(10 Sep 2015, 9:15 am)aureolin wrote Foaming. Spend 1.5 hours getting from Coxhoe to Consett, with the intentions of then catching the 689 to Hexham.
I get to Consett in good time, and the 689 pulls into the stand, with the Hexham destination set. I go to board, only to be told it's not going to Hexham! Despite not being mentioned on the diversions page for this bike race. The driver said that he'll be laying over at Dilston for a couple of hours instead, as he'll not get into Hexham.
What a waste of a morning.
This is a downside of the Tour of Britain. The tour was at Alnmouth, Blyth was already heaving, and I was receiving messages from my mam saying McDonalds in Ashington was inaccessible.
I was at Newbiggin later in the evening, as the 35 and X21 have really long layovers, and the 35 driver was saying how he was held up by the race for almost 40 minutes, and he heard a "zrhoom", and "there were the f**king muppets". The X21 driver was driving a X22 at the time and they had just closed the A197 Ashington bypass, so he did the Green Lane diversion, by the time he got to Bedlington it was clear!
Certain services were allowed to pass through the closures until the race was in the section.