A day out...
…I've been getting "itchy feet" stuck in here, and although a lot of online friends have been keeping me sane, I needed to get out & about. As I hinted at under Friday's Meffan's post, Stagecoach Strathtay are now running most of Service 103 (Laurencekirk - Stonehaven - Aberdeen), which has been ran by Stagecoach Bluebird for the last 14 months. What's the difference, you might say? It's less dead mileage for Stagecoach (as a whole) to run it out of Strathtay's Montrose depot, rather than Bluebird's Stonehaven depot. For the passenger's point of view, it does mean that Strathtay Rover tickets (£5.80 for the whole day) are valid all the way up to Aberdeen! (at least, correct at the time of print). When I did the 103 Saturday afternoon last time back in January 2005, Nicoll's were still running the route, and the single fare then - for that journey alone - was £4.75, and the current single fare from Laurencekirk to Aberdeen is £5.00. So, given the current financial climate (see yesterdays blogs!), I thought it would make for a fairly cheap day out, if everything worked out as it should, and thankfully it did!
I could have left Dundee at 1050 on the 39, but I wanted to be in Montrose early enough to see the 113/29 etc. leaving around 1155/1200 too - especially as I don't normally get Saturday's off! So, I had two choices - get the 39 one hour earlier at 0950 (which would give me a bit too long in Montrose), or the 20 at 0955, and go via Forfar and Brechin, so I did. I got on Strathtay 952 (most of these numbers are the "old" ones) on the 20 from Dundee to Forfar. At Forfar, I saw Meffan's L321 AUT doing what would be their last day on the 124/125, and indeed about to do the last 124 of theirs back to Kirriemuir. This bus carries no destination blind at all, but it does show "125" on the screens - that is only because I put it up on the bus during a depot visit four years ago! Anyway, I then connected with 315 on the 21A from Forfar to Brechin. I got off the bus, and then headed for the library, before getting on the 30. Went down Bank Street, taking a shortcut, and saw a cat rolling over on it's back across the street. This was guessed to be a given local, but then, something else surprising was another cat, a white one this time, doing the same at the bottom of the slope! That one did get up and run when the postman came around, though… anyway, got to the library, in enough time to see former 256 going past on town service 34, and for me to then get on 958 on Service 30 from Brechin to Montrose High Street.
Upon arrival at Montrose, went via the library, and RoadRunner's for breakfast/lunch, before going back to the High Street. Having said only last night about Meffan's lack of destination gear, Stagecoach Bluebird had 40756 on the 113, with a mostly blank destination display, and a paper window bill showing "STONEHAVEN/113" in very small lettering. Better than nothing! Five minutes behind, Stagecoach Strathtay had former 428 on the 29 to Edzell Woods, which is an insert on the blind anyway!) There is an Edzell Woods blind insert in the windscreen, as the picture shows. For the record, on the way back, the bus was correctly able to show "29 Montrose Railway Stn".
I then cut down one of the closes to the railway station, and waited down there for the Service 8/Service 9 (see previous blog posts). The irony is, this is the one journey that was going to be withdrawn by Nicoll's in August 2005. Aberdeenshire Council put out an emergency tender - won by Stagecoach Bluebird - to keep the service going. Now, it's being ran by Strathtay, meaning Strathtay have the 47A "combat bus" running a few minutes ahead of Service 9, which was being operated by Strathtay… Waiting on the bus, the 47A arrived, and was Solo formerly known as 255, being driven by a nice guy called Harold, who always recognises me from my days out on the network (doing a 104 and 104 Friday morning three hour stint last August probably helped too!) He was busy explaining what he was doing, when I had to cut it short and jump for the 8/9 bus had arrived - Strathtay 148. This 8/9 journey takes me from Montrose to Laurencekirk, where I'd get the 103. So, last time, these were both Nicoll's services - now, both Strathtay. The driver did up his blinds for the northbound journey, and we were then able to load up. As I suspected this bus would continue as the 103 to Aberdeen, I checked with the driver, who showed me his board to say that he did. I then explained I planned to Aberdeen, and he said it was ok to stay on the bus (there are a few minutes of idle time between the end of the 8/9 and the start of the 103). So, away we went, with a good handful on board. As we were going up Newhame Road in Borrowfield, we got a radio call… asking the bus to radio in, from Strathtay Dundee control, claiming he'd asked for assistance… nope… good to see the radio picks up that far away though. So, although ACIS can't tell the difference on different sides of the road, it can pick up a bus just north of Montrose!
When we got to Laurencekirk, the driver changed up the blind to initially blank yellow, till the other passenger pointed out he'd wound past Aberdeen, so he would back to find she was right! So we were able to correctly show "103 Aberdeen". Such a little bus would not have got up to Aberdeen before, but the Strathtay commercial manager/director who was in the job up to the end of 2003 said that Aberdeen, Inverness, Edinburgh, Glasgow (and Dundee, Perth would be on anyway) were on all Strathtay blinds that he'd ordered (at least initially) in case any bus was pinched from the stance for Citylink work. It does now show that the idea was worthwhile, but not for the reasons expected! The bit to Stonehaven I'd done often enough of late, so I knew where we were heading for. The driver read his running board on the way into Drumlithie, and he said "Where the hell's Little Farrochie Place"? He asked the two boarding passengers, who did not know, and I then offered the blue Philips/OS atlas of Aberdeenshire, and pointed where he had to go, which was well appreciated, and perfectly executed! The bit north of Stonehaven lost me just before Banchory-Devenick, although on the way home I could see exactly what I'd done, I'd gone to the wrong page in my atlas!
So, we arrived into Aberdeen, with a good loading - two end-to-enders, and a variety of others who'd gone around the route - two cash singles from Stonehaven to Banchory-Devenick Crossroads (£3.25 each apparently), someone who got on in the middle of no-where and went to Aberdeen (and went back again in the evening), and few others. A couple of elderly women got on the bus opposite the Stonehaven branch of The Bervie Chipper, going to Aberdeen, but it would appear it was their first trip on this route, and by those roads. A couple on Aberdeen's Holburn Street flagged the bus down to go to town, too. I think we had around 14-15 on the trip as a whole - about three times the passenger loadings of last time.
So, I got into Aberdeen, and had just over two and a half hours to myself! Being a Saturday, the bus parks up, and then the driver has a long "break" before doing the 1705 back. I had a long walk around the Granite City, taking in more than just buses! I left the bus station, crossed Guild Street, cut through some side streets, Market Street, Union Street, Castle Street, then back onto Broad Street. Upon arriving here, got a slightly-darker-than-I'd-hoped picture of Aberdeen Marischal College, which is about to be made into the new headquarters of the city council. I then walked up to the side of the college, at Littlejohn Street. This is the "Marischal College" terminus point for First in Aberdeen bus Service 20, and I'd never taken a picture of anything here before! Here, the Olympian that used to be 131, but now known as 31557, had just arrived, and decanted a load of students, so that was good timing.
I then continued via Berry Street, and through the Bon-Accord shopping centre, (well the bit that used to be the Bon-Accord bit), before turning up through Upperkirkgate and Schoolhill, and back down Union Terrace. At the Union Terrace/Bridge Street/Union Street junction, there had been a police presence when we passed on the 103, but that was now cleared. Had a walk up to the Holburn Junction end of Union Street, grabbed a bite to eat, and walked back down most of Union Street, then headed for the bus home. Couldn't help but thinking about my dream from last night, as I walked back down Union Street… which is why, if you saw me, I was grinning perhaps somewhat inanely.
Got to the bus station, and we already had a few waiting for the bus, and by the time we left, we had a good dozen passengers. First one got off at Leggart Terrace (where it is just the 103 and the 204 on weekdays now), and others got off as we progressed. I found the route perfectly in the atlas, and I'd now feel confident in explaining both halves of the 103 route to anyone... even if it involves "turn left at the farm... no not that one... the next one..." etc. The bus got back to Stonehaven, where I got off, so I could get on the next 103 about 40-50 minutes later (I will explain why later).
To take up the time, I walked up through the Somerfield store end of town, and had a brief look at the beach. This picture looks upstream towards the caravans, and Cowie. This one looks down towards Dunnottar Castle, and this one tries to grab it inland just a little.
The reason for waiting back, is that this 103 journey should connect with the Service 29 Strathtay journey to Montrose. As I posted back in the summer, the two "should" miss each other by one minute, but there is a note on the 29 driver's board to wait for the 103 arriving, waiting up to three minutes late if need be. As you may recall, this bit was missed from the boards (along with other things) briefly, but this was fixed, and I did double-check this earlier in the week - it was defiantly there! So, I waited for the 1840 Service 103 to Fettercairn, intending to go from Stonehaven to Laurencekirk. Then, a Stagecoach Bluebird bus pulls up - 40756 (which I'd seen earlier on the 113!) The bus was correctly blinded this time, and left me in no doubt that this was the one. I got on the bus, with two others (who complained that they can't buy a CommuterCard [weekly ticket] on a Strathtay bus now that they run most of the 103 - although you could buy one from a CC agent, the agent in Stonehaven recently closed, with no replacement as of yet!). The driver punched my Rover, oddly, presumably he thought it was a return. He then stood up, got out the cab, and said "Right, where's the Strathtay bus, I need to see him"… and I looked out the back, and former Strathtay 219 pulls in, blinded Stonehaven 103. To cut a long story short, Bluebird do this return trip on the 103 to allow the Strathtay driver a meal break (as otherwise, he'd be on it all night), and the discussion was about where to pick up the driver, because he'd be finished after this rounder, and lived on route! Interesting to note the Strathtay 103 drivers were passing Spurryhillock i.e. as per timetable, but the Bluebird driver in the evening went all the way along Kirkton Road!
So, I got to Laurencekirk, and I moved to the front of the bus, so I could see the stops. As we approached the large bus bay at Mearns Academy, a Strathtay bus was parked, waiting it's time. This was the 29 - and obviously waiting here saved cluttering up Laurencekirk High Street. Harold, the driver from the 47A, was driving the 29 (now if I'd remembered that was the duty, I probably would have been less anxious about meeting the 29, as he's been with the company long enough!) So, I got off that, and got on former 312, which took me back to Montrose Hume Street. Had a look around Tesco, then got the 2010 40A back to Dundee - former 425. Got back to Dundee for 2145, and then headed for home. For the bus spotters, you can see all the pics I took today here.
When I got home, a good friend from the states called Jenni sent me a message to state she was heading for her local emergency room, and didn't know when she'd be back… I was initally concerned, but it turns out that she was home just after I got to bed, she's ok but just a little sore.
So that was it - a full day out, not really sure how many miles that was (at least 70 up, at least 60 back down again!), but a few more than doing it the direct way! The 103 is a real cross-country trek, and does give you a good view of the Dee as you head downhill after Banchory-Devenick. It's also yet another place where you might not expect to see a Strathtay bus… well, get them while you can, before the repaints catch the lot! Good value at £5.80 too! Last time I did the cross-country trek northbound, I got the Megabus back, making an interesting comparison. This return journey was just as much fuin. I dressed for the colder weather, but it wasn't so bad, even on the coasts. In fact, despite what the BBC Weather had said, there was no rain, and the cloud wasn't as bad as it could have been. Now I feel ever so slightly better about going back to work on Monday!
posted by Suzy Scott @ 23:26
1 Comments:
Good blog. I enjoyed your "day out". I live in Canada, but my ancestors came from that part of the world, so it's intriguing for me to hear all the names from our family history - Stonehaven, Laurencekirk, Montrose. I also had ancestors who lived in Johnshaven, Gourdon, and Bervie. Before they came to Canada, these folks had moved over to Fettercairn / Edzell area.
cheers.
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