When The Night Wind Howls
(Part Two of Two)
23 January 2022
ABOVE: Knaresborough Bus Station, Saturday 8th January 2022
A few months ago, while I was staying in Sheffield, I had a lovely day out that took me to Bakewell and Buxton. From there I went to Macclesfield via a scenic mountainous road across the Peak District. After a few more hours’ travelling, I ended up in Glossop at 6pm.
There really isn’t much to do in Glossop at 6pm, especially when it’s raining heavily. I took the now-defunct X57 bus back into Sheffield. Normally a delightful scenic drive across the Snake Pass, but it was dark so I couldn’t see a thing!
So, after a morning on the Flyers, I’m in Leeds contemplating where to head next. It’s just gone 12, and the light will fade soon after four. As I established on the X57, there’s no point riding buses in rural areas after dark.
So I decide that it’s time to point in the broad direction of my Harrogate hotel, but the long way round. So I’m on the number 7 to Harrogate, which runs via Wetherby and takes about half an hour longer than the 36. From Wetherby I can use my FLYER 1 ticket to take me the rest of the way into Harrogate.
The 7 is a delightful route. We drive through the lovely village of Thorner, home of the stunning St Peter’s Church. Further on, a couple of very tight turns, for a full-length single-decker, bring us into Wetherby’s “Bus Station”.
It’s half a bus station in my view. The majority of services seem to call at Stop A, which is a segregated area with a shelter (albeit not a bus-only road). Stop B, though, is on the main road, Market Place, and one has to cross the road containing Stop A and walk a couple of bus lengths to get to it. There’s nowhere obvious for a terminating bus to stand either.
ABOVE: Wetherby Bus Station, Stop A – stop B is to the right, a couple of bus lengths away. To the left, my lunch stop!
It’s a lovely spot, though, and I stop off here for a proper lunch. The restaurant has a decent view of Market Place and I see several routes coming and going that I hadn’t previously become aware of.
There’s First’s X98, an alternative way from Leeds that is 15 minutes faster.
There’s a Harrogate Bus Company route 8, which takes a longer route into Harrogate and might be worth a try. But there won’t be another one, after the one I have just seen leaving, for THREE hours.
There’s even an Arriva 174 all the way to Wakefield, which also looks like the sort of trip that I would like to try one day.
Right now, though, I’m heading back into Harrogate on route 7; this time using my FLYER 1 ticket which becomes valid here.
The last leg is on a double-decker. Again, I wonder of it’s an ex-London vehicle, and again I’m wrong. (As far as I can tell, it was new to Transdev for its X43 “Witchway” service between Burnley and Manchester – a route which locals will know has a certain Fiz about it.)
We spend about two miles crawling behind a slow-moving farm vehicle. There’s someone in the front seat filming the ride – perhaps you’re reading this? The traffic into Harrogate itself is quite heavy but we arrive on time.
As a result of that lunch stop, it’s turned 1530 by the time I am standing in Harrogate Bus Station again. I want to make a quick trip to the neighbouring town of Knaresborough. It’s only a 20-minute run and the 1-group of services provide eight buses an hour between the two. As a result it’s not a long wait. I am able to board straight away and I suspect there’s nearly always one waiting on the stand.
I take the 1A at 1541 and reach the heart of the town at exactly 1600, having just passed Mother Shipton’s Cave and a rather spectacular crossing of the River Nidd that looks across to the Knaresborough viaduct. It’s a picture postcard scene, but gone far too quickly for me to even switch on the camera. Have a look at this Google image instead.
There are four routes in the 1-group (A, B, C & D). All follow a common routing from Harrogate to Knaresborough before heading off to different suburbs of the latter; each on a half-hourly basis. A nice, easy-to-understand local route offering frequent services.
They’re doing well, too. My journeys out and back are both busy. It shows that it is possible to run a successful bus service in in an affluent, high-car-ownership, rural area; I call this the Isle of Wight model.
Back in Harrogate I spot yet another vehicle that looks like an ex-London bus. I think it now belongs to Connexions, one of the local independents in this area.
It’s a Scania OmniCity that has been re-registered. But a Google check isn’t needed to prove to me that it’s an old London bus. Not only is is still in London red livery, but it still has the “FW” garage code on it, for RATP London United’s Fulwell garage (the vehicle turns out to have been new to RATP London United as its SP 30).
ABOVE: Former London United SP 30, now with Connexions, in Harrogate Bus Station. The FW code is partially-visible above the front wheel
The evening concert is spectacular. A 25-piece orchestra and three soloists offer an appreciative audience not only Gilbert & Sullivan, but works by Mozart, Puccini, several members of the Strauss family, Offenbach, Lehar and others. I know you came here to read about buses, but I have to note that a spirited performance of the Thunder and Lightning Polka is a tour de force for the orchestra’s percussionist!
A day on the buses and a night at the theatre. Right now, everything for me is a source of innocent merriment!