Escaped from Blackpool one day for a outing in the Lakes, here's what went down...
0816 16 Marton Mere Leisure Park - Blackpool, Corporation Street (Blackpool Transport 252)
First bus of the day was this rather canny Solo, this service ran via Staining, Victoria Hospital, Blackpool Zoo and past Stanley Park. One thing that amuses me with Blackpool Transport is some of their fleet still have roller destination equipment, it's quite amusing seeing the driver having to wind the front and side destination blinds to set the destinations. Arrived in Blackpool Town Centre after a rather relaxed journey.
0930 42 Blackpool, Abingdon Street - Lancaster Bus Station (Stagecoach 16793)
After seeing Volvo Olympian 16634 on this service on Saturday, I was hopeful that I could get it on my 42 for this outing, I may not have got this example but thankfully I was gifted with Volvo Olympian 16793 which made me very happy. I took my place at the front upstairs on the drivers side which meant I could soak up the views and the views were quite nice on this route, I'd recommend this route although the clock is ticking for getting a Olympian on this route. The bus performed pretty well on this route.
1125 555 Lancaster Bus Station - Kendal Bus Station (Stagecoach 10560)
Took a few photos in Lancaster whilst waiting for my 555, there was a departure at 11:15 which runs the long way round to Kendal but I decided to opt for the 11:25 journey which runs direct via the M6 which meant I could arrive in Kendal 30 minutes earlier, allowing time for lunch and a few photos. With this being a summer only journey I did fear that I'd get an old Enviro 400 but thankfully I landed one of the new "The Lakes Connection" liveried Enviro 400MMC's which pleased me as I could see how it performed on the M6, pleased to say it performed pretty well, was pretty smooth. The interior is very nice and inviting, the seats are fantastic. USB ports worked well but sadly the WiFi didn't work at all. Arrived at Kendal Bus Station and snapped the E400 I got off with a lad and a lass taking the front seats which I previously occupied, they decided to pose for the camera, annoyingly two cyclists seemed to go out of their way to screw up my shot which angered me.
1240 555 Kendal Bus Station - Windermere Rail Station (Stagecoach 10558)
Another new E400MMC, which had caught up with me having let it go in Lancaster on the 11:15 departure. I sat towards the back, noticed a few gents sat in the seats in front of me who seemed to be looking at the bus with intrest, this plus some of the stuff I overhead made me come to the conclusion that these worked for Stagecoach in some way. WiFi did work on this one but obviously with the nature of the route, there wasn't much signal. The USB ports were under the backs of the seats which is a pretty strange place and some people's leads may be a bit of a stretch. Me and the suits got off at Windermere Rail Station who were hovering around looking at the buses.
1334 599 Windermere Rail Station -Grasmere (Stagecoach 17277)
Next up, some open top action! ALX400 bodied Trident 17277 was my chariot to Grasmere. Was nice having the wind flowing through my hair, for added fun I decided to come up with a game to play where I had to try and snap the buses coming in the opposite direction, some mixed results were captured, should explain the camera and my arms were not over the edge whilst the bus was in motion. In typical fashion being the lake's, it was a scorcher when we left Windermere but not long afterwards the clouds started to become dark, this of course resulted in a shower, most people who were in the open top section moved under the roof at this point but me, two older people and a dad with a daughter braved the weather, it actually wasn't too bad thankfully. Arrived in Grasmere just in time to catch the 555 which surprised me as when I made my plan I had noted down the bus arrived 15 minutes later than the time we actually arrived, as such this put me forward 30 minutes.
1417 555 Grasmere - Keswick Bus Station (Stagecoach 10027)
Older Enviro 400 10027 was the steed for this journey, was pretty busy on-board but fortunately I managed to get a seat upstairs to myself. The scenery started to get more breathtaking on this leg of the day out, all you could hear on this journey was the shutters on people's cameras who were taking photos on the bus, over the day I took a few on my camera and phone. This didn't seem the fastest on the hills it has to be said.
1455 78 Keswick Bus Station - Seatoller (Stagecoach 17489)
Made it in Keswick just in time to catch this although was helped by the fact it departed late. This was another open topper and if you thought my behaviour on the last open top bus was disgraceful then you'll be disgusted to hear that I sat under the roof at the front of the bus, my reasoning for this was although the sun had come back out, the seats were still wet from the earlier shower and as such I didn't want a wet backside. Another route with some cracking scenery although the roads on this route weren't very wide, this resulted in some cautious driving on this journey. One annoying thing on this journey was one of the grab rails shaking like mad making an irritating noise. Arrived in Seatoller and got some photos of 17489 although the camera was not liking the screen with the destination coming out dim in all my photos. I let 17489 head off into the distance and intended on catching the 77 back to Keswick but retracted this plan when I saw a Solo SR turn up with standees on-board, instead I got some photos, one of them being pretty scenic.
1554 78 Seatoller - Keswick Bus Station (Stagecoach 17490)
Having rejected the Solo SR on the 77 I got on this, as the sun was still shining and the seats had dried out, I sat at the back upstairs on this open topper and this driver was slightly less cautious than the driving on the previous journey, think this plus the slippery seats meant I was all over the place on this journey, was actually jolly good fun, if ever so slightly terrifying at the same time, haha. About halfway through the journey I had some elderly party poopers join me at the back, don't know about the rest of you's but I find people discussing what they have shares in to be a bit of a buzz kill. Arrived back in Keswick just in time to get a taste of home with Wright Bros service 888 loading for the long journey back to Newcastle.
1700 555 Keswick Bus Station - Lanchester Bus Station (Stagecoach 10031)
Another Enviro 400 now, this would provide me with the long journey back to Lancaster, I occupied the seats at the front upstairs on the drivers side. Although these have the standard Stagecoach spec seats, they provided me with a decent standard of comfort which on this long journey was a good thing. This one performed pretty well despite the reasonably busy loadings. Got to take in the views once again on this journey. This journey once again went 'fast' from Kendal to Lanchester via the M6, may do the Lancaster - Kendal stretch another day.
1947 Lancaster Rail Station - Preston Rail Station (Virgin Trains: 390107)
First time on a Virgin Pendolino with this example carrying a allover advert for the film Independence Day. Although these have the seats as CrossCountry's rancid Voyagers I quite liked my journey on this, seemed very smooth and felt nice inside. I could have had my first time on a First TransPennine Express Class 350 but let it go, perhaps another day.
2019 Preston Rail Station - Blackpool North Rail Station (Northern: 150215)
150215 was my last journey on public transport today, I couldn't make up my mind on whether I liked this or not. Some woman kept asking people including myself if Kirkham was the next station, unfortunately when she asked me, I had no idea but the announcement for Kirkham Station came up not long after. Arrived back into Blackpool just after 20:45 and was given a lift back to camp.
This was my first trip to the Lakes and it won't be the last, thinking of doing another trip sometime in August where I may try to do more North and either East or West of Keswick travelling from the North East via Carlisle. If anyone has any suggestions for this outing, either reply below or send me a PM to maybe save some space.
Hope you enjoyed reading this, be sure to look out for photos from my holiday on my Flickr account. Enjoy your weekend.
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