11.38 (11.57) X22 Bedlington to Regent Centre Metro ANE 7506
I arrived at Bedlington around 11.40, thinking I'd just missed the 11.38 X22, but as it had no tracking I wasn't totally sure so stood at the bus stop anyway, knowing the X21 should be there in a few minutes anyway. I checked the live map, the X21 was 12 minutes late
I waited and waited until 7506 trundled along at 11.57, assuming at this point it was the 11.58 X22 early, indeed I held this opinion until, at Cramlington road ends a virtually empty 7523 pulls up alongside and takes off, we followed it for quite a while but it had gone by the time we were on the A1. Very disappointed by 7506's performance. 12.20 (12.22) X11 Regent Centre Metro to Cramlington ANE 7616
After just missing a Pulsar on an X13, I waited for the next Cramlington bound bus, which turned out to be this. I got on, and was greeted by a pretty grumpy driver (may have something to do with the fact I gave him £5 for a £1 fare, but he could at least be decent about it), but his driving ability made up for that, one of the few Blyth drivers I've witnessed try to make up time. Very impressed with him and the bus, the best VDL Gemini I've been on for a long time (/ever)! I arrived in Cramlington, headed to McDonald's for lunch then to the library.
14:53 (15:00) X5 Cramlington to Newcastle Haymarket ANE 7470
As I came out of Cramlington shopping centre, 7470 flew past on an X5 stopping at the bus stop, not really knowing the route I jumped on assuming it followed the same route as the X10/11, how wrong I was... Many fields and towns later we arrived in Quorum business park, and I was bored, the bus was pleasant, decent seats, warm, and was performing okay, but it wasn't making up time. We arrived in Newcastle 8 minutes late.
15.44 X22 Newcastle to Bedlington ANE 7504
Again, I needed to return to Bedlington for my lift home. This was in the Haymarket as I arrived, so I went for it, and almost immediately regretted it. The plugs weren't working, which I was relying on as I wanted to charge my phone, anyway just before we were due to leave some pretty noisy kids got on, so I stuck my earphones in and sat back. We were 5 minutes late by the A1 and never made that up, the driver seemed like he was trying to as well...
Overall, a pretty bad day buswise, 7470 was probably the highlight, missed my ride on 7524 (which incidentally I didn't see today) grew to like that over the past few days with my rides on it
Can someone please remind me never to get on a 57-reg Enviro ever again though unless I have to, completely underwhelming... Cheers for reading
