Stagecoach West
Day Explorer
Wednesday 8th July 2015
I started todays trip differently, I took a taxi from home to the Bus Station and brought my Explorer ticket, the reason for this is because the Explorer is not valid on my local bus route, which is operated by Thamesdown.
I boarded the first bus of the day Swindon Depots 15971 on the 51 service to Cheltenham and off we went, this route has not changed since the days of deregulation, however long gone are the Green Stroud Valley’s livered Leyland Nationals and Bristol VR’s that used to operate the route from Stroud depot, they had long since been replaced by Volvo B10M’s in 1994, that were based in an outstation at Cirencester which was part of Stroud depot and then Swindon. Since those days we have had Dart SLF, Volvo B10BLE’s and Tridents and now the 51 is ran in a common pool of buses with the 49.
The bus wound its way along the A419 to Cricklade and then went through Latton, where I saw a Green livered Scania/Enviro 400 shoot off the roundabout towards Fairford in preparation for the Air Tattoo on 17th-19th July (it was one of the 94U batch of buses from Cheltenham/Gloucester. The bus then continued via South Cerney and Siddington to Cirencester using a very tight turn in Cirencester to get to the Market Place.
The bus waited for 15 minutes in Cirencester to comply with EU regulations on Drivers Hours, whilst waiting I saw Swindon Trident 18449 on Cirencester Town services 58 & 59, the ex-AndyBus MAN/Ikarus and an ex-Stagecoach Dart/ALX200 on the Cotswold Green service 855.
Waiting time completed 15971 then continued its way to Cheltenham via North Cerney, Colesbourne & Seven Springs.
On Arrival in Cheltenham, the first surprise is that the bus no longer terminates on the High Street, but now goes to the Promenade. I got off the bus, walked through to the old National Travel World Travel shop and updated my leaflet collection, then had a walk around Cheltenham, they are currently building a new Shopping Centre, so no buses are using the stops on the High Street, so I walked on until I saw more buses, and saw the 41, 42/42A & C services operating, one of the Enviro 200 Darts on the C had broken down so it was replaced with a Scania/Enviro 300 from the 41 service (28681). I continued walking to the far end of the High Street, then decided to wait for a bus back, but they all seemed to be going the other way, so I continued walking under an old rail bridge that was now the Winston Churchill Memorial Gardens until I reached Cheltenham Tesco Extra, where I was passed by a Solo on the 42 and a Scania/Enviro 300 on the 41 until eventually the 41 braded Scania returned on the C, which I took back into the Town Centre.
I boarded 28681, and took it back into the Town Centre, where due to roadworks the bus terminated away from its usual stop on a side street.
I now needed a cuppa, so I started looking for an unusually named restaurant I had seen advertised on the Internet on the way from Swindon, called Cabbages & Condoms. This is where I found that that Cheltenham do not like putting street names on the streets, but thanks to a map I soon found the street I needed so walked round to the restaurant and brought a cup of coffee, much to the surprise of the lady who worked there who was worried that they had no cake to give me. I had a nice cup of coffee and then left to go and get another bus, but did notice a sign there that said “sorry we don’t do mints, take a condom” the restaurant was ran by a Thai gentleman who wants access to birth control to be as easy as access to cabbages.
I then decided to go and visit Gloucester so took the Gold 94 service between the two centres. This was operated by Gold Scania/Enviro 400, 15522. The bus went from Cheltenham Town Centre, pass GCHQ and out to Staverton and Gloucestershire Airport, then Churchdown and on into Gloucester pass the HQ & Gloucester Depot of Stagecoach West. The HQ used to be in Cheltenham but was moved to Gloucester depot.
In Gloucester I saw an ex-Swindon MAN/Enviro 300 (22623) on the 8 (the same route they operated in Swindon, oddly enough after the 66, but the buses fell out of favour when one caught fire on Fleming Way) and an ex-Swindon Enviro 400 integral (19129), that ran the 49 services before the Scania/Enviro 400s took over, as well as various other similar MAN/Enviro 300s and Dennis Dart/ALX200s (including ex-Swindon 33978) operating City services and solos and tridents operating through services from Stroud and Ross-on-Wye.
I took a picture of the MAN and a Belles Express coach, which was receiving the attentions of a fitter who with the help of a drill and riveter was repairing a radiator cover panel on the side of the coach. I then tried to look for the Gloucester travel shop but could not find it, so decided to go and have my lunch courtesy of a shop called Bon Appetite, which sells all food for 99p each.
2 bacon baguettes and a coffee later, I was felling refreshed and then walked back to the Bus Station to find my bus back to Cheltenham (the only place I could get a bus connection back to Swindon) and had an option of an orange Scania/Enviro 400 on the 94U or another trip on the Gold 94.
I opted for the Gold 94 and sat down and relaxed for the trip back to Cheltenham on 15521, but managed to get another picture of a Belles Express coach and an ex-RAF fighter Jet at Staverton (Gloucestershire Airport). I got off back on the promenade and walked around to the see what else was around, I saw a D branded bus on the A service and various Solos and Tridents on the local serviced alongside Scania/Enviro 300s and Enviro 200 Darts.
I went and got some drinks for the journey back to Swindon and continued looking around Cheltenham Town Centre, where I saw that the Regent Arcade still had the bubble blowing fish clock that I remember from my childhood and the same sweet shop that I made my parents go into.
By now I was feeling very tired, so decided to go and get an earlier bus home. I walked back to the Promenade and waited for the 51 back to Swindon. The bus turned up and I got on, but this time sat downstairs due to some noisy and aggressive acting students who were banging around the upper deck of the bus and being generally nasty. I again had a Scania/Enviro 400 number 15975, the bus returned to Cirencester after a very slow climb out of Charlton Kings to Seven Springs (the nationals & VRs never had that problem), and arrived and sat at Cirencester Market Place again for 15 minutes, where Coachstyle Solo YJ14BWA arrived on a 93, then continued back to Swindon. The students did surprise me as we had two Swindon drivers on the bus.
On arrival back in Swindon, I got off the bus at Gorse Hill as my phone had died and I had to call a taxi, and the company I work for has a Freephone in the Iceland supermarket there. I called my taxi and waited for it to arrive, whilst waiting I saw Thamesdown’s Scania’s on the 17 and Stagecoach’s Darts on the 6. My taxi took me home and I reflected on a good day out with no major nasty surprises.
Buses Taken:
Stagecoach West: 15521, 15522, 28681, 15971, 15975
Routes Taken:
Taxi Home – Swindon Bus Station
51 SW Swindon Bus Station – Cheltenham Promenade
Walked Cheltenham Promenade – Cheltenham Travel Shop & Tesco Extra
C SW Cheltenham Tesco Extra – Cheltenham Town Centre
Walked Cheltenham Town Centre - Cabbages & Condoms
Walked Cabbages & Condoms – Cheltenham Promenade
94 SW Cheltenham Promenade – Gloucester City Centre
Walked around Gloucester City Centre
94 SW Gloucester City Centre – Cheltenham Promenade
Walked around Cheltenham Town Centre
51 SW Cheltenham Promenade – Swindon Gorse Hill (North)
Walked Gorse Hill (North) – Gorse Hill (Iceland)
Taxi Gorse Hill (Iceland) - Home