As I use the Metro to commute between Sunderland and Gateshead on a daily basis, I try to avoid using the Metro (if possible) on a weekend. Sadly, I didn't get up early enough to get the bus, so I had to settle for the Metro. Compared to the weekday Metros between 07:00am and 08:00am, my journey this morning was bliss, as it was more or less empty. I arrived promptly into Haymarket just after 08:15am, and I headed towards Eldon Square Bus Station, where I intended to meet a connection to the 08:35am 74 service to Hexham.
On boarding, I was pretty sure that I'd used the 74 service in the past. After we headed out of Newcastle, I soon realised that this was not the case, and I must have used the old 684 service on a number of occasions in the past instead, as the route the bus took was not familiar. The standard of a driver at Hexham was recently questioned on the forum with regards to some reversing difficulties in Newcastle. Having used the 74 service with a full-sized vehicle allocated, I must say that any driver to complete this route without bumping into anything is incredibly skilled. The 74 service certainly isn't your run-of-the-mill route with the odd tight corner here and there - I'd argue that the fair majority of the route as soon as you hit the Northumberland county border poses a difficult challenge (especially in anything larger than an MPD) and requires some careful manoeuvres to complete the route. Being used to the X85 service when travelling from Newcastle to Hexham, I realised that I'd definitely taken the slow route, and that I wouldn't have a great deal of time in Hexham.
I planned to get the 10:41am #689 service from Hexham to Consett, and then work something out from there. I had just enough time to walk to Go North East's depot and back, and sort out a destination display issue on an MPD. Rather unusually, the service arrived in about five minutes late, meaning that I needn't have rushed back from the depot as I initially thought I would have to. Again, this route is another which requires great precision when navigating tight corners, and I'd imagine it would be difficult to achieve in anything larger than a minibus. A pheasant with a death-wish made the driver take a rather harsh brake at one stage of the route, and an old woman on-board suggested the driver should have knocked it down!
Upon arrival in Consett, I headed to the chip shop near the bus station. With the 15A service being due to depart in 10-15 minutes from my arrival, I decided to get the chips wrapped and eat them on the bus. As Tom had posted a photo of a Streetlite on the 61/62 services and I wanted to catch up with the recently branded Park & Ride Solos at Durham, I thought it would be a good shout. The ex-London Presidents have something of a bad reputation on this forum, but I must say I've never been able to fault Stanley's examples, which are truly hammered six days of the week on the 15/15A services. They're a bit slow on steep banks, but are quite comfortable and are capable of keeping to schedule...
On arrival into Durham, I saw "the dotty Solo" head down North Road. For once, I decided it wasn't worth running for. After I bought a drink in Tesco, I headed up to the usual photo spot and took a few photos. Instead of waiting for another President to come and take me back to Tyneside, I decided to spice it up with a "MAX" spec VDL Pulsar on the X12 instead... The one I had was in far superior condition to some of the examples based at Durham and Jesmond - sadly I don't get much of a chance to ride any others! Was a pretty quiet journey (in terms of passenger numbers - the sound of the engine was incredibly loud), but this is pretty common on the Newcastle to Durham stretch, with the majority of customers opting for GNE's 21/X21 services instead. I abandoned ship in Gateshead, so I could try and catch up with GNE's recently repainted 8334. I saw a Lolyne occupying the stand belonging to one of the former "West Durham Swift" branded services, so I ran up the bank at the back exit of Gateshead Interchange, only to see aureolin and Marcus occupying the front seats on the top deck! I made an attempt at taking the photo while waving - unsure how well that worked...
As tyresmoke asked someone to check what was in Thorntons' yard if anyone was in the area, I decided to make it my business to go to North Seaton on the X20. Was one of the '09 batch of ADL Enviro400s, and I was quite impressed with how well it handled the A1 (sorry DaveyB!) As ever, the journey flew over, and we were at North Seaton. Jumped off, and then went for a walk to Thorntons and back. After this, I decided to head home via Morpeth and Newcastle. I was pretty tired by the time I got to North Seaton, never mind Morpeth, and as an Alexander ALX400 turned up on the 35 rather than a Streetlite, I managed to have a comfortable journey which allowed for some shut-eye! I was on the front seat and had the bus to myself for the majority of the journey, so I'm guessing nobody caught me to put on a certain "Sleepy Commuters" thread!
A pretty good day was had considering I didn't plan to go out at all today... A summary of the journeys I made is given below:
07:50 Metro: Stadium of Light to Monument - Tyne & Wear Metro 4031
08:35 #74: Newcastle to Hexham - Go North East 4979
10:41 #689: Hexham to Consett - Go North East 652
11:45 #15A: Consett to Durham - Go North East 6014
12:51 #X12: Durham to Gateshead - Arriva North East 1441
14:05 #X1: Gateshead to Newcastle - Go North East 6005
14:30 #X20: Newcastle to North Seaton - Arriva North East 7521
15:41 #35A: North Seaton to Morpeth - Arriva North East 7472
16:23 (12l) #X18: Morpeth to Newcastle - Arriva North East 7532
17:24 Metro: Haymarket to Stadium of Light - Tyne & Wear Metro 4058
Hopefully get the photos up on Flickr at some point tonight / tomorrow - I'm certainly in no rush though!
