2012 - Day Out 16: Torquay Vintage Bus Running Day

Date: Sunday 02 September 2012

Its our last full day in Torquay and we visit the event of the Torbay Vintage Bus Running Day which has become an annual event and today we have the sun shining down on us so that we can enjoy the classic bus rides ahead.

It is the day of the Torbay Vintage Bus Running Day so we ensure that we go fully fed and meet up at reception where we make our way to the breakfast room for our English Grill, I decide to pig out and have some black pudding and extra bacon on mine, we are a bit later than yesterday so the music is already playing and not being started today by Mr UKBuses coffee pouring skills. With our breakfast eaten, I pop outside for some "fresh air" before going back to my room to pick up the camera ready for the action in today's running day. We hand our room keys in at reception and decide to buy a Stagecoach South West's "Torbay Dayrider", which is good value and will be used to get back from Torquay this afternoon and also will be used when we visit Torquay on our last night of the break. We get off at the stop where the "big hot air balloon" once stood and is just a few steps to the showground at Sheddon Hill Car Park. We arrive a bit early but a programme is purchased from the people behind the Torbay Bus Routes website to enable us to plan our rides later on today, but first we get a few photographs of the vehicles parked up and have a look around the stalls, quickly purchasing "More Room On Top", the latest book about Midland Red's D9 and D10. One improvement this year is that the services were now departing from the show ground, a stop was still available along the seafront. Our first ride is due and we catch the following services:

Even dogs were enjoying the rides.

Journey One: The first service we caught was service 136 to Paignton, this journey departed at 10:30 and arrived back at 10:55 and was operated by a 1972 Bristol LHS / Marshall bodied VOD 88K which originally operated by Western National.

Who is this mysterious person with a bald spot getting in the way again!

Journey Two: The second service we caught was service 118 to Kingswear, we thought we would get this trip out of the way and there were quite a few seats left so we weren't squashed in like last years afternoon trip on this service. Along the way we stopped at Broadsands Viaduct giving us an opportunity to take a photograph at the viaduct with some mysterious person getting in the way again, see picture above. The journey departed at 11:05 and arrived back at 12:40 and was operated by a 1983 Leyland Olympian / ECW bodied A680 KDV and originally operated for Devon General.

Journey Three: The third service was service 141 to Occombe Farm, this departed at 13:00 and arrived back at 13:45 and was operated by Badgerline coach 1978 Leyland Leopard / Plaxton Paramount 3200 MK I bodied PWS 492S.

Having a rest at The Belgrave.

It was time to have a break before a couple of afternoon journeys, and we went to "The Belgrave", see picture above, which is situated next to the show ground, as we were supping our pints I was able to catch up on the Belgian Grand Prix which was being led by Jenson Button. After our drinks we went back to the show ground and carried on our journeys.

Journey Four: The fourth service was service 50 to St Marychurch, this departed at 14:15 and arrived back at 14:56 and was operated by Bayline Ford Transit C526 FFJ.

Journey Five: The fifth and final service we caught today was service 55 to St Marychurch (the reverse of service 50), this was operated by a 1195 Mercedes-Benz 709D / Marshall Dual Door Saloon bodied M245 UTM. This departed the show ground at 15:05, we decided to alight in Torquay town centre, arriving at the Torquay Pavilion at 15:43. It was on this service that I learnt that Jenson Button had won the Grand Prix, Mr UKBuses decided to go back to the hotel and I would stay in the town for a celebratory drink.

A Stagecoach South West service 12 is at the bus stop so Mr UKBuses has a quick dash with me giving him his day ticket on his little jog, I decide to stay in Torquay whilst Mr UKBuses has a bit of rest at the hotel and have a celebratory drink to honour Jenson Button's win at The Belgian Grand Prix. First of all I go to J D Wetherspoons "The Green Ginger" and sit out on the patio to enable me to have some "fresh air", whilst sitting at the table a gentleman takes a seat and as we get talking he states that "I'm from Birmingham", I insist that I am actually from The Black Country. After my drink is finished at The Green Ginger, I have a walk down The Strand and sample a pint at "The Hole In The Wall" which is no different from last year with friendly staff and regulars making me feel welcome. I decide it is time to get a bit of rest before we venture down Torquay for the evening, so I catch the Stagecoach South West service 12 back to the hotel and have a bit of a kip.

After a quick nap, I make my way to the hotel bar to meet up with Mr UKBuses, whilst waiting I get chatting to a gentleman called Glyn who is from Swansea. I introduce Glyn to Mr UKBuses when he arrives and his wife asks me if I could have a look at her I-Phone as she cannot send emails, I duly get them to work and Glyn rewards Mr UKBuses and myself with a drink from the hotel bar. After finishing the drinks, we make our way to the bus stop and after catching Stagecoach South West service 12 into Torquay we have our first drink at "The Green Ginger", we both opt for the "Crag Rat", which I sampled earlier, Mr UKBuses also likes it and as we drink these we look at Sean O'Kanes appearance in Grange Hill via my Blackberry Playbook.

It is now time to eat and opt for a curry so we make our way around the harbour to Curry Ocean which we sampled on our visit last year, but as we arrive it is full so we have a walk into the town and come across Simla Spice where we opt for the buffet, so after our starters we opt for the main course and Mr UKBuses recommends the Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi, he must have known how hot it was and as I sampled a couple of bit's of chicken, my mouth starts to set itself on fire, Mr UKBuses and the waiter found this funny, but a drink was needed so after we finished we went next door to "The Clocktower" where a extinguishing pint was had, I also enjoyed this pub as there was some Metallica blasting out of the jukebox. After we finished our drinks we went to our last pub of the evening and one of our favourites, "The Hole In The Wall", where we actually got a seat inside this year and we were entertained with a singer. Just after 22:30, we make our way back to the bus stop where Stagecoach South West service 12 arrives a few minutes later to take us back to the hotel. Our last hotel drink is had at the hotel bar before we get some much needed sleep ready for our journey back home tomorrow.

An excellent last full day in Torquay and a big thanks go to the organisers of The Torbay Vintage Bus Running Day for the excellent planning of the event and also a thank you goes out to the people behind the Torbay Bus Routes website who helped marshal the event.

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Date: Monday 03 September 2012

It is sadly our last day of this break and we have to sadly say goodbye to Sunny Torquay and head back to the West Midlands after an excellent weekend.

I wake up early on our last day, so I decide to have a little walk around Torquay heading towards Cockington to begin with and returning to the hotel via the Torquay railway station. I return back to my room and ensure that everything is packed ready for our departure later, but first it is time to have our last breakfast, so I meet up with Mr UKBuses and we head into the breakfast room for our final English Grill (without the eggs!), and we are not disappointed even though I didn't get my extra piece of bacon today. Breakfast over we make our way to our rooms ensuring that we have everything and meet up at reception and hand our room keys over for the final time, it is time to say goodbye to The Corbyn Head Hotel and to all the staff who have been marvellous during our stay. We make our final walk in Torquay and after ten minutes of walking by the seafront we turn off to get to the Torquay railway station, before we do we say goodbye to Torquay.

We arrive at the railway station, I pop into the station cafe to get refreshments for the train journey ahead, and we make our way to platform two, but before we stand on the platform we pop outside so that I can have my last Torquay "fresh air" break and once it is over we make our way onto a packed platform where at 10:13 our Arriva CrossCountry train arrives and we board taking our reserved seats and with no changes until we get to Birmingham we make sure that we are comfy. We depart and it is goodbye to Torquay which has supplied us with good weather all weekend and we sadly make our way back to the Midlands. Along the way we pass through the local towns such as Newton Abbott and Dawlish riding right by the sea which is always a good view. Mr UKBuses decides to have a nap, see picture right, and we make progress passing through Bristol Temple Meads and we see the local Midlands stations with the usual Network West Midlands branding which means that we have arrived back in the Midlands. As we near Birmingham an announcement is made to state that the train, which was originally planned to terminate at Manchester Piccadilly will now be terminating at Birmingham New Street due to signalling problems just after Wolverhampton. We take notice of this and quickly get our stuff together and make our way to the door so that we avoid the rush by all of the other passengers, some of which were not too happy.

We arrive at Birmingham New Street and with not a lot of time to get our connecting train to Smethwick Galton Bridge, the "fresh air break" is denied and we make our way to the correct platform. We don't have to wait long and we board our London Midland train which starts to get packed with the passengers of our last train, so it is standing room only and it feels like we are on the London Underground, I keep closing the doors so that people will not try and cram themselves in to the now non-existent space, and after a late departure we make our way across to Smethwick Galton Bridge, where we have to change to the upper platforms to get our connecting train back home. At 13:53 we are back on the plan and our London Midland train arrives and quickly departs stopping at Rowley Regis and Cradley Heath before arriving at Stourbridge Junction, where we again change platforms for the Stourbridge Dodger to get us to the Stourbridge Interchange. Mr UKBuses is asked how the weather was in Torquay when the ticket inspector checks his ticket and as we arrive at the Stourbridge Interchange I say goodbye and thank him for a lovely weekend, the first thing I do when I leave him is to have a well overdue "fresh air" break. I have a quick "good weekend" celebratory pint at J D Wetherspoons "The Chequers Inn", seeing Mr UKBuses going past on his National Express West Midlands service 276 back home and waving at him (I don't know if he spotted me), before making my way back home to unpack and have a rest after a good weekend.

Another classic break which would not have been possible for the great planning and great company of Mr UKBuses - A big THANK YOU for the excellent weekend.

2012 - Day Out 09: Hereford and Hay-On-Wye

Date: Saturday 28 April 2012

It was time for another day out, and this time we were going to visit a couple of new locations, being Hay-On-Wye and Ross-On-Wye, the first location being a destination of the 1989 ITV series, The Interceptor .

It is an early start and just before 6.30am, I make my way to Wollaston. As I make my way up towards the village, the rain starts coming down, luckily I haven't long to wait and can wait under cover. I suffer from some more good luck as the first National Express West Midlands service 276 arrives a few minutes early and the driver lets me board so I can stay dry. At 06.36am, the bus pulls away, and after a couple of minutes, I send a text to Mr UKBuses, sorry Mikey, to let him know that I am on the way. As we arrive in Norton, Mikey boards and this will be the first trip that we actually use the new Stourbridge Interchange. As we arrive at the interchange, we have a break with tradition and alight, changing onto the "Stourbridge Dodger" to takes us to Stourbridge Junction. As we arrive at the junction, we change platforms and I realise why I don't wear "The Interceptor coat" that often when I nearly trip up the steps up to Platform 3. Mikey has a little warm in the waiting room as I spend a few minutes having some "fresh air" before our London Midland train arrives at 0735am. We are on our way and out of the rain and as we make our way through Kidderminster and Droitwich Spa, it doesn't take us long before we arrive at Worcester Foregate Street. We have a bit of time to spare, so Mikey makes use of Tesco Express next door to the station, and he also gets the wallet out to take some "Map Allowance" out of the cash machine.

The first leg of the journey is out of the way and we make our way back into Worcester Foregate Street where we catch 0830am London Midland service, which takes us to our first proper destination of the day, Hereford, where we arrive at 0919am. As we arrive the rain has got worse, so we have a little walk up to the town but on our way we find a J D Wetherspoons, "The Kings Fee", pictured right, where we decide to have a break for a bit and stay dry. After a couple of drinks, we decide to brave the elements and have a walk around the town centre, stopping off at the bus station by the Tesco store and also we pay a quick visit to the First in Worcester and Herefordshire depot in Friar Street. We have a walk back through the town centre, but have a quick bladder break at the Shire Hall, before making our way back across town to the Country Bus Station round the corner from the Railway Station. There are not a lot of vehicles currently at the bus station, so we decide to take shelter once more at "The Kings Fee" for a quick drink before we make our way back to the Country Bus Station to catch our bus to Interceptor country at Hay-On-Wye. At 11.40 our bus arrives and we board the Stagecoach South Wales Service 39 bus which will take us to our next destination, the blue course, and after passing through Kingstone and Peterchurch with the journey taking us just under an hour we arrive at Hay-On-Wye.

We alight in Hay-On-Wye and as we alight, the heavens start to burst again, so we have a little scout around and find the Kilverts Hotel, where we take cover. It is my round and we decide to have an Interceptor drink, a pint of Guinness, and I get stung at £4.00 a pint (I know who is buying at The Pulpit in Portland Bill this year), I decide to cut my losses and tell the barmaid to keep the change. We spend a while at the hotel whilst we sup our Guinness, see picture left, but the rain dies down a bit so we finish our drinks and we go in search of a famous bridge, the bridge that The Interceptor once stood, see picture below. After a short walk we find the famous bridge, and whilst Mikey stands on the bridge, I get into Interceptor mode and run down the path at the side pretending to zap one of "Annabel's rabbits". Zapping over, we decide to find somewhere to eat (we did think about a meal at The Kilverts, until we saw the prices in the menu). Mikey has spent his map allowance wisely and he spots a chip shop. We decide to stay indoors and eat them inside the shop and as Mikey finishes his fish and chips, I go outside for a "fresh air" break. As I'm walking up the street, this man turns round to me and says "Who do you think you are, The Interceptor?", at this point I wanted to put my arms out and squeal, but I let him carry on walking down the street whilst I wander if he actually saw the real one all them years ago (twenty years to be correct). Mikey has finished his lunch and comes outside, we decide to find our way back to the bus stop so that we can get our bus back to Hereford enabling us to get to our second "Wye" location of the day.  As we make our way back to the bus stop Mikey points out where Annabel was guiding her "rabbits" around the course for them to get their keys. We arrive at the bus stop and have about ten minutes to wait, but we have to take shelter as the rain is starting to fall again. Our Stagecoach South Wales Service 39 eventually turns up and we get comfortable towards the back as we make our way back to Hereford. As we continue on our journey, the rain starts to fall faster and harder, so when we arrive at Hereford, we decide to get off at the railway station and abandon the trip. Luckily as we walk onto the platform, a First Great Western train is waiting to depart, so we board and takes our seats, after about ten minutes the train departs and we arrive back in Worcester and alight at Worcester Foregate Street Station.

We have a few minutes to spare so we make our way back to ground level so that I can have a "fresh air" break. We make our way back to the platform and decide to wait in the waiting room. Apart from the seating, it seemed like we went back in time, but at least we are in the warmth as the temperature outside has taken a nosedive. Our London Midland train arrives on time and we board and get ready for the second leg of the train journey back home. We pass through Droitwich Spa and Kidderminster before we arrive at Stourbridge Junction. We alight and are straight onto the "Stourbridge Dodger", which takes us back to Stourbridge Town. Upon arrival we decide to have a drink in another Wetherspoons, "The Chequers Inn", before we go back home. We finish our drinks, I say goodbye to Mikey as I decide to use the facilities and then do a bit of shopping, which means that I don't have to come into town the next day as the weather looks like it won't give up. Shopping done, it is back to the Stourbridge Interchange so that I can catch National Express West Midlands Service 276 back home.

Despite the awful weather, the day out was good because of the good company. We didn't get as far as Ross-On-Wye, but I am sure that we will visit Herefordshire again and complete the rest of the trip in the future.

2012 - Day Out 08: Stourbridge Interchange

Date: Saturday 21 April 2012

It was this weekend that we would see the first buses use the new Stourbridge Interchange in public service. After eighteen months it was a welcome change at not walking down Birmingham Street to catch a bus.

About a week ago, Phil Tonks contacted me to see if I would go on The Bridge Brunch to talk about the new Stourbridge Interchange, it was an offer that I could not turn down. I asked Mr UKBuses if he would come down with me as a friendly face may calm my nerves. After devouring a Wetherspoons Breakfast at "The Chequers Inn", I walk down the High Street to meet up with Mr UKBuses by the town clock, it was a welcome change as I could walk down the middle of the High Street as it was closed off in readiness for a parade as part of Stourbridge's St Georges Day celebrations. Just before half-past-ten, Mr UKBuses turns up and we see part of the parade before we have to walk back up the High Street to get to the studio, but Mr UKBuses has another idea, he spots the Stourbridge Shuttle bus coming up Lower High Street and we jump on and get off at the temporary stands at Parkfield Road. We now walk down towards the new Interchange but we turn off when we are near St John's Church. The nerves are starting to kick in now, so before entering the studio, which is inside the church, I have a "fresh air" break. We enter the studio and Al Jackson, the presenter of today's Bridge Brunch quickly pops out of the studio to say hello, returning to interview his current guests in the studio. It is now eleven o'clock and whilst the news is being played, it is our turn to go into the studio ready for being interviewed. Mr UKBuses comes into the studio also, but he has to be quiet, now that will be a first. Al reads the weather and introduces me and also the other guest, CENTRO's Chris Perry who is being interviewed over the phone. Chris is being questioned first and it is all silent in the studio as we can't hear what he is saying, this is where I get nervous as I don't want to appear stupid if I repeat anything that Chris has just said. Al asks me questions about the Interchange and somehow I manage to answer all that he asked during the interview, but I cannot remember what I said as I was just a bag of nerves, luckily Al passed me headphones when he realised and then I could hear what Chris was saying. After about ten minutes, the interview is over and Al thanks us for coming along and we make way for the next guest to get in the hot seat. We leave the studio and the first thing that I have to do is have another "fresh air break". Whilst it was nerve racking it was also a good experience, after the show I did think to myself, "I could have answered that question better" or "I forgot to say this". A quick visit was needed to the Lloyd's Bar, "The Edward Rutland", and as we leave I can feel my nerves returning to normal. After our visit we make our way back home.

Date: Sunday 22 April 2012

It is the day of the opening of the new Stourbridge Interchange, and to mark the event, Mr UKBuses and myself decide to have a very early start and watch the first bus to enter the new Stourbridge Interchange. I meet up with Mr UKBuses and we have a walk into Stourbridge. We arrive by the subway in Foster Street and after putting on our National Express West Midlands Hi-Vis's on we make the walk underground. We can turn right and we are walking up the new subway that takes you direct into the main Stourbridge Interchange building. We make the way up the stairs and we arrive at the top and after waiting 18 months we are now back on CENTRO ground. I have a look around the buildings taking pictures for the final set in my gallery on the website which covers the redevelopment from start to finish. Steve Hutchinson, the Interchange manager pops by and says hello and we also bump into Phil Tonks, bus user, promoter and also the driver of The Stourbridge Dodger, see picture right. We have a walk around the outside looking at the Interchange from a different view from what I'm used to seeing. It is nearly time and we make our way around to the entrance to the Interchange to see the first bus pull in. As we are waiting there, people come up to me asking where to catch their bus from or if the Interchange is now open, they don't ask Mr UKBuses who actually works for a bus company. The first number 9 turns into Foster Street and within a few seconds, we see it pull in. The first bus is being driven by Driver Pearson, see picture at the beginning of the blog post. As it makes it's way around to Stand H, we make our way onto the path opposite so pictures can be taken. After a few minutes the first bus service pulls out of the Interchange, and there were a few people who record the event, including Chris Perry, the other guest who was on the phone during my radio experience yesterday. Steve runs over to me with an interesting fact, the first passenger to board the first bus is a lady named Anna Loss, a trainee midwife at Birmingham University.

After the start of a new era, we have a further walk around the station, I pop into the Spar shop that is open in the main Interchange building, but sadly I am not the first customer, someone else beat me to that and I got no name to inform you as part of the Interchange facts. I also have a look at the new information desk, but there is this strange person staring, see picture left, so I walk away. After watching a couple more number 9's, we wait by the Stourbridge Town entrance and look at the display screens. Before our eyes, it looks like someone has got a can of black spray paint and sprayed it across the top of the screen. Luckily, the problem (which I think was condensation) fixed itself later on in the day. Since we had an early start, our stomachs were beginning to rumble, so a visit to J D Wetherspoons was in order and Phil Tonks, Mr UKBuses and myself walk to The Chequers Inn and have a Wetherspoons Breakfast (to celebrate the opening of course!), Phil and Mr UKBuses decide to have the large option and I have the standard size. It doesn't take long for Phil to down his, he has finished and I still have some of my standard size breakfast left. We have a few minutes after finishing to let the grub go down and we decide to have another walk around to see more services starting to use the new Interchange. We see the first service 246 use the new Interchange and also we see a new operator to the area, Arriva, who have won the tender to operate CENTRO supported journeys on services 142 and 257. Service 142 was the first one to run, so we see it pull out of the new Interchange and as soon as the bus leaves, the driver takes a wrong turn and heads up Foster Street to get onto the Ring Road, even though it is no entry, the driver has to reverse into the entrance of the Mercedes garage opposite. This was the first driver to go the wrong route from the new Interchange.

Next up was service 257 and Phil, Mr UKBuses and myself decide that this will be the first bus that we will catch from the new Interchange, so we walk to stand G to catch it, passing David and Emma Balme on the way, saying a quick hello and goodbye as we pass. We board the first service 257 from the Interchange and after taking our seats, we do a couple of poses for David who is taking photo's opposite and then the bus pulls off and does the same as the last service 142, turning left into Foster Street, despite us shouting "No!". Luckily, the bus hasn't gone too far down Foster Street, so the driver reverses into the new entrance of the Interchange, which means that we are on the first bus to go into the new Interchange backwards. Despite the wrong turning, the driver makes no more mistakes even in the tricky part of the route around Gornal Wood. We arrive in Dudley and as soon as we arrive, we leave on the X96, the first one that will arrive in the new Interchange from Dudley. Mr UKBuses has some snooker to watch, so he catches the first 276C from the Interchange, driven by Geoff, see picture right.

Phil pops back home, and I hang around the new Interchange before Phil returns so that Interchange manager Steve can make his radio appearance on The Bridge Radio. I pop round with them, which means I can get the recording of my Bridge Brunch appearance from yesterday. After Steve's appearance, we walk back round to the Interchange and Steve has the same thought as me, that he could have said other things, but didn't think about them at the time. I have one last look around the new Interchange before Geoff arrive to drive me back home on Service 276A after an eventful day and the start of a new era for Stourbridge public transport.

I am totally loving the new Interchange it is the first part of Stourbridge's regeneration with Tesco redeveloping the old Bell Street Multi Storey Car Park and Crown Centre bringing more fresh changes to the town. A big thank you also goes to Steve at the interchange for all the help he has given us this weekend and also Phil Tonks and Al Jackson for giving me the opportunity to appear on radio.