outside to catch some rays. Mr UKBuses decides to go a bit further and sits out on the tables outside the café next door, that is until an employee from the café tells him off and he takes a seat at a table outside of The Dragon Inn, which actually belong to the pub this time. After some "fresh air", we finish our drinks and decide to have a walk down to the sea front, so we walk down Regent Street and arrive at the sea front. We still have a bit of time to kill, so after being handed a flyer for "2 drinks for £5", we decide to head into "Ella's Bar", there is no real ale here so we decide to have a pint of lager and Mr UKBuses gets a seat with his Harlem of women sitting with him, see picture right, whilst I nearly fall flat on my face when I enter the gentleman's toilets as there is a step right behind the door.

We rest our legs and enjoy the atmosphere and also enjoy the music blaring out. It is 80's hour and some classic songs are being played such as Nena's "99 Red Balloons". The pub starts to get busier, with a stag party coming in and I have a bone to pick with one of them as he has a T-Shirt with "Milky Bar Kid" on his back, so I go over and inform him that there is only one Milky Bar Kid in this town and seeing as I'm much blonder, I take the prize! It is nearly time to get to our coach for our journey back home, so Mr UKBuses leaves his women behind, see picture left and we make our way outside and walk up the seafront to our pick up point. Luckily nearby are some toilets, so I decide to make use of the facilities which also cost me 20p for the privilege. It is just before 6.00pm, and after some "fresh air", our coach pulls up and we board and take our seats at the back of the coach and with everyone on board we leave Weston-Super-Mare behind and make our way back to the West Midlands.

We join the M5 Motorway again at Junction 21 and make our way northbound hoping that I can get a good signal as I'm reading live updates on qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. After an hour and a half and 75 miles, the coach pulls of the Motorway for a brief stop at Strensham Services, with Mr UKBuses remembering to take off his seatbelt before alighting. After a quick bladder stop and "fresh air" break, we get some chocolate for our last leg of the journey and reboard the coach. With everyone back on, we rejoin the M5 and make our way back to Bromsgrove, where in a layby near Rubery, we alight our coach and get change onto our mini Greenline Coach which takes us back to Stourbridge, via Bell End and Hagley. We alight in Birmingham Street and having missed National Express West Midlands service 276, we decide to catch a taxi back home. Mr UKBuses gets dropped off first, and I get dropped off in Wollaston where I have a nightcap or two in The Unicorn, which is very quiet for a Saturday night, but seeing as England are playing their Euro 2016 match and The Unicorn not having a television, I enjoy the peace and quiet before making my way back home to rest my legs.

Despite the changing weather, a good day out was had, even though we didn't actually go all the way to Weston-Super-Mare on a Greenline Coach, I would normally thank the driver, but despite not giving his name out after we boarded, I can't really say thank you. I can thank Mr UKBuses though for his company on the day, even though I had to put up with his Bald Spot:

Bald Spot 1: The Bald Spot passes the Sweet Shop!

Bald Spot 2: The Bald Spot is feeling all Scottish as he passes Jock after he has been to The Tavern In The Town!

Bald Spot 3: The Bald Spot is on his way to The First Bristol, Bath and The West Depot in Weston-Super-Mare!

Bald Spot 4: The Bald Spot is interested in becoming a bus driver!

Bald Spot 5: The Bald Spot is caught in the act trying to get into Coombs Travel Depot!

2016 - Day Out 01: London

Its a new year and for our first trip of 2016, we are back on the coaches again, our first operator being Whittles and our first location is London.

Its an early start and Mr UKBuses makes his way to Wollaston, with myself meeting him halfway, after meeting up, we make our way on the frost covered pavements up to Wollaston village where we quickly pop into the Spar to get some liquid refreshments for the coach journey ahead. After paying five pence for a carrier bag, we make our way to the bus stop situated on the main Wollaston Island and wait for our coach to turn up. As we get nearer to pickup time, a few more people appear to catch our coach and the coach is running late. I decide to get some "fresh air" and as soon as I light up, yes, the coach arrives and pulls up at 07.50am. We board our Whittles Coach with coach driver, Pete, greeting us as we board, we take our seats, getting comfortable and warming up as we make our way to the last pick up point at Stourbridge Ring Road, before doing another tour of the ring road and making our way to Hagley and then onto the M5 briefly before going onto the M42 and then onto the M40.

We make our way along the M40 and as we reach Junction 8a, we leave the motorway and have a break at the Welcome Break Oxford Services, so we alight the coach and after some "fresh air", we make our way indoors. We decide to have a bite to eat and breakfast is still being served, so we visit Burger King and have a "Bacon Buttie" and I also opt for a hash brown. When our meal is served we are asked if we want any sauces, we ask for brown sauce and get offered BBQ sauce, so we decline and tuck in and our bacon buttie is basically a couple of slices of bacon on a burger bun which already had tomato sauce on it and the hash brown is a load of small mini hash browns. With the breakfast not being as expected, it did go down well and certainly hit the spot. We walk back around to the coach and some "fresh air" is had whilst we wait for the driver to return, see picture right. We board our coach and Mr UKBuses decides to take a couple of fingers off his hand by firstly getting one trapped in the overhead locker and then he decides to take another one out by getting it trapped when he raises the arm rest. Just after 10.30am we make our way back onto the M40 and get to London, leaving the M40 and onto the A40 passing RAF Northolt and passing through White City, just getting a glimpse of the old BBC TV Centre and passing Kensington Palace before alighting at Park Lane.

We are dropped off just by the bus stop where we have to catch our first bus of the day, so after some "fresh air" whilst Mr UKBuses takes a few photographs, our Arriva London service 73 arrives and we tap in for the first time today and also this year, using our Oystercards. We go through the "Streets of London" and after about fifteen minutes, we arrive at Victoria Bus Station where a few minutes are had taking some photographs, see picture left. We make our way through Victoria Railway Station, to get to our bus stop and we catch Metroline's Service 24 from Victoria, which takes about 10 minutes to go round in a circle, and we arrive at Trafalgar Square about 20 minutes later, where we alight. After a few more photographs are taken, we decide to have a drink and some food, so we head to J D Wetherspoon's "The Lord Moon of the Mall", where Mr UKBuses gets the first round in. Whilst he is at the bar waiting to get served, I look around the pub for a table and cannot find one, so food may be have to taken elsewhere. I do wait around the front of the pub and luckily a few people leave and I swoop in for the kill and lay claim to the table. We decide to have some food despite a half hour wait and Mr UKBuses decides to opt for the BBQ Chicken Melt "without the melt", I opt for the Chicken Burger with a free pint. Another round is purchased as I ordered the food.

After a "fresh air" break, I make my way back inside and re-join Mr UKBuses and just after half an hour later, our food eventually arrives so we tuck in. The chips we had were slightly limp and then I went to eat my chicken burger which half of it was rock solid and must have been left on the griddle far too long. After eating what I could, I put my plate to one side and when a member of staff came round to collect our plates he decided to ask the question, "Was everything alight with our meals?", I then demonstrated with a fork, that the fork couldn't even penetrate my burger and after about five minutes away he comes back to the table, he comes back with a full refund for both our meals. Whilst it was not the member of staff's fault about the food, I must congratulate him on the way he dealt with the complaint and how quickly he responded. We finish our drinks off and then make our way around to the Charing Cross Underground Station, where we make our first journey of the day and year, on The Tube.

We make our way onto the Bakerloo Line and go a couple of stops to Oxford Circus, where we alight and make our way onto the Central Line and we make our way to the East End and just after ten minutes we arrive and alight at Bethnal Green Underground Station. We make our way to ground level, and we make our way to the bus stop opposite the station and we catch Stagecoach London service 8 to Barnet Grove, where we alight and make our way down St Matthews Row and into a public house which was once owned by The Kray Brothers, so we enter into "The Carpenters Arms", see picture right, where Mr UKBuses decides to make a dash for the toilet, leaving me to get the round in (which means that I have purchased two rounds in a go as I purchased the second drink at the Lord Moon of The Mall!!), which came to a staggering £8.80 for two pints. We eventually find somewhere to sit, in the hallway next to the carpenter's tool's hanging on the wall (or were they a reference to tool used by The Krays?). We think Ronnie and Reggie were haunting the place as when we both took a "cheers photograph", both came out not in focus, see picture below left.

We finish our drinks and after passing a public house close by on the bus earlier, we decide to go off the plan and walk down Cheshire Street and onto Vallance Road, where upon on research we found out that we were standing in front of the building that now occupies what would have been The Krays family home, we walk to the end of Vallance Road and enter The Krays local pub, "The Marquis Of Cornwallis". We have a quick drink here, before we make our way out onto the East End streets and we again catch Stagecoach London service 8, where we alight at Tottenham Court Road Underground Station, looking at The Dominion Theatre for the first time without the giant statue of Freddie Mercury standing outside. We decide to pop into McDonald's opposite for a quick bite to eat and then we get onto our final tube journey of the day tapping in at Tottenham Court Road Underground Station and onto the Central Line alighting at Marble Arch Underground Station.

We make our way back to ground level and we still have half an hour left before the coach arrives, luckily in the area we know that there is a J D Wetherspoons pub just around the corner from our pickup point in Park Lane, so we decide to get in the warmth and visit "The Tyburn" and it is my turn for the round, even though I got an extra round in at The Carpenters Arms, and we rest our feet for a while before making our way back around the corner to Park Lane, where on time, our Whittles Coach arrives and we all board and take our seats ready for the journey back up the motorway. We start our journey back and it is not too long before snoring is heard when Mr UKBuses decides to have a nap. Luckily for the other passengers it is less than hour of hearing the noise as we arrive at Welcome Break Oxford Services where we have a brief break and time for some "fresh air" before we board again.

We leave the services and it is back up the M40, M42 and M5 with Mr UKBuses having another nap, before leaving the motorway and making our way back through Hagley, before arriving in Stourbridge, the first drop off point at around 08.15pm. Mr UKBuses makes sure that people get off quickly so that we can carry onto Wollaston where at about 08.20pm we arrive and alight. Luckily for Mr UKBuses, National Express West Midlands service 276 is running a few minutes late, but it does arrive and he boards for his short journey back home. I bid goodbye and have a quick nightcap in Graham's Place and The Unicorn before retiring back home and getting a well deserved sleep.

Despite the cold chill, the weather was kind to us and a good first day out of 2016 was had, thanks to Pete, our coach driver and Mr UKBuses for the plan, speaking of Mr UKBuses, his bald spot did make an appearance in the cold weather:

Bald Spot 1: The Bald Spot lurking at London Victoria Bus Station.

Bald Spot 2: The Bald Spot nearly getting run over by a Borismaster at London Victoria Bus Station.

Bald Spot 3: The winter sunshine is reflected by the Bald Spot at Trafalgar Square.

2015 - Day Out 12: Pensnett Garage

No coaches this week, we are staying local, heading just a couple of miles up the road and I have been volunteered by Mr UKBuses to help out at the first National Express West Midlands Pensnett Garage Open Day.

It's just after 08.00am and Mr UKBuses is driving today and he picks me up from home and we make our way through Wollaston, Amblecote, Wordsley (with a cyclist thinking he owned the road) and Kingswinford before arriving at Pensnett Trading Estate, home to the Dudley area of bus routes, National Express West Midlands, Pensnett Garage. We set to work before we get to the garage by putting up signs showing the way to visitors on the Pensnett Trading Estate, with our final sign to put up on the bus stop showing the times of the shuttle bus between the garage and Dudley bus station. With that job done, we park up, don our Hi-Viz jackets and make our way into the garage. Mr UKBuses first job is to make him a cup of coffee and finish a few things off, I do see a sign saying "no admittance", asking if that is supposed to be on his wallet, I got a dirty look off him for that one. With everything complete, we make our way downstairs and outside ready for the visitors to flock in.

After putting up a few signs downstairs in the traffic office, we make our way outside, where it starts to rain. A bus driver is getting one of the new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC's ready for the bus wash, which would be the cleanest bus in the garage at the end of the day, the shuttle bus had arrived which was a demonstrator, a Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B5LH which National Express West Midlands are trying out giving it a good test on the garage shuttle service today between the trading estate and Dudley, it seems odd to see a bus with two sets of doors in the West Midlands. A few of the garage's own buses were being put into position being lined up at the top of the garage yard. This gave me a chance to try out these before everybody came, so I tried one of the new Enviro 400 MMC's, a Dennis Trident and also a Volvo B7RLE with the fleet number of 2095. This is also a bus which has been named after one of the Pensnett Garage's own driver, Dave Gerrard, who over the years has raised a lot of money for different charities. Dave was also on hand today and managed to get a picture of him next to his own bus, see picture right, he can be seen in one of his uniforms from when he was working with Midland Red. With the shuttle off out on the first trip to Dudley, it was nearly time for the crowds to arrive, so it was time to do some work and the first jobs was showing the preserved buses that turned up where to park, some of the preserved buses included:

MCW Metrobus, Ex West Midlands Travel (2989)

Optare Excel, Ex National Express West Midlands (693)

Optare MetroRider, Ex Travel Merry Hill (155) - Back in it's old garage!

Leyland National 2, Ex West Midlands Travel / WMPTE (1026)

Volvo B6LE, Ex National Express West Midlands (669)

Mercedes-Benz 0.405N, Ex National Express West Midlands (1707)

Optare Spectra, Ex National Express West Midlands (4001)

Daimler Fleetline, Ex Birmingham City Transport (3472)

Leyland Fleetline, Ex WMPTE (6600)

The crowds arrived on the first shuttle bus which was being driven by Tony Hunter, see picture left, the youngsters went straight for the garage's buses as they could sit in the cabs and it was weird how they knew how to set the destination blinds in the buses and also how to open and close the doors. Luckily they didn't know how to drive them so I can safely say that the buses stayed in the same position all day. As soon as people started arriving, the rain also arrived at the same time which stayed with us on and off for the rest of the day, a fresh air break was needed so we decided to have a stroll to "The Graveyard" where all the withdrawn buses are situated and making sure that no-one was straying behind the fences. A quick break was had after in the office to rest our legs for a few minutes before heading back out to the garage. We were getting hungry now so decided to have a burger and take shelter and eat it away from the crowds on one of the parked up buses in which Mr UKBuses forgot how to close the doors. Dinner over we decide to go on a trip on the shuttle bus to Dudley and back before carrying out our duties for the rest of the day. With the day coming to a close and the rain stopping and blue skies showing, we have a final cuppa before making our way back home, that is after our final job of taking down the signs that we put up this morning and Mr UKBuses driving me back to Wollaston.

National Express West Midlands (Pensnett Garage) Enviro 200 (825)

National Express West Midlands (Pensnett Garage) Enviro 400 MMC (6115)

National Express West Midlands Platinum Liveried (Walsall Garage) Enviro 400 MMC (6721)

National Express West Midlands (Pensnett Garage) Dennis Trident (4199)

National Express West Midlands (Pensnett Garage) Volvo B7RLE (2095) named after Dave Gerrard

A good day was had with the garage staff making everyone welcome and for organising the event and also to the garage's engineering team who went out of the way to make the event even better for some enthusiasts, hopefully Pensnett Garage may do another open day in the future, I've got my hand up for any help needed that day. I did not get any Mr UKBuses bald spots today as he was actually doing some work, so instead you will have to put up with me learning how to drive a bus:

Me behind the wheel of Pensnett Garage's Enviro 200 (825)

Me behind the wheel of Walsall Garage's Enviro 400 MMC Platinum (6721)

2015 - Day Out 09: Portmeirion

Date: Saturday 12 September 2015

We are on the coach yet again for the fourth time in four weeks, this week sees us stay in the country of Wales, but we head up to North Wales and our destination today is the lovely village of Portmeirion, home to The Prisoner.

I make my way to Wollaston, where at 07.35am the National Express West Midlands Service 276 bus pulls up and I board and take a seat, sending Mr UKBuses the normal text to tell him that we are on our way. The bus goes through Norton, where Mr UKBuses duly boards and then we make our way into Stourbridge, alighting at Stourbridge Interchange and taking a short walk down to the coach shelter opposite Stourbridge Tip. We wait about ten minutes wondering if we were told the right time, our worry lessens when another couple turn up and "Herbie" the Greenline minicoach turns up and we board, luckily we only have a couple of pick ups in Lye and Halesowen to do before we make our way to Dudley. We arrive in Dudley and pull up outside of the entrance to Dudley Zoo, we have a few minutes to wait before our main coach pulls up, so I get off and have some "fresh air" whilst waiting. "Jan" turns up and Mr UKBuses gets off "Herbie" and we make our way to the main coach with our regular driver, Mike sorting out the seats. As we are waiting the rain starts to pour down on us and we cannot yet board the coach due to other passengers blocking the aisle, so we get slightly damp, but we find out we have the same seats as last week and get a drivers view of the journey to and from Portmeirion.

We make our way towards Wolverhampton, me slightly damp as my bottle of pop for the journey decides to explode over me as I open it and get onto the M6 Motorway, just for a short while before we join the M54 Motorway. We are on the coach for less than an hour, where Mike informs us that we are going to have a quick convenience stop at Telford Services as some of the passengers have been on the coach far longer than those who joined at Dudley. We duly pull into Welcome Break Telford Service Station where we have time to make use of the facilities and also a quick breath of "fresh air" before boarding again and making our way back out onto the M54 motorway. We then head onto the A5 and head towards Wrexham, where we have a longer stop at Moreton Park Garden Centre, see picture top left, where we decide to have some breakfast in the restaurant. Mr UKBuses is a number (Number 11 to be exact) after ordering his traditional breakfast (no egg or beans, but mushrooms and black pudding as a replacement), I order mine (I am Number 7), asking for no egg and black pudding as a replacement. After about 10 minutes our breakfasts arrive, see picture right, Mr UKBuses is first and without his beans and egg, a lot of plate can be seen. Mine then arrives, with egg on, which I duly put to one side, but I also get my extra black pudding as well, with my plate looking fuller than Mr UKBuses. Food eaten, we have a quick look around the garden centre and decide to have another pit stop, with Mr UKBuses getting confused as he nearly goes into the ladies. We make our way back to the coach with some "fresh air" had along the way back to the coach and Mike returns after having his breakfast and we duly board our coach "Jan" again and take our seats to get us to Portmeirion.

We make our way from Moreton Park and Mike takes us on a scenic route as we bypass Oswestry and Chirk and go through Llangollen, spotting the canal and steam railway as we pass through. We then pass through Corwen and Bethel before driving past the glorious looking Bala lake. We are not too far from our destination now, but we get stuck behind a "Sunday Driver", which adds time to our journey as we cannot get past the driver who doesn't know what an accelerator is for. The driver finally pulls off and we pick up speed again and after passing signs for Ffestiniog, we only have to go through the little village of Minffordd and I keep an eye out for the steam railway station at Minffordd as about twenty years ago I stayed in the Ffestiniog railway hostel when I was in the Venture Scouts, I do spot it and memories come flooding back, right opposite, we turn down a road which is the entrance to Portmeirion, if only I had known that all them years ago, I could have made a visit then. We go down a small road and we are at the entrance to "The Village", Mike gives a toot on his horn and the gates are open so that we are allowed into the coach park, arriving just before 1.30pm. Mike pulls up and as we alight another coach drivers rudely asks Mike to move as he wants to leave, why he couldn't have waited a few minutes, Mike would have dropped off all the passengers and would have got out of his way. "Fresh air" is had before we make our way to the village, see picture left. A trip to Porthmadog is abandoned as we would have had to walk about a mile and a half to the nearest bus stop.

We make our way down towards "The Village", so far so good, there are no big white balloons following me around, Mr UKBuses refers to them as "Rovers", just a person who looks like Stan Ogden with a camera clicking away behind me is the only thing following me around. We have a walk around "The Village" and with Mr UKBuses clicking away, I move further into "The Village". A woman is taking a picture behind Mr UKBuses and as he hears the camera click, he turns around and tells her to "P*** Off!", I think he may have been a bit paranoid about his bald spot. We carry on around the main part of Portmeirion, where we arrive at The Town Hall and we decide to rest our legs for a bit, see picture right. We make our way inside, and Mr UKBuses leaves me at the bar whilst he goes to find a table (good excuse again!) and a pint of cider and lager is ordered. I wake up once the barmaid gives me the change, with the round coming to a staggering £8.55, with Mr UKBuses pint being the more expensive at £4.75 a pint. I take my seat and drink my pint slowly to ensure I get the best out of it and my monies worth. There are a few drops left and I make sure that the glass is left very dry and we make our way back into "The Village".

After visiting the toilet (this building will be used a lot today), we make our way down to the hotel and Mr UKBuses plays about on the Stone boat located next to it. With Mr UKBuses back ashore, I feel ill when Mr UKBuses decides to go on a walk through the woods (yes, I did say a walk!), so we make our way past the lighthouse and onto the forest trail. Luckily, for Mr UKBuses, about three-quarters of the way around there is a bench available which Mr UKBuses decides to have a seat for about ten minutes to recover, which also meant I could get some "fresh air", before making our way back into "The Village". We have another quick look around and we arrive just in time for The Forest Train, we climb aboard and after everybody is on, we set off taking us around a different part of the forest situated in the grounds. We could have walked the route about three times as the train was quite slow, we do eventually get back into "The Village" and alight by The Town Hall. Mr UKBuses spots the ice cream shop, so we head in and decide to have a single scoop cone, with Mr UKBuses opting for Strawberry and myself Cranberrie Cream flavour. Mr UKBuses gets his first and heads out of the shop and then I get mine, but it looks as if I have had an extra scoop judging by the difference in size. I may have had more, but seeing as my ice cream was soft to begin with, it doesn't take long before it starts running all down my hands and by the time I've  finished, my hands are entirely covered in ice cream. Luckily for me, we are right by the toilets, so another visit is made to give them a wash.

We have a further look around "The Village" and then we head to "Number 6" house, which is now home to The Prisoner gift shop. Mr UKBuses wants to get a mouse mat, but after looking around the shop a couple of times and enquiring, he is out of luck and comes away from the shop empty handed. We have a bit of time left and decide to have a look around the other shops just in case there are any floating around in the other shops. We decide to take another break and it is back to The Town Hall where we decide to have a seat outside and Mr UKBuses does go to the bar and pays the same amount. After drinks we decide to make our way back to the coach a bit early just in case we can leave early, we make our way via the pottery shop, see picture left, just in case there is an elusive mouse mat hanging around in there. Unfortunatley for Mr UKBuses there isn't so we board the coach after I have had some "fresh air" and with the coach two-thirds full, we get comfortable and wait for the stragglers. At least we haven't been chased around by a "Rover", but we did get followed by a couple off our coach a few times today, were they "Rovers" in disguise? The last few stragglers board and we leave Portmeirion twenty minutes before planned departure. We escape "The Village" and make our way down to Minffordd, where I say goodbye to my once hostel from years ago and we hit the road.

A few miles into the journey and it looks as if we have come across the same driver as we did this morning, in a different car, as we are stuck behind him for quite a while and he seems to be doing only half of the speed limit. He eventually turns off with a loud cheer from everyone in the coach as he turns off. We eventually get close to our comfort break and have ten minutes in Welshpool, where luckily the toilets are still open, time for some "fresh air" before we set off along the rabbit run and back into Dudley, where we say goodbye to Mike and swap onto "Herbie" again which takes us straight back into Stourbridge, arriving at 9.04pm, which gives us a minute to run from the drop off point to Stourbridge Interchange, where luckily, our National Express West Midlands Service 276 is still on the stand. We board and as we reach Norton, its time to say goodbye to Mr UKBuses and upon arriving in Wollaston a quick nightcap is had at Graham's Place and The Unicorn before heading back home for a well deserved rest.

Another brilliant day was had thanks to our coach driver Mike and to Mr UKBuses for the company, luckily, the weather improved upon arrival at Portmeirion. Speaking of Mr UKBuses, he came away without a mouse mat, but he did have a bald spot, all but one spotted in Portmeirion:

The Bald Spot is seen on its way to the Coach at Moreton Park Garden Centre, all below are in and around Portmeirion.