Here's a review of todays outing.
0934 7 Newton Aycliffe - Durham (ANE 1516)
Starting my day off on Sapphire, not a great deal to say about this journey but was comfortable as usual and wasn't to busy which was nice and made use out of the free WiFi until I reached Durham.
1040 265 Durham Bus Station - Dalton Park (GNE 546)
These MPD's don't have the best reputation on this forum and this example certainly lived up to that, this example made a horrible sort of screaming sound (it's hard to explain but it sounded terrible) so I was not enjoying this so was so glad to finally arrive at Dalton Park.
I dropped Fozz a PM this morning saying I would be in the area where he lives and he met me at Dalton Park. Whilst at Dalton Park we got a few photos and had a bit chat before jumping on our next bus.
1145 202 Dalton Park - Seaham, Byron Place (GNE 541)
Thankfully this was better than 546, although it that doesn't make it great. In typical fashion it was rather shaky over some of the bad road surfaces and speed humps but not a bad journey I thought.
1218 X7 Seaham, Byron Place - Sunderland Park Lane (GNE 5334)
After I got a few photos in Seaham including Prince Bishops 5213 on the 60 before catching this to Sunderland. Thankfully a fair few passengers jumped off at Seaham so there was plenty of places to sit on this. Do think the Citaro's are brilliant performers and this journey was no exception performed the route well. Had more chat with Fozz on this journey.
We then went around Sunderland, I got some chips from Clems and we ended up walking up to Stagecoach's Wheatheaf depot to see if there was anything to see and thankfully some of the Enviro 400s which have joined the North East fleet were parked around the back so I managed to get some photos of the back of them from outside the depot. walked back to the City Centre and got some around Fawcett Street then later went towards Park Lane for some more photos and we saw another enthusiast in Park Lane getting photos who we got talking to, he wasn't from around here and was saying about some train ticket he got to get here and other trips he was going to make. At around 1435 I bid Fozz farewell and I continued on my outing.
1438 X7 Sunderland Park Lane - Peterlee Bus Station (GNE 5335)
Was going to get the 22 to Peterlee to sample the StreetLite's on this route and announcements but because I waited for a shot of 6100 on the 20 I ended up just missing it and ended up getting this to Peterlee instead. Another nice ride but annoyingly I ended up having to sit on one of the backwards facing seats so ended up with a stranger looking towards me. Quite like this route.
1608 X35 Peterlee, Essington Way - Houghton-le-Spring (GNE 4908)
Was quite for a B10 to turn up in place of one of the branded Fast Cats Solars. Sadly this journey was ruined slightly by the two passengers sat opposite me who were loud and annoying, lad and lass and the lad had an annoying laugh and their language was shocking was glad to get to Houghton. Saw them taking the mick out of me when I got some photos in Houghton.
1657 20A Houghton-le-Spring - Rainton Bridge npower (GNE 5215)
Pretty average short journey on this, not really a great deal to say as it was rather short and the bus was fine and thankfully wasn't too busy.
1722 20A Rainton Bridge npower - Durham Bus Station (GNE 4991)
Another PB Solar, thankfully the ride wasn't too bad on this one today although I thought it looked a bit tatty inside, there was at least three seats with grey backs instead of blue and the handle above the seat in front of me looks like it's been chewed to death by a dog. Sadly we got stuck getting into Durham because of the Millburngate Bridge works. Originally I'd planned to get the 923 to Petleree then the 239 to Sedgefield but I couldn't be bothered especially with a 45 minute wait for the 21 in Sedgefield and also 546 was on the 923 which I had earlier in the day on the 265 and was in no hurry to get back on that shed.
When I got to Durham I had a few minutes to wait for the 7 but just before I was going to head into the bus station for the 7 I saw an OmniDekka on the 15 so I thought I'd get a photo of that but failed so I decided to wait for the next 7 and head down to Millburngate for a photo. Went back to the Bus Station and then spotted Sapphire base liveried 1532 on the 57A reversing off the stand so quickly ran back out of the bus station for a photo. I also saw the enthusiast me and Fozz saw in Sunderland earlier in the day.
1817 7 Durham - Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1515)
Ending the day on the 7, this was a pretty standard journey on the 7 where I just zone out and settled down and relaxed.
Thanks for reading this review and thanks Fozz for making the outing a bit more interesting.
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