As usual; my journey log is given first, and the commentary follows it.
08:57 #9: Newcastle Road to Boldon - Go North East 5274
09:21 #35A: Boldon to Heworth - Go North East 5306
09:30 #Q1: Heworth to Market Street - Go North East 8333
11:28 #Q2: Quayside to Gateshead Interchange - Go North East 8316
12:00 #28: Gateshead to Wrekenton - Go North East 4960
12:44 #56: Wrekenton to Stadium of Light - Go North East 6087
I'd had a very good night's sleep (presumably unlike Michael), and I was feeling rather fresh. I looked at the weather forecast and saw that it was due to be sunny until around mid-day, so I decided to set out just before 9 o'clock in an attempt to catch the sun. With the sound of airplanes making their way to Seaburn Beach for the Sunderland International Airshow prevalent, I made my way to the bus stop on Newcastle Road, Sunderland. It's always really quiet in this area on a Sunday morning, so the sound of airplanes was certainly a little unusual.
After a little while of waiting at the bus stop, 5274 turned up on service 9, running about five minutes late. Whilst I'm not particularly fond of the Scania OmniCitys, aside from Arriva North East's 4653 and 4660-64, I do quite like to ride them on service 9. The dual-door Volvo B10BLEs are frequently allocated Monday - Saturday as these four red OmniCitys cover for branded vehicles on "Coaster" service 1 to keep the allocation consistent. Despite the Scania OmniCitys being more comfortable than the dual-door Volvo B10s, the latter is far superior in terms of performance. It wasn't long before we reached Boldon; in fact, I barely had time to finish typing this section of the review up on this journey!
After alighting 5274, I realised that the sun was behind me and this would be perfect for photos of buses heading towards Sunderland. Thankfully, a Mercedes Citaro turned up on the 35A heading towards Low Moorsley, which allowed me to make the most of the sun being in the right spot for photos. I didn't get to enjoy the sun for too long, though, as I only had a ten-minute connection and my 35A to Heworth arrived one minute early. I boarded and took my seat towards the back near the emergency exit, and when the driver pulled away, I remembered why I love the Mercs so much: they have an abundance of power, they're comfortable, and they're always the perfect temperature. The driver put his foot down when we got onto the Felling Bypass, and certainly demonstrated the first point. We passed a Middlesbrough-bound X10 service basking in the sun on the Felling Bypass - it never ceases to amaze me how fantastic this livery looks from a distance! Before I knew it, we were pulling into Heworth Interchange, and it was time for me to get off.
When I alighted, I walked to the opposite side of the Interchange. My plan of action was to catch up with the all-new Quaylink, and of course, I wanted to see what the Next Stop Announcements looked and sounded like, as I was in a meeting when my fellow colleague had arranged to test them prior to the launch of the new Quaylink services. Not long after I walked across, I saw the striking yellow and purple livery approaching, so I decided I would get a photograph of this bus and then ride it to the Quayside. The bus was about half-full - impressive for a Sunday morning - and I took my seat at the very back to put the TFT monitors to the ultimate test. When stationary, the screens show a large "Welcome on board Quaylink" screen. It looks incredibly well designed and much better than the screens designed in the past, in my opinion. When we pulled away, the oh-so-familiar voice of Alan Robson started to play. It was crystal clear, and on the perfect volume level (well done, citaro5284!) I must say, however, that I was slightly disappointed with the line map. This, and the Metroradio logo in the bottom left hand corner, were barely legible from the back seats. The scrolling ability on the new LED screens means the font can be larger and scroll, allowing the text to be seen easily from the very back of the bus, but sadly this was not the case on the TFT screens (which comes as a major blow, given that I much prefer these to the LED screens as they allow for a decent design!) The change to the route number certainly seemed to cause some confusion to elderly passengers, with many stopping the bus to ask the driver what had happened to the old 51/52 services. No doubt the drivers had expected this though, and were armed with answers to get passengers on their way! There did seem to be some troubles with issuing through tickets to Newcastle, and one young woman argued with the driver for a good five minutes to (quite rightly) state that there should be an option to purchase single and return tickets to Newcastle. I'm not entirely sure of what happened in the end, as I couldn't quite hear what the driver was saying from the back of the bus, but here's hoping she got the ticket she wanted!
I jumped off at Market Street and decided, after taking a few photos, I would walk down to the Quayside and get some more scenic shots. A few walks over the Millennium Bridge later, I took a photo of 8316 on the Q2 posing underneath the Tyne Bridge and then hopped on-board. The bus was full! This was intended as a short hop to Gateshead only, so I've not a great deal to comment on this journey.
After alighting, I'd intended to get a photo of the pride bus on the Q1. Foolishly, I forgot the route out of Gateshead that the Q1 service takes, and stood waiting on the Q2 route waiting for a bus that wasn't going to turn up. I took the walk of shame back to Gateshead Interchange, where I decided that I would catch the vehicle on Davie's turf instead: Wrekenton. A Scania L94 on service 28 pulled in just as I got into the Interchange, so I made a run for it to catch it. On-board, I found that the vehicle was more or less full, and I didn't have a great deal of choice where to sit. The bus pulled away after I sat myself down, and proceeded to climb the Old Durham Road bank. My preferred choice when making this journey is to use service X1, so I was quite surprised at how the Scania L94 struggled to climb up the bank (with the Fab56 Scania L94s a distant memory - best forgotten!) We pulled into Wrekenton where I alighted, and I checked the times of service Q1 towards Newcastle outside of the Co-op. It was due in five minutes, but I knew it was running about ten minutes late. I found a half decent spot round the back of the Co-op car park, where I killed time by reviewing some of the photographs I'd taken earlier in the day. After getting my desired photograph of the pride bus, I popped into the Co-op to buy a drink before getting the 56 home.
The weather had (thankfully) stayed surprisingly good by 1 o'clock and it was still quite warm. The residents of Wrekenton must have started to get somewhat suspicious - it's not often 'outsiders' spend half an hour hanging around the High Street! I was pleased to see a fabulous orange double decker pull in on-time and I made my way upstairs where I would enjoy my 50-minute journey home. Unfortunately, the bus was quite full, which meant I didn't immediately get my usual front seat. By the time we arrived at Concord, this seat became available, so I quickly moved forward to enjoy the views for the remainder of my journey.
I've had a fantastic day out; perhaps it would be worthwhile having a few more 'rare Sunday outings', as today was quite enjoyable. I hope you've enjoyed reading what I have got up to today - I anticipate that the photographs will be on Flickr later this afternoon!
