100 British Bus Routes: Route 7
Alum Bay to Newport (Isle of Wight)
13 August 2022
ABOVE: Southern Vectis 1670 (HW67 AKN), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, at the Simeon Monument between Newport and Carisbrooke. Having left Newport at 1145, this bus will be doing the more northerly of the two variations of route 7 between Carisbrooke and Yarmouth. All pictures in this article were taken on Friday 15th July 2022.
Operator: Southern Vectis
Runs: Daily, with full evening service (limited evening service Alum Bay to Totland)
Weekday frequency: Every 30 minutes
Estimated Vehicle Requirement: Five buses
Off-peak journey time: 60-70 minutes
Estimated route length: 15-16 miles
Runs: Daily, with full evening service (limited evening service Alum Bay to Totland)
Weekday frequency: Every 30 minutes
Estimated Vehicle Requirement: Five buses
Off-peak journey time: 60-70 minutes
Estimated route length: 15-16 miles
I’m about as far west as it is possible to go on the Isle of Wight without getting your feet wet.
Alum Bay is close to The Needles, a row of three stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea; well known for its multi-coloured sand cliffs. The sands are made of three minerals – quartz, felspar and mica, and in their pure state are white, with other colours being produced through contamination by other minerals. I didn’t know this, but it’s on the Needles website.
Approximately 70 million years ago (again according to the Needles website), the sea bed rose, was eroded and then sank beneath the sea again. The new sea was shallow and it laid down a series of sands and clays. Some 10 million years later, movement in the bedrock caused these sediments to be pushed nearly vertically to form the multi-coloured cliffs that are visible today.
The Alum Bay bus stop isn’t quite at the Needles, but at the entrance to the Needles ‘Landmark Attraction’, from which access to the beach is available via a Chair Lift.
This tourist spot has four bus services calling in – route 12 from Newport via Brighstone; two of the special tourist summer services (the Island Coaster and the Needles Breezer), and route 7. I wrote about route 12 recently, and in fact I am now in Alum Bay as a result of a ride on that service.
I think any of the principal routes operated by Southern Vectis (routes 1 to 9) could qualify for being in my 100, and I was initially planning to feature route 1 (Newport to Cowes) in this series. But the feature on that route that I wanted to highlight – a very tight turn into the Red Jet Terminal at Cowes – has been discontinued. So I have decided to go for the very pretty route 7 instead.
ABOVE: 1670 again, at the Alum Bay terminus of route 7, awaiting departure time on the 1025 service to Newport. This journey will take the southern routing through Newbridge.
I board the 1055 service at Alum Bay, where I am greeted by a cheerful bus driver who seems to know that I’m having a day on the buses – how? Perhaps because I’m leaving an ‘all day’ tourist spot at 10.55am, and I’m on my own? Perhaps he was one of my drivers the previous day? Or perhaps it was my specially-made t-shirt labelled “View-from-the-top-deck.blog” that gave it away? (Spoiler alert: I do not own such a t-shirt.)
It’s a very pretty part of the island, with streams running alongside the roads, and lots of lovely dwellings. But the whole area seems to be plagued by roadworks at the moment. I think we pass through four sets of temporary traffic lights before Yarmouth, which is less than halfway.
The first place of any size is Totland, a village adjacent to Totland Bay.
ABOVE: Totland War Memorial
The bus pulls inland, though, to Freshwater, a “large village” according to Wikipedia. The centre of the village is as far from the coast as it is possible to be in this area (where it’s only about two miles north-to-south, coast-to-coast). The journey has been fairly quiet thus far, but starts to get busier here.
ABOVE: ADL Enviro400 1618 (HJ16 HSK), heading for Alum Bay, squeezes out of the way of my bus and other traffic, through Silcombe Lane in Freshwater, where the temporary traffic lights, and associated roadworks, have made things very tight – just look at the angle of the front wheel of the bus! There’s another road behind the bus as well!
Beyond Freshwater, we use the main road (there are few others) into Yarmouth. We’re about three-quarters of a mile inland from a point called Cliff End. In the opposite direction, Cliff End is the closest point on the island to the mainland, at Hurst Castle near Milford on Sea (no hyphens). It’s under a mile across the water, so we’re less than two miles from the mainland here.
ABOVE: The approaches to Yarmouth give us a decent view across the Solent towards the mainland; maybe Lymington, or a little further east towards the North Solent National Nature Reserve.
ABOVE: 1521 (HW62 CMZ) is another Enviro 400 en route to Alum Bay, on the road out of Yarmouth towards Totland.
We’re soon into Yarmouth. It’s a lovely sunny day and that makes all the sea views here look delightful too! Yarmouth Harbour is where the Western Yar river, which originates in Freshwater, meets the Solent.
ABOVE: Yarmouth Harbour, crossing the Western Yar
The bus station here is basic but practical. The ferries from Lymington come in here and the area adjacent to the bus station is where the port traffic gathers.
ABOVE: Yarmouth Bus Station and the adjacent queues for the Lymington Ferry
Yarmouth is a small but picturesque town with some very tight streets. You would never get a bus into the High Street here! There’s a 16th century castle too, a restored artillery fortress.
Some of the best views of the Solent can be seen on the road out of Yarmouth.
ABOVE: Looking across the Solent from Yarmouth waterfront
Route 7 is one of three routes on the island that has two distinct routings (the others being the 1 and the 9). No ‘A’ variants are felt to be necessary. The two paths of route 7 diverge on the coastal road at Thorley Road. As the basic route is half-hourly, the variants each see an hourly service.
The southern route heads into the countryside. The roads around the village of Thorley are very narrow, although there isn’t much traffic around. There are only a handful of houses round here, it seems. This is farming and campsite territory, including an Alpaca Farm in Wellow. It’s a bit more built-up in Newbridge and Calbourne, the major traffic objectives on this part of the route, but then it’s back into the country again.
The northern route is also countrified, but the roads feel wider, and you’re less of the view that a lorry or tractor turning up at the wrong point could quickly get everyone gridlocked! The biggest intermediate point on this route is Shalfleet. There’s a tight spot beside the New Inn public house; fortunately it is controlled by traffic lights.
ABOVE: New Inn, Shalfleet
The two variations come together again at Carisbrooke, west of Newport.
ABOVE: Looking south towards Carisbrooke Castle, just before the two sections of route 7 come back together.
Carisbrooke was for centuries the island ‘s capital, and there was once a Marquess of Carisbrooke, Lord Alexander Mountbatten, the last-surviving Grandson of Queen Victoria. The title, which was created in 1917, ceased in 1960 upon his death, as he had no son to pass it on to.
The traffic is becoming quite heavy as we venture towards the centre of Newport, and we have a healthy load by this point. Despite the traffic, our arrival at the Bus Station is on time at 1200. Having come in on the northern route, the bus will now do a round trip on the southern route.
ABOVE: 1521 again, in St James’ Street Newport, just around the corner from the Bus Station where it will terminate.
There’s less transport provision in the western half of the island, as there’s less to provide for. The 7 is the principle route on this side of the island, and a round trip is well worth doing. I would recommend the northern variation.