Here's my review for today's outing which saw me turn up in some unusual places.
0728 5 Home - Bishop Auckland (ANE 1498)
Was a few minutes late but eventually turned up and was greeted by the friendly driver. As it's the Easter holidays the journey was rather quiet and was mostly people going to work and the odd OAP heading into Bishop Auckland so this made for a nice relaxing journey.
After getting off the 5 I spent some time getting photos in Bishop Auckland Bus Station and annoyingly I just missed a shot of a 1 heading to Crook. Not a great deal of buses at this time of the morning so time dragged until it was time for my next bus.
0843 X1 Bishop Auckland - Tow Law (ANE 1405)
Bet you weren't expecting this. Another friendly driver on this journey and this journey had a few passengers on although most got off at Crook which left only me and two other passengers on so this was a rather quiet journey. Driver wasn't going very fast as it would have made it early otherwise so I watched the world go by and was a rather nice scenic route and then I got off somewhere in Tow Law.
0938 764 Tow Law - Consett Bus Station (Weardale - V6WMS)
Another surprising twist. Was expecting expecting this to have next to no-one on it, I was wrong as there was already a fair few on-board when I got on and there was more than me getting on which surprised me. This seems like one of those routes where the passengers know their fellow passengers and the driver seemed to know them as well. Quite a nice little bus although it was pretty slow at getting up hills. Another nice friendly driver on this journey. Quite enjoyed this journey as it was another rather scenic route.
Annoyingly the sun was in the wrong place so some of the images came out terrible in Consett.
1048 46 Newcastle - Rowlands Gill (GNE 5237)
Was bored by this point so I decided to get the next 46 and thankfully for me a recently repainted black 5237 turned up. Quite a nice route this one and was fairly quiet although there was a largish family on-board but weren't disruptive. Through this journey I was wondering if there was anywhere I could get off for a photo and when we got to Rowlands Gill the large family were getting off and a fair few people wanted to be on so I decided to take a risk and get a photo here and thankfully it paid off.
1140 47 Rowlands Gill - Newcastle Eldon Square (GNE 4978)
The 45 turned up first but it was rather busy and that was before anyone got on and I could see the 47 coming up behind it so I decided to get on that instead unfortunately this one was also busy but I thought I'd get this as I've never been on one of these. Quite enjoyed this bus ride, just wish I could have gotten an inside seat. Many passengers got off at the MetroCentre which made me happy.
1227 21 Newcastle - Gateshead Interchange (GNE 6068)
This seemed to be my own personal bus ride as I was the only person on it. I had a nice friendly women driver on this journey. Not a great deal else to say as I was only on it about 5 minutes.
1238 93 Gateshead Interchange - Saltmeadow's (GNE 5225)
Was a few minutes late. I do not know the Loop routes so the fact that all I could see was the branding didn't help matters and I only just pressed the bell in time so I got off.
Couldn't really get any photos from outside especially as there was too many people walking around the depot.
1310 Walk Saltmeadow's - Gateshead Interchange (my feet - Vans Classics)
Waited about 20 minutes for the 94 and was starting to get worried that despite what the timetable said I began to think that the 94 didn't stop at that stop. I was fed up by this point so I started walking and about half way back to Gateshead a 94 went past shortly followed by another. Then I got to where Mecca Bingo is and was confused as to which way to walk to reach the Interchange so I spent about 5 minutes walking around like an idiot until I eventually figured out how to get back to Gateshead Interchange.
1347 X21 Gateshead Interchange - Bishop Auckland (GNE 6024)
Can't think of a great deal to say about this journey as I spent the first half of it being angry about having to walk to Gateshead and nearly been hit by a cyclist (I'll leave it at that). Started to enjoy the journey a bit more when we got towards Durham. I saw a MAX StreetLite in Crook whilst I was on the X1 this morning and knew it would be in Bishop Auckland around 15:15 so I stayed on until Bishop Auckland Bus Station.
Sadly the StreetLite was 1590 again and once again I failed to get a shot of the screen, seriously can't get a shot of Arriva's StreetLite's with amber destination screens on the Nikon, might have to try and find a different mode to put it in. One advantage was I managed to get a shot of Pronto 6021 on service 28.
1541 5 Bishop Auckland - Home (ANE 1498)
Back where I started with 1498, was a little disappointed having this again but thankfully like this morning I had another friendly driver. Sadly my MP4 player died when we got to Shildon, King William. I actually spent much of this journey writing this review to save time now.
So an interesting day with some brilliant and some negative results and a few photos are now on my Flickr including black 5237 in Rowlands Gill.
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