Well, I needn't have asked where the best places to spot buses in Edinburgh are. No matter how hard you try (and I did!) they're almost impossible to avoid!
Things that impressed us.
1. The bus station. It's lovely! (And full of tumbleweed, even on a Saturday afternoon)
2. Lothian Buses' "Be the One" volvos. Shiny! Also noticed that their Gemini 3s were really long.
3 Stagecoache's omnilinks. Massive!
4. Big'un was impressed by some of the whackier tour buses, partcularly the Necrobus (a goth themed Routemaster) and Rabbie's bus tours (open top minibus!)
Things that didn't impress us:
Mostly the state of First's fleet. Loads of clapped out and scruffy presidents. One of them made a hideous noise. They also had some eclipses with a big promotional sticker obscuring most of the side display. In a city where there's clearly lots of well maintained fleets of national, local and smaller indie firms, they really stuck out like a sore thumb. I feel sorry for areas where they're the main provider, if that's the standards they maintain. It just looks like they're giving up.
We got 2 good vantage point when we sat down for lunch and refreshments. Had lunch at Zizzi on Queensferry street - big'un was almost overwhelmed by the number of buses passing. Took ages for him to eat his regulation spag bol. We had a sit down in the cafe at Valrona and Crolla in Jenner's, after our trek up to the castle and back and he enjoyed looking down at the tops of the buses and trams. Some buses have quite interesting roofs, it seems - particularly all the pods and fans on top of the aforementioned volvos.
The train back was much, much quieter, apart from rattly seats and random squeaks, and the occasional mooing sound (amused big'un). Actually just made it onto the 5:47 22, so got home about 40 minutes earlier than we were expecting it to. The rattles on ANE's 1598 certainly put the ones on the train into perspective!
Was blistering hot up there, btw. I appear to have got my neck sunburnt, again. And I should have checked Big'un's camera for fingerprints. All his photos are somewhat soft focus, which is a shame, as some of them would have been cracking.
RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews
