Had a mini outing this afternoon, here's what went down...
1311 17 Newton Aycliffe, Meadowfield Way - Newton Aycliffe, Greenwell Road (The Eden: YE52FHP)
Decided to have a ride on the 17 again, so after a fairly gentle walk to Meadowfield Way, I boarded the bus with YE52FHP being allocated today which is the usual bus on the 17 although V470GBF has been filling in for the last few weeks. Not a bad little bus and a pretty nice route to the town centre. Bailed at Greenwell Road and walked to Churchill House for my next bus...
1321 7 Newton Aycliffe, Churchill House - Darlington, Tubwell Row (ANE 7535)
Next a pretty standard journey to Darlington on this Enviro 400, although I like the 7 as it doesn't go right round all the estates in Aycliffe like the 5/5A does although that does has it advantages. Before I knew it I arrived in Darlington where I bought a Fred Perry T-shirt as I'm a Fred Perry clothing whore and then I went to HMV and bought some albums by Animal Collective, Jack Garratt and Will Varley.
1401 84 Darlington, Tubwell Row - Cockfield, Welcome Inn (Scarlet Band: YJ55YGO)
Next journey was one I haven't done in absolutely ages, in fact the last time I did the 84 it was still ran by Arriva and it ran to Bishop Auckland, not Barnard Castle. Anyway this is a canny route with some nice scenery. YJ55YGO is a fantastic little bus as I think it's a Cummins engined Solo which sound so much nicer and provide a much smoother ride than the Mercedes engined Solos do I think, still sadly miss these Solo's running round Newton Aycliffe. YJ55YGO has recently been repainted into the fleet livery having previously operated with a smart special livery to commentate their 90th anniversary back in 2011, of course before that it was on the Durham Park and Ride.
1440 6 Cockfield, Welcome Inn - Bishop Auckland Bus Station (ANE 1531)
Whilst waiting for this bus in Cockfield I had some old woman talking to me about how she hates some people in the village and how she wants to go to Scotland, was pleased when the bus arrived so this conversation could end. This section of the 6 route is pretty nice (excluding Woodhouse Close Estate) and this batch of Pulsars seem quite nice. Was a bit tricky getting round Woodhouse Close due to badly parked cars picking up kids at school.
1520 56 Bishop Auckland Bus Station - Ferryhill Market Place (ANE 1325)
Was hoping for a Lowlander but got lumbered with this, oh well at least it wasn't a Solo! I think these Enviro 200's perform pretty well on this route and it was a pretty nice journey although the seats aren't great and it was a bit dirty inside.
1553 8 Ferryhill Market Place - Newton Aycliffe, Churchill House (ANE 4656)
Decided that I'd wait for the 8 back to Aycliffe and I'm glad I did as it chucked up the unusual allocation of MAX X66/X67 Omnicity 4656, weirdly there has been a few MAX Omnicity's on here recently, I had 4649 a few months back. Rather quiet passenger wise and I got my favourite seat by the emergency exit door. Quite enjoyed my journey on this as it added some unexpected variety to my outing, also meant I could get a photo before boarding, got one when I got off as well but it didn't turn out so great.
Quite enjoyed this little jaunt this afternoon, tomorrow I'm going hunting for Lolyne's and possibly some Lowlander's as well. Thanks for reading.
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