The Fosseway Flyer

Travelling to Newark yesterday meant I rode a bus route that I've seen around ever since I started college in Nottingham: The Fosseway Flyer.

The Fosseway Flyer is one of two methods of public transportation that someone can use to travel between Newark and Nottingham. The route goes through much of my old bus route to college before it takes a major road towards Newark and Lincoln. Most of its stops are in Nottingham, Rushcliffe and Newark itself.

The trip takes about 40-50 minutes, depending on traffic and other road conditions. It is also an expensive route, with a cost of £7.20 for a return ticket.

Walk interrupted

My intended walk this afternoon was Clifton-Ruddington-Wilford-City Centre via the tram walkways. When I stepped outside, it looked as though it was going to be cool but otherwise dry, although just in case I had brought my umbrella.

After I walk out of Ruddington, I notice a massive black cloud hovering over the region. I expected that it wouldn't be long before it would unleash its contents onto the fully-suspecting ground below. Not to be disappointed, as I approached Wilford, the rain fell upon the land, going from a light shower to a downpour in seemingly no time at all.

The rain was so heavy that my umbrella was overwhelmed; as such, I ran to the upcoming bus stop and took the 3 route, thus ending my walk until I returned to Clifton, when the rain had stopped and I walked back to my mother's and brother's house.

The faces

This afternoon, I walked to Ruddington and from there, I rode the 10 bus to the city centre. On its own, this isn't worth of noting here; however, the events on the bus and afterwards are.

Shortly after the bus passed the former site of Central's West Bridgford campus, it stopped to pick up two people; to my surprise, one of these people was a friend of a cousin of mine. My brother and I met this person in passing during our visit to Drayton Manor over six years ago. I did not acknowledge her, on the basis that it was a brief meeting years and because it was unlikely she would have recognised me, given my appearance changes since then.

The second familiar face was towards the county hall stop in West Bridgford. At this point, a librarian who helped process me when my progression advisor encouraged me to undertake an assessment back when I first visited Central then boarded the bus. I have seen him since then to speak to and he acknowledged/spoke to me when we departed the bus.

The final familiar face was in the Victoria Centre. I saw in there a coursemate from the Media side of my university course. The last few times I've seen her have either been in the city centre or on board South Notts 1. Since she lives in London, I wasn't expecting to see her around again until later this month, at least. She and I did acknowledge each other.

So, plenty of familiar faces this afternoon!

The new Mainline

I travelled to Bingham this afternoon to attend the rebranding/relaunch event of the Rushcliffe Mainline, which involved it becoming just the "Mainline" as well as new buses being introduced to replace those that have been in service for years. In fact, the event was all about the new Mainline fleet - two of the new buses were on display.

Both buses were open to public viewing. One of the new features of these buses compared to the old ones were the USB chargers, which I had been expecting; another were the skylights, which I'd read about in advance. More surprising, however, were the lights along the floor, the non-slip floor, the "mood lighting", the enhanced display panel for the upcoming stop and the removal of the aisle-facing seats. What can I say? These new Mainline buses are vastly superior to the old ones - they almost rival Red Arrow, in some respect.

I couldn't help but be impressed by the new Mainline bus fleet. I definitely want to ride on one soon; they will be put into official service tomorrow.

Beating the bus - from Gamston!

To pick up some food items that I wasn't able to purchase at Clifton Morrison's, I took a long walk and then rode a bus to Gamston Morrison's, as that store is larger and contains a greater selection. I spent fifteen or so minutes in the store and then returned to the bus stop; however, the next bus was in 25 minutes and I had no desire to wait.

As such, I walked to West Bridgford from Gamston Morrison's; at a point during this walk, I saw, going in the direction of Gamston, the bus that that I would have taken had I waited. Some twenty or so minutes later, once I had nearly reached the stops bound for Clifton, that bus appeared again. I beat it by a minute.

While I only saved myself a minute of time, which was negated anyway by my having to wait for the Clifton-bound buses, walking from Gamston to West Bridgford was still beneficial, in my view, because the exercise performed while doing so was preferable and better for me than waiting around for nearly half an hour.

Holme Pierrepont August 2017 (2)

While I last visited there under two weeks ago, I went to Holme Pierrepont this afternoon. I specifically wanted to test out the 11C bus, which runs on Sundays to the water sports centre. The bus stops just outside the park, at the entrance where my grandfather, father, brother and I walked into it back in December 2010.

This was a better visit to Holme Pierrepont compared to the previous. There were more people around and I had zero feelings of loneliness. Since I got that first visit since Dad's death out of the way, the second was much easier. I walked around the main water once before taking the 11C back to the city centre.

Holme Pierrepont August 2017

For the first time in years - likely the first time since I wrote this post - I visited the water sports centre at Holme Pierrepont. I recently learnt that the 11 bus travels through West Bridgford to a stop a short walk from the centre and the 11C travels directly to the centre, albeit only on Sundays and bank holiday Mondays.

This became my strangest visit to Holme Pierrepont. In the past, I went with family - the last time I went with my grandfather but another common person I went there with was Dad. Evidently, Dad is no longer around to go to Holme Pierrepont with but not only that but there were hardly any people about; it felt quite lonely being without company and with few other people around.

Bakewell August 2017

I visited Bakewell for the first time since July of last year except that on this occasion, a friend came with me. I invited said friend to come with me after he'd been fascinated by my first Bakewell trip when I told him about it.

In Bakewell, we walked around, walked to some of the surrounding paths, climbed one of the small mountains and walked by the river for several hours before returning to Derby and then no Nottingham. This was a much better trip to Bakewell compared to my one last year, where I only spent an hour there, of which half of spent finding a toilet and the other half finding how to return to Derby.

Back from Cambridge

My bus back from Cambridge was via National Express, which set off from there at 1:15 this morning. The return to Nottingham took two and a half hours and once I arrived here, I walked back to Clifton. I walked back via a well-lit route, which was mostly deserted; until I made it to Clifton, much of the traffic consisted of taxis.

What an amazing 48 hours it was, from when I left on Friday to when I returned this morning. It was an honour to attend my friend's wedding and I wish her and her new husband all the best.

To Cambridge

Tomorrow, for the first time in many years, I'll be in Cambridge. I'll be down there to attend on Saturday the wedding of the friend of mine with whom I went to the Carrie Underwood concerts. She invited me last year and finally, the day is nearly here.

I'll be travelling down on the 19 bus from Nottingham to Peterborough and then a bus from Peterborough to Cambridge. From what I can tell, this will involve five hours of bus riding, which will be easy enough. I'll be staying in a hotel on Friday, be active all day Saturday and then travelling back via National Express on a bus that leaves Cambridge at 1:15am on Sunday.

I have not attended a proper wedding for 21 years, unless the reception party I attended last month is counted. For this wedding, however, I'll be there from start until the finish.

The Cotgrave and the Keyworth

I recently wrote about how the Rushcliffe Villager 2 bus route has now been discontinued. The RV2 is not the only Rushcliffe-based bus that has received some major changes; the Rushcliffe Villager 1 has been shortened, in that it now travels directly into Bingham after the villages rather than around the housing estate. In addition, in Radcliffe on Trent, there were a small handful of stops that the bus went past but now doesn't; the result is that these stops are no longer serviced.

The Cotgrave Connection and Keyworth Connection are the other two. Unlike RV1 and 2, they haven't received any sort of cut; rather, both routes have been equipped with new buses and have been renamed to The Cotgrave and The Keyworth, respectively. Both routes now appear to have the same class of bus as Indigo does but rather than the buses being indigo, they are aqua (The Cotgrave) and pink (The Keyworth).

The Rushcliffe Mainline is also supposed to be receiving new buses; both the RM and the RV1/2 routes inherited the buses from the now-defunct Rushcliffe Greens line. I'd be surprised if RV1 receives any new buses, however; I expect any used from RV2 will be transferred to it.

Farewell to the Rushcliffe Villager 2

Today, I rode what I expect to be my last journey on the Rushcliffe Villager 2. Despite existing for under two years, the service will be cancelled as of this weekend. While Cotgrave will still have the Cotgrave Connection for bus access to Nottingham, it will no longer have the RV2 route to Bingham and villages such as Aslockton and Cropwell Bishop will have to rely on county-operated buses for the time being.

Understandably, there has been some criticism for the cut. Areas of Cotgrave that aren't serviced by the Cotgrave Connection will lose out as will the outer villages around Bingham. Many older people use the RV2 but the company's defence is that the numbers are low and that the service is operating at a loss.

A bit of scenery from the RV2 route appears in this post of mine from late 2015. It is a beautiful route and travels around a large portion of Rushcliffe.

Skylink Derby

Using one of the tickets I was given at the Trentbarton focus group last month, I rode Skylink Derby. As this Trentbarton line is joint-operated between them and Kinchbus, the MANGO cards are not used on this service and so it has not been, until today, a route I had explored.

Skylink Derby begins in Derby (obviously), goes to East Midlands Airport as Skylinks Nottingham and Express do, through Loughborough and all the way to Leicester. I travelled all the way to Leicester and walked around the centre there for a short time. This marked the first time I can recall of my stepping foot in Leicester during the daytime, rather than past midnight. Most of my experience with Leicester comes via travelling through it rather than walking around it.

As for Skylink Derby, it's a fun route; it's long and there's plenty of scenery to observe while riding it. Also, as a result of riding Skylink Derby and using it to travel to Leicester, I have visited all of the outer regions of the Trentbarton network, as viewed here (map is outdated as it shows the defunct Radcliffe Line and Ruddington Connection and doesn't show Skylink Express but nevertheless shows the distant points of the network).

Monster rainstorm

This evening, I again had to return from my grandparents' house via Bingham; unlike last night, however, there were no angry people on board the bus. Phew!

There was something else to contend with, instead. As the Rushcliffe Mainline returned to Nottingham; this was not problematic at first but once the bus made it to the last stop, it was clear a storm was incoming. I ran to the stop for South Notts 1 in time because once I did, a torrential downpour occurred, backed up with lightning and thunder. Yep, a full storm!

There was a twenty minute wait for South Notts 1; once it arrived and returned me to Clifton, the rain had stopped and I was able to walk back to my accommodation without being soaked. So, no angry people but the bus rides back tonight were nevertheless an adventure!

The misogynistic woman

I was at my grandparents' house today doing some work for them. The day progressed as normal until the evening, when the Rushcliffe Mainline wasn't running through the area where they live because of nearby roadworks; as a result, I was required to take a Trentbarton-supplied shuttle bus to Bingham, which would take me to an RM bus for Nottingham. This involved a longer trip back to Clifton but was otherwise no big deal.

In Bingham, a woman in her 50s or 60s, who appeared to be annoyed, boarded. When the bus took its detour, she asked me if the bus was bound for Nottingham; I confirmed that it was, just that it was taking a longer route back. She appeared to accept this but then asked the woman in front of her the same thing and received the same answer; she then appeared to ask the driver it and, again, received the same answer. At this point, she sat back down after she'd been standing to question the driver.

The woman muttered to herself from then on but otherwise appeared to not be bothering anyone; however, once the bus was in Nottingham and we were coming up to the last few stops, another woman who looked as though she was in her 50s then boarded. Then, the angry woman launched a misogynistic tirade against this new woman, calling her all sorts of anti-woman terms on the basis that she was "dressed like a prostitute" (yes, those were her words); this tirade continued until the new woman left at the second-to-last stop and even after that, the angry woman continued her rant.

As for why the driver didn't do anything, he was concentrating on evening driving but also, this bizarre behaviour occurred in the last five minutes of the journey; it likely would have been more of a hassle for everyone if he'd told her off. When the bus came to the end, her angry woman got off whereas the driver, as well as an NCT driver who was also on boarded, talked about the weird rant by the woman.

I hope the angry woman has since calmed down and that the new woman wasn't heavily hurt by the incident.

The tram

For the first time ever, I rode the Nottingham tram network, from the city centre to Hucknall:

A college friend and I travelled to Hucknall because he was being featured as a musical act at a pub up there. This was another first for me: Attending a friend's musical gig.

I'd never ridden the tram until now because I'd always found my way around Nottingham via foot, bus or the occasional lift.

July wedding

I have a wedding to attend this evening. After my English exam back in May, a friend from my course invited to her wedding me and another friend from my course. That wedding will require a ride on the i4 bus to reach it, as it is it Derbyshire. I do not expect to take any pictures, as it is a private function.

London 2017 - National Express

My chosen method of travelling to and from London yesterday was via National Express - a coach company. While coaches take longer to reach London than trains do, they are significantly cheaper. Once I knew when I'd be travelling to London, I booked a month and a half in advance and paid a low fare for my tickets; the other trade-off besides the journey taking longer is that I was restricted to taking the buses at the specified booking times. For example, my bus from Nottingham was only the one at 6:05am and my return from London was at 9:30pm; if I'd missed them I'd have to have bought a new ticket for another bus and it would have been more expensive.

The route down was fun. While much of it took place on the M1 (the UK's main motorway from the south to the north), there was a brief stop in Milton Keynes and the route through London to the Victoria coach station took the bus through the Royal Borough of Kensington, which I'd never seen in person before. For the route back, it again stopped briefly in Milton Keynes but also went through downtown Leicester, which makes it the second time I've seen Leicester between 12:00am and 2:00am.

Will I travel via National Express again. Most certainly, yes!

London trip June 2017

I'm off to London today! I'm currently on a National Express bus bound for the city. My reason reason for travelling to London today is to finally meet, after nine years of knowing her, an online/Skype friend. Should be fun!

Hmm...I haven't posted any pictures for a while now, have I? I'll see what I can do while I'm there, provided the rain doesn't prevent me.

Jacket luck

I had a bout of good luck yesterday afternoon. As it was raining outside, I wore my thin coat over my fleece; however, by the time I made it to my bus it had stopped raining, was warm and I was sweating. I tied both my fleece and my coat around my waist before I boarded the 48 to the city centre.

When I arrived in the centre, without noticing it my jacket slipped off me. It was only when I was in Bulwell that I realised it had come off; at first, I thought I'd lost the coat but then I remembered, assuming it had come off on either the 48 or the 17 (my bus to Bulwell), there was a chance it would be in Nottingham City Transport's lost and found collection. After I'd finished in Bulwell I returned to the city centre on the 68 line.

On that bus back I realised there were other places it could have come off. When I was in the Victoria Centre, for example, although there was a chance I could get it back in there, too; but there were other places, like Bulwell bus station and the entire stretch from the 48 to the 17. I had conceded that the coat was lost but I hoped that someone in need would pick it up, such as a homeless person.

As luck would have it, when I returned to the bus stops back to Clifton, the jacket was next to a bin; it was dirty from being trodden on but it was there! I picked it up in relief and couldn't believe my luck in retrieving what I thought was a lost coat.