Time for a very rare Sunday outing from me; as we had one from Dan last weekend, I decided I would brave the lack of frequency and make a day out of what is usually a day of rest (in other words; doing absolutely nothing productive). With me on my Get Around adventure today; was the mysterious and elusive Geoff, some may remember the little references to him in the days after the Howlands Rally in June, but since then he seems to have fallen off the radar... Time for a comeback!
#21 – Chester-le-Street Black Horse to Newcastle, Eldon Square Bus Station – (10:06 --- 10:54) – Go North East 6060 – Volvo B5LH/Wright Gemini 2
While I usually make my first journey before 10:00 on the average Saturday outing, I'd arranged to meet Geoff in Eldon Square between 10:00 and 11:00, so I woke up at 09:00, and left the house at 09:45. Usually, my walk into Chester-le-Street is around twenty minutes (remember, I live far away from the town centre itself), so I was expecting to be in the town centre for about 10:10. As I reached the top of the Front Street; I saw an ''Angel'' branded B5 waiting at the Black Horse bus stop, bound for Newcastle. I boarded, and recognised the driver. A man called Tim, who spent a short while driving my scholars service last year. I'd become quite friendly with him, and despite having him since then, he didn't seem to recognise me. While I was talking to him just then, he seemed to click and remember me. After informing him of some scholars changes (which he was unaware of), I made my way upstairs and he pulled away from the bus stop. A few more passengers were picked up outside of Corals, before the uneventful journey through to Newcastle took place. Being a Sunday, it wasn't particularly busy, and I was the only passenger upstairs when we pulled away from Gateshead Interchange. Upon arrival in Eldon Square, I thanked and said goodbye to Tim before waiting for Geoff to arrive.
#Q3 – Newcastle, Haymarket Bus Station to Quayside Guildhall (11:04 --- 11:10) – Go North East 8314 – Optare Versa V1110/Optare
It wasn't long before a ''Red Kite'' 47 arrived, with Geoff on board. We walked down the bus station and he suggested we got the ''Quaylink'' Q3 down to the Quayside. It sounded like a good idea, so we walked through Haymarket Bus Station; where a green Versa just happened to be pulling in at the very top. Driving this machine was quite a friendly man; we pulled away with ease and the quick journey down to the Quayside flew by. We sat in the middle of the vehicle, I have to say the passenger numbers were alright, although the majority were OAPs. When Guildhall came up, we alighted here and had a pleasant walk along the Quayside. Geoff quite likes the various things you would find on the stalls along the Quayside, and I have to say the variety of things people were trying to sell (which nobody wanted) was quite vast. When we'd reached the Law Courts; we checked the times for the buses. The City Sightseeing open topper was due at 11:30, while a Great Park-bound Q3 was expected at 11:37, and a St. Peter's Basin Q3 was due at 11:43.
#Q3 – Quayside Law Courts to Newcastle, Market Street – (11:34 --- 11:39) – Go North East 8314 – Optare Versa V1110/Optare
The time was 11:20, so we decided to walk across the Millennium Bridge, and see the times for the Q1/Q2 at Baltic Square. We crossed the river, and I checked the stand for the Heworth-bound Q2s; one was due in a couple of minutes at 11:28, so I got myself in a position for a photograph. It was former purple Versa 8329, and I got some decent photos of it. We casually made our way back across the bridge; when Geoff said he could see the 11:37 Q3 back to Newcastle in the distance. I looked; it was quite far away, but so was the bus stop. We picked up the pace as we crossed the bridge, but started to run once we were on firm ground once again. I think some of the other people around at the time thought we'd stolen something from one of the stalls on the Quayside, and were making a terrible getaway. Fortunately, we made it to catch 8314 (which we had just been on!). Following a quick driver changeover, we pulled away. Once again, it was a smooth and quick journey. Despite only taking an interest in them in the past few days, I've started to find myself quite fond of the ''Quaylink'' Versas; I think they're in good condition and are pleasant to ride.
#56 – Newcastle, Market Street East to Gateshead Transport Interchange – (11:45 --- 11:52) – Go North East 6087 – Volvo B9TL/Wright Gemini 2
We alighted on Market Street, with the intention of heading to Heworth next. We checked the bus stops, and ended up waiting with a group of others on Market Street East. The first thing to turn up was 6087, a ''Fab56'' branded B9TL, which we decided to get to Gateshead, before awaiting the next Heworth-bound service. While all of the other passengers remained downstairs, we hit the front seats for this short hop to Gateshead Interchange. In the midst of this; I showed Geoff a photo of preserved former Northern ECW bodied Leyland Olympian 3656, having been recently repainted into yellow and cream Tyne and Wear PTE colours. Have to say it looks incredibly smart, I hope to see it at Seaburn. After disembarking 6087, we checked the new stand layout, and located the ''Citylink'' 58 to Heworth.
#58 – Gateshead Transport Interchange to Heworth Metro Interchange – (12:01 --- 12:29) – Go North East 5378 – Optare Versa V1170/Optare
A queue of around fifteen passengers formed while a quick driver changeover took place. Whilst the previous driver seemed quite a happy guy, the driver who took over didn't smile once. I sat at the very back, next to the emergency exit; where I find the seating is most comfortable and has a lot of depth to it. We departed Gateshead with roughly twenty passengers, off the top of my head. I browsed the forum until we left Old Durham Road, and started going through Deckham. I'd never seen such a place before. Makes Stanley look like a beautiful place! Geoff mentioned he was once considering buying a house around the area, when he was younger. Before long, we were out of Leam Lane Estate, and just a few stops away from Heworth Interchange. I have to say, while I connected to the WiFi without any issues, the Next Stop Announcements were very quiet.
#4 – Heworth Metro Interchange to Washington The Galleries Bus Station – (12:44 --- 13:05) – Go North East 5363 – Mercedes 0530N/Mercedes Citaro
I got some photos around Heworth (no Nexus staff were in sight!) before we did a couple of loops around the Interchange, and boarded ''Connections4'' branded Citaro 5363 to Washington Galleries. This Citaro was a very smooth machine with a great amount of power, as I usually expect from the ''Connections4'' branded examples. I told Geoff about the whole Cecil the Lion thing, with him being killed, his brother coming in to look after the cubs, and now his brother being killed as well; apparently I was making it out like it was a soap opera. Before we knew it, we were at Concord Bus Station. Now, if I was an outsider, and somebody told me there was a place called ''Concord''; I would automatically think of the plane. In reality, Concord is far from the beauty and majesty of the aircraft; it looks like it's been hit by one! While we sat waiting during the driver changeover, Geoff brought up the videos Bazza used to put up on YouTube, of his favourite places. Concord; lovely!
#X1 – Washington The Galleries Bus Station to Newcastle, Eldon Square Bus Station – (13:16 --- 13:48) – Go North East 6050 – Volvo B9TL/Wright Gemini 2
Having arrived at the Galleries, Geoff suggested we headed back to Newcastle on the ''Red Arrows'' X1 service. I checked the times for the ''Whey Aye Five 0'' 50A back to Chester-le-Street, one was due at 13:20, while an X1 was expected at 13:17. We sat down at the bottom of the sitting area for the X1, at the foot of the escalators. As I glanced around the bus station, I saw Malarkey. He had been to ASDA and sat down in the stand for the next bus to Lambton. Within a few minutes, a ''Red Arrows'' X1 came to a halt, running a few minutes early(!). Following the driver changeover, we boarded this ''Red Arrows'' branded bus and made our way upstairs. As the front seats had been taken, we ended up sitting a few rows behind them. We discussed the various goings-on on the forum; it passed the time by nicely, before we knew it were pulling into Gateshead Interchange. We carried on to Newcastle, and noticed 8335 (the ''Pride'' bus) was parked up in the layover.
#21 – Newcastle, Eldon Square Bus Station to Chester-le-Street Red Lion – (13:50 --- 14:35) – Go North East 6062 – Volvo B5HL/Wright Gemini 2
I said goodbye to Geoff, and he headed elsewhere, while I joined the line to board. About twenty people were on board when we left Eldon Square, with a relatively similar number boarding in Gateshead. The upper saloon looked quite busy after we departed the Interchange, with a lot of those passengers withdrew in Low Fell and Birtley. When we arrived in Chester-le-Street, only a few passengers remained. As I had jumped on a Chester-le-Street bound service, I had seen when exiting Eldon Square that the next ''Angel'' heading in was a Durham-bound service. Having watched 6062 pull out to head up to the Black Horse, I hovered around the bus stop. Two women enquired as to whether or not they could get to Bishop Auckland from here, or not, as they needed to get there as quick as possible. I explained that on Sundays, one 21 service to Durham every hour carries on to Bishop Auckland. Fortunately, when it appeared, it did indeed have ''Durham for Bishop Auckland'' on it's destination screen. Quite a lot of passengers asked the driver if he was going to Bishop Auckland, I'm not sure what was going on there. I alighted at my local stop and walked home from there.
I admit, while outings on Sundays are quite hard (with a lot of services not in operation, and nearly all of the others on a reduced frequency), today was quite fun. Most likely because I very rarely venture out on Sundays, so it was something different from the usual. It was also nice to see Geoff again. Thanks for reading.
R852 PRG