Bus Related Outings and Reviews
Bus Related Outings and Reviews
Right, here eventually is my review for my day out today:
1132 7 Newton Aycliffe - Ferryhill Market Place (ANE 1523).
My outing started like it usually does on the 7, in usual fashion it was quite comfy and was a fairly relaxing journey and I switched off and settled down listening to music and connected to the WiFi to pass the time.
After jumping off the 7 I made straight for Taylor's to get myself a Corned Beef Pasty but they didn't have any so I was going to go to Gregg's but I could not work out who was and wasn't in the queue so I went to B&M for a bottle of Pepsi and I got stuck once I was inside and then after I paid I got blocked in at the checkout by the person before me prating about with her bag. Tried Gregg's again but people were still all over the place so just went straight to the bus stop for my next bus.
1215 33 Ferryhill Market Place - Sedgefield, Black Lion (Scarlet Band X315 CBT).
For something a little different I opted for this as I think the 33 is a canny little route and you never really know which bus is going to turn up (although it's usually a Solo) X315CBT turned up today, considering this was a X reg example it was pretty decent, few rattles and a slightly loud engine which meant I couldn't hear my music at times although this didn't bother me. Quite enjoyed this journey and even wore the seatbelts provided.
Was hoping to get some photos in Sedgefield but the weather was awful, it was freezing and it was tipping it down so I took shelter whilst waiting for my next bus.
1257 21 Sedgefield - Peterlee Bus Station (ANE 4813)
Quite pleased to see this one turn up as I've been trying to ride this example since it entered service. I decided to sit where the backwards seats are to increase the leg room and as ever found the seats very comfortable (stuff Sapphire!) and was very warm which was nice as it was horrendously cold in Sedgefield. Downsides was I could hear air coming through from somewhere, also this example doesn't appear to have WiFi.
1405 X35 Peterlee Bus Station - Houghton-le-Spring (GNE 4974)
First time I've done the X35 although I did the 202 once before which follows a pretty similar route. Didn't enjoy this journey though as I thought the bus was filthy and the panel at the front seemed lose so you could hear that rattling for most of the journey.
1448 4 Houghton-le-Spring - Washington Galleries (GNE 5361)
This was late (found out why later in the journey) but was a bit unhappy about it. Thankfully for once I managed to get a seat where there is room for both of my legs which made me happy. Was a bit unhappy when we got to the next stop and saw a load of school kids wanting to be on although these school kids were well behaved unlike some are when I've been on services at this time before. I enjoyed the journey, the seats were comfortable, the next stop announcements didn't draw to much attention to themselves and sounded quite professionally done (just a shame they are a bit dated now Real Radio is Heart and Gary and Lisa are no longer on there). Thought this was quite a nice route and it gave me some ideas for photos. Seemed the delays were due to temporary lights.
1527 8 Washington Galleries - Chester-le-Street (GNE 4901)
The 4 arriving late made me thought I had missed this but thankfully it was a few minutes late too. Not done this route before either so was nice to do (even if I was repeating part of the 4 route I've just done). Even for it's age this was quite a nice bus and sounded great and provided me with a great journey, the only downside was the seat I selected was a little uncomfortable and there wasn't a great deal of leg room.
Had a quick walk around Chester-le-Street when I got off for a few photos and because I thought there wasn't another bus to Durham for another 10 minutes so this was a way of killing some time. Couldn't remember exactly where the Durham buses were stopping (knew roughly it was a case of one stop or the other). The 50 turned up but I knew a 21 was due so decided to wait for that instead as I thought it would get me into Durham faster, then a saw a Lolyne coming up the road.
1559 X22 Chester-le-Street - Durham Bus Station (GNE 3878)
Another bus I thought I'd missed but turned out to be a bit late was 3878 so I jumped on this to head to Durham, I decided to sit at the back downstairs as there was no-one sat downstairs when I got on. Got to say not a very pleasant bus as it hasn't not been treated to a referb at any point so the seats were pretty worn down and smelt awful. Although whenever I get on a un-refurbished Lolyne it sort of takes me back to when Go North East used to joint operate service 723 Darlington - Newcastle with Arriva. One advantage to this journey is instead of dropping off us off on North Road the driver dropped us off on the 20/20A stand which made me happy as it was raining and the 7 was already on the stand next to it.
1627 7 Durham Bus Station - Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1520)
And I end the day once again on the Sapphire service 7 so I got connected to the WiFi and settled down for the ride home. Annoyingly on this journey we kept getting stuck behind slow moving things including a learner driver on the back road heading into Woodham.
Thanks for reading my review, make sure to view the photos from todays outing.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127079988@...015/04/01/
