We havent had one of these recently!
In two minds whether to report back, but seeing as it's an area that hasn't really featured in the thread, I'd thought it was worth doing.
Saved for prosperity and all that jazz.
Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Wales featured amongst my most recent galavant.
Although Arriva seem to have kept their toes in the water in a number of the areas I travelled in, I was pleased to see some independents floating around. One to note was Lloyd's, who have really upped their game over the last 10/15 years.
They even had an indirect link to back home, with a sister of the local Omnidekka's (YN56 FDL) appearing on the Welsh coastal town of Barmouth - displaying 'Eldon Square' on its blind.
A fair few ADL products featured in the area, looking smart in the Traws Cyrmu livery. Two MMC 200s on trade plates passed us in mid-Wales at one point. No idea where there were going.
A glut of Solo's appeared and surprisingly, I lost count of the number of Versa's I saw. Either in a Traws Cymru or Arriva livery.
http://www.trawscymru.info/routes/ quite an extensive network, well worth an explore.
Blue Diamond had quite a few Mini Darts kicking around (didn't see if any were ex-NE based) Kidderminster that looked like they had seen better days.
Minsterley seemed to like their Optare products too.
I also sampled the network in and around Shrewsbury.
The odd Centro or ADL product appeared, but most of the work seemed to be carried out by 09/60 plated Optare products. Including the Shropshire Council P&R services.
It seemed odd to see Thurmaston legals so far from Leicester.
Didnt get to ride any of the refurbished Versa's unfortunately.
One other point of note, was the 'decker come diner' parked just off the A49.
A quick bit of digging identified it as this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132545487@N06/23291133552
An area well worth an explore.