A Tale Of Three Cities
I said I’d be slowing down on the travelling trips, but I booked this a long time ago, and got each leg of the trip for £1.00 each!
Started off at 0900, travelling from Dundee to Edinburgh by Megabus. This was one of those “unadvertised but rostered” duplicates, so it went non-stop from Dundee to Edinburgh, using the white Volvo coach 52295, and we got in a little earlier. I was surprised to find Tails Prower 2040 in the queue as I arrived at the bus station…
TP “So where are you going then?”
SS ”Manchester, via Edinburgh”.
TP “Aah…”
SS “Don’t you remember, I told you on Friday I was going for this one?”
TP “Oh yeah, it did ring a bell for some reason, when I booked it last night…”
… so, we were able to catch up with news, both sides, and more besides. I didn’t go for any pictures in Edinburgh, but TP took enough, and I am sure some will appear on the Fotopic site in due course.
After breakfast, we walked along Princes Street, and then via the bus station and Waverly Bridge to the railway station, where I was heading for the 1152 Edinburgh – Manchester Virgin Trains “voyager” train, booked via Megatrain, for £1. The person beside me got a £15 advanced booked single, someone a few rows behind booked via Megatrain “on the day” for £20, which was still a saving on the full walk-up single fare of £45! Somewhat massive saving there!
As I left Edinburgh, the train followed the “via West Calder/Shotts” line as far as Kirknewton, where it followed another line to Carstairs Junction (which was new territory for me, I think – the time I did Blackpool via Preston when I was little, I can’t remember if we went via Glasgow or Edinburgh), then joining the West Coast Main Line to Preston, then following more new train tracks for me to Manchester. We arrived right at the back on a platform somewhat reminiscent of some of the crowded tiny platforms at various London area stations, and it wasn’t until I went up a floor that we got to the vast glass-filled building that is Manchester Piccadilly railway station.
I came out of Manchester, and intended to grab a few things around town, in the hour and a half or so that I had. As I came out the station, First Manchester Solo 53146 was sat outside on the MetroShuttle1, so I took that to Arndale (remember where those bus bollards were from a few weeks ago?) – yes I made it, only in for two A5 ring binders though, as my current “Fife” folder is starting to show signs of wear over the last four and a bit years! I walked via Piccadilly Gardens and back to Piccadilly. Signs of this much hyped (recently) bus war between UK North/GM Buses, and Stagecoach Manchester, seemed to be a bit over hyped compared to what I’d saw, but presumably I passed during two gaps in service! One of UKN/GMB’s B6’s (with 192 branding) was on the 43.
Then, it was back to Chorlton Street for the Megabus back to Dundee – Neoplan 50136 came in for London, but 50145 came just before 1700 (blinded for Manchester – then we left quickly, and I could see in the glass reflection that he’d blinded up for Preston, even though we weren’t going there!) This bus leaves London at 1230 (used to be 1300), and used to leave Manchester at 1730, but now leaves half an hour early. The traffic ate up most of the time, meaning it took 25 minutes to get into Salford! We got to The Tickled Trout (a place near Preston), where the driver drove off in an Olympian, and the Glasgow based driver then took over for the bit up north.
So, for only 2p more than I spent on breakfast, I was travelling around for over 550 miles… (Transport Direct gives 286.3 miles as the direct car journey length from Dundee to Manchester). It might seem like a long way for a short time, but I’ve done Manchester quite a bit over the last few
years, and I wanted to try an equally cheap alternative, which didn’t involve the 6am start!
On the way home, I was checking my email on my mobile phone, and I had received an email from someone who said “…I saw your profile on T-Vox…” I’d never heard of the site before!… will have a look later…
Started off at 0900, travelling from Dundee to Edinburgh by Megabus. This was one of those “unadvertised but rostered” duplicates, so it went non-stop from Dundee to Edinburgh, using the white Volvo coach 52295, and we got in a little earlier. I was surprised to find Tails Prower 2040 in the queue as I arrived at the bus station…
TP “So where are you going then?”
SS ”Manchester, via Edinburgh”.
TP “Aah…”
SS “Don’t you remember, I told you on Friday I was going for this one?”
TP “Oh yeah, it did ring a bell for some reason, when I booked it last night…”
… so, we were able to catch up with news, both sides, and more besides. I didn’t go for any pictures in Edinburgh, but TP took enough, and I am sure some will appear on the Fotopic site in due course.
After breakfast, we walked along Princes Street, and then via the bus station and Waverly Bridge to the railway station, where I was heading for the 1152 Edinburgh – Manchester Virgin Trains “voyager” train, booked via Megatrain, for £1. The person beside me got a £15 advanced booked single, someone a few rows behind booked via Megatrain “on the day” for £20, which was still a saving on the full walk-up single fare of £45! Somewhat massive saving there!
As I left Edinburgh, the train followed the “via West Calder/Shotts” line as far as Kirknewton, where it followed another line to Carstairs Junction (which was new territory for me, I think – the time I did Blackpool via Preston when I was little, I can’t remember if we went via Glasgow or Edinburgh), then joining the West Coast Main Line to Preston, then following more new train tracks for me to Manchester. We arrived right at the back on a platform somewhat reminiscent of some of the crowded tiny platforms at various London area stations, and it wasn’t until I went up a floor that we got to the vast glass-filled building that is Manchester Piccadilly railway station.
I came out of Manchester, and intended to grab a few things around town, in the hour and a half or so that I had. As I came out the station, First Manchester Solo 53146 was sat outside on the MetroShuttle1, so I took that to Arndale (remember where those bus bollards were from a few weeks ago?) – yes I made it, only in for two A5 ring binders though, as my current “Fife” folder is starting to show signs of wear over the last four and a bit years! I walked via Piccadilly Gardens and back to Piccadilly. Signs of this much hyped (recently) bus war between UK North/GM Buses, and Stagecoach Manchester, seemed to be a bit over hyped compared to what I’d saw, but presumably I passed during two gaps in service! One of UKN/GMB’s B6’s (with 192 branding) was on the 43.
Then, it was back to Chorlton Street for the Megabus back to Dundee – Neoplan 50136 came in for London, but 50145 came just before 1700 (blinded for Manchester – then we left quickly, and I could see in the glass reflection that he’d blinded up for Preston, even though we weren’t going there!) This bus leaves London at 1230 (used to be 1300), and used to leave Manchester at 1730, but now leaves half an hour early. The traffic ate up most of the time, meaning it took 25 minutes to get into Salford! We got to The Tickled Trout (a place near Preston), where the driver drove off in an Olympian, and the Glasgow based driver then took over for the bit up north.
So, for only 2p more than I spent on breakfast, I was travelling around for over 550 miles… (Transport Direct gives 286.3 miles as the direct car journey length from Dundee to Manchester). It might seem like a long way for a short time, but I’ve done Manchester quite a bit over the last few
years, and I wanted to try an equally cheap alternative, which didn’t involve the 6am start!
On the way home, I was checking my email on my mobile phone, and I had received an email from someone who said “…I saw your profile on T-Vox…” I’d never heard of the site before!… will have a look later…
posted by Suzy Scott @ 23:59
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