Review of my DalesBus outing today (July 31st 2016).
0822 Newton Aycliffe Rail Station - Darlington Rail Station (Northern 156479)
Started the day off on the Northern service that runs between Bishop Auckland and Whitby in the summer. Nice change to the Pacer's we are usually subjected to on the Bishop Line, I quite like the 156's hopefully I can get one that isn't 156479 next time though as I've had it before.
0946 830 Darlington Northgate - Ingleton Community Centre (ANE 2869)
Turned up a few minutes late owing to the diversion as a result of the road closure as you head off the A66 and into Great Burdon and it remained a few minutes late throughout the journey but we arrived at Ingleton on-time. This journey was roughly two and a half hours long which sounds like a method of torture but with the nice scenery it was actually not that bad at all, helps when you get the comfortable seat at the back as well.
1230 881 Ingleton Community Centre - Malham, National Park Centre (Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire YD63VKL)
My next journey was Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire's Optare Solo SR Slimline YD63VKL. Not a bad little bus, driver was very friendly, the scenery was quite good on this route, after Settle I discovered why this route uses a Slimline Solo, it's not possible to put anything bigger on, the roads to Malham from just outside Settle are all single track roads with a few passing places. This journey was roughly 50 minutes long, I then had around 75 minutes to kill in Malham, not much to do other than walk around and sit, eventually it was time for my next bus.
1440 873 Malham, National Park Centre - Skipton Bus Station (Transdev in Keighley 713 - YJ04LXW)
Next bus was this MPD, not too bad this bus and journey. This journey took roughly 45 minutes making it into Skipton with a tight connection with my next bus.
1528 X43 Skipton Bus Station - Grassington, National Park Centre (Transdev Burnley & Pendle 2769)
The Witch Way branded Volvo B9 2769 was the next leg of my trek, quite nice bus, good scenery as well. One thing I couldn't help but think was in regards to seating on Arriva Sapphire double deckers, some say that they should all have the same seats that the first Sapphire E400's were fitted with or the ones on Transdev's "the36" some say they can't due to space but the seats in these seem to be pretty much the same and they have two on each side. After not long, the bus arrived at Grassington.
1600 812 Grassington, National Park Centre - York Rail Station (Stephensons of Easingwold: SK15HBB)
Final DalesBus of the day was the Stephensons of Easingwold Enviro 200 SK15HBB. Not the best bus, fair few rattles and shaking, especially from one of the handrails which was annoying. Driver drove this like a man on a mission although it wasn't quick on the hills at all. On this journey we saw the Arriva 825 to Harrogate at Pateley Bridge and the 820 at Fountains Abbey Visitors Centre. Journey arrived at York at 17:50, this was a long journey but I was tired by this point.
1829 York Rail Station - Darlington (CrossCountry)
Two Voyagers running on this one journey, it was quite busy and I was unamused to find people in my reserved seat, told them three times that they were in my seat then gave up and had to look for somewhere else to sit which irritated me.
1915 7 Darlington Tubwell Row - Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1516)
This was my steed home this evening, pretty uneventful journey really, just a steady away journey home.
Thanks for reading, photos are on my Flickr.
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