To Hull and Back (Part Two)
17 December 2022
ABOVE: Go East Yorkshire 717 (YX07 HKD), a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini, in Queen Street, Bridlington, is about to take up the 1345 departure to Bridlington on route 130 – the last bus of the day on this route! All pictures in this article taken on Thursday 1st December 2022.
One of the things I have discovered quite quickly whilst planning my travels around East Riding and Humberside is that a lot of the most promising bus rides are not going to be easy to catch up with, because frequencies are relatively low, and because some areas served are relatively isolated.
I love to trek down a road to a place I have never been to before, but, if it’s going to be a fairly small settlement, I won’t be keen on staying that long. I don’t like to go back out on the same bus I have come in on, but equally, I don’t fancy being stuck for a couple of hours or more. Ideally, there will be an alternative bus out.
So planning my two days here has proved quick tricky. I’ve started with the maps of the remarkable Bus Atlas website, and have been trying to plot routes across to Hull from the East Coast Main Line – Newark or Lincoln. On the basis of these great maps, a journey is eminently possible.
But I just can’t plot a route that doesn’t involve a long wait somewhere, or an impossibly tight connection somewhere else. The time of year is also a factor. I’m keen to get to Hull in daylight, which at this time of year means about 3.30pm.
I manage to plot a route that could get me from Scunthorpe to Hull by bus – if I’m prepared to be at London King’s Cross station for an 0733 departure, and take a chance on the train from Doncaster to Scunthorpe, for which the National Rail website carries a dire warning that the service is subject to short notice alteration. I decide not to do this.
How about an indirect route from York, via Selby and Goole? Can’t make that work either – the bus from York to Selby, Arriva’s 415, is every 15 minutes, but there seems to be a real shortage of services from Selby to Goole. There is reportedly a service 401 run by Arriva, but Traveline - normally so accurate - doesn’t find it, either by planning a journey or by looking for the route timetable, and offers me a one-bus per day service that is aimed at schoolchildren and which drops a mile from the town centre. The Arriva site offers a 401 timetable, but most journeys are marked as “term time only”, and they don’t all go to Goole.
I love to trek down a road to a place I have never been to before, but, if it’s going to be a fairly small settlement, I won’t be keen on staying that long. I don’t like to go back out on the same bus I have come in on, but equally, I don’t fancy being stuck for a couple of hours or more. Ideally, there will be an alternative bus out.
So planning my two days here has proved quick tricky. I’ve started with the maps of the remarkable Bus Atlas website, and have been trying to plot routes across to Hull from the East Coast Main Line – Newark or Lincoln. On the basis of these great maps, a journey is eminently possible.
But I just can’t plot a route that doesn’t involve a long wait somewhere, or an impossibly tight connection somewhere else. The time of year is also a factor. I’m keen to get to Hull in daylight, which at this time of year means about 3.30pm.
I manage to plot a route that could get me from Scunthorpe to Hull by bus – if I’m prepared to be at London King’s Cross station for an 0733 departure, and take a chance on the train from Doncaster to Scunthorpe, for which the National Rail website carries a dire warning that the service is subject to short notice alteration. I decide not to do this.
How about an indirect route from York, via Selby and Goole? Can’t make that work either – the bus from York to Selby, Arriva’s 415, is every 15 minutes, but there seems to be a real shortage of services from Selby to Goole. There is reportedly a service 401 run by Arriva, but Traveline - normally so accurate - doesn’t find it, either by planning a journey or by looking for the route timetable, and offers me a one-bus per day service that is aimed at schoolchildren and which drops a mile from the town centre. The Arriva site offers a 401 timetable, but most journeys are marked as “term time only”, and they don’t all go to Goole.
Even if I can get to Goole, the Go East Yorkshire route 55 only runs four times a day, with the rest running only as far west as Gilberdyke Village. I just can’t make it all work.
I reflect on this as I take a tea break in the seaside town of Hornsea, about 12½ miles north-east of Hull (read how I got here in Part One of this story). One of the rides I have already decided is out of my reach is the Go East Yorkshire 130 from here to Bridlington.
On paper (well, on the Bus Atlas map of this region), it looks like one can make a nice day of it by running out from Hull to Withernsea on the 75 or the X7, then on up the coast to Hornsea on the 129, before finishing on the 130.
I have done the first two parts of this, but the reality is that the 130 only runs twice an hour. No, that’s not right … it runs twice a day.
As a Londoner, who is accustomed to 19 buses per hour on my Southall to Ealing corridor on a Sunday (24 on weekdays, since you ask), the concept of a service that only runs twice a day is a hard one to grasp. In practice, I have written off the 130 completely before I have even stepped onto the train at King’s Cross.
When I arrive, my plan from Hornsea is to leave on the number 25 to Hessle. Another Go East Yorkshire route, this only runs every two hours (hourly as far as Beverley), but is a lengthy run that looks like it could be interesting. Unfortunately, my arrival misses the 25 by about 15 minutes, leaving me with almost two hours to pass.
I have a look at the bus stop timetable to see if anything interesting is due through during the period, and discover that the 130 is due in ‘only’ 40 minutes, at 1230. All at once I have changed my plans. Hessle will have to wait for another day.
A double-decker turns up – a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini. For a route that only runs twice a day, a double-decker is an unexpected bonus. The bus has already come a couple of stops from its terminus at Cliff Road, and there are two passengers already on board. We pick up two more in the Town Centre.
Ironically, we’re briefly following a route 25 bus, although this one is only going to Beverley. Our routes diverge immediately after Hornsea Market Place.
Go East Yorkshire 724 (YX57 BWF), a Volvo B9TL ADL Enviro400, is right in front of my 130 at Newbegin in Hornsea, whilst on a short-working of route 25 to Beverley.
Atwick, two miles north of Hornsea
This service loosely provides a reasonably straight run north to Bridlington. I say loosely, as there are a number of local deviations, as you will see. It looks like the whole of this stretch of the coast comprises of holiday parks, and I pass many “holiday homes for sale” signs.
We come into the village of Skipsea, six miles north of Hornsea, where the other four passengers all leave. It’s just the driver and me now; as it will be all the way to Bridlington.
The approach to Skipsea village
It’s a lovely ride. We take a detour at Skipsea to drive one mile down a road to the Skipsea Sands Holiday Park. There are no customers for us.
Part-way through the double-run to Skipsea Sands Holiday Park
Presumably this route justifies its existence in the summer, but, on 1st December, there aren’t going to be that many holidaymakers in the area. We then retrace our steps all the way back to Skipsea – we have no choice; there’s no other road available.
A few minutes later, we’re on another one mile each way double-run to the Seaside Caravan Park in Ulrome. Here, a three-point turn is necessary to get us pointing back towards the main road.
Presumably this route justifies its existence in the summer, but, on 1st December, there aren’t going to be that many holidaymakers in the area. We then retrace our steps all the way back to Skipsea – we have no choice; there’s no other road available.
A few minutes later, we’re on another one mile each way double-run to the Seaside Caravan Park in Ulrome. Here, a three-point turn is necessary to get us pointing back towards the main road.
The bleak coastline of Ulrome is in the distance. This is as close as we get, though, as the bus is about to reverse into the road on the left to turn round.
We take a circular detour around the village of Lissett, and a little further along take another double-run into the pretty village of Barmston. A tight three-point turn is needed again here. All this way, we’re close to the coast, but never quite close enough to get a full view of the sea (I love a sea view).
St James of Compostella church in Lissett
The Black Bull in Barmston. We’re about to turn round and will be back to serve the bus stop on the other side of the road shortly.
There’s one final double-run to be had on the outskirts of Bridlington, to serve the sizeable South Shore Holiday Village – so sizeable that I think we’re driving through the middle of it. We also come close to the Bridlington Park & Ride facility, but it’s closed for the winter (apparently, in summer, one can use the bus or the Land Train to get into town)! A U-turn around a car park avoids the need for another three-point turn.
We arrive in Bridlington on time, at 1335. I have already noted, from a Go East Yorkshire website service update, that the bus station is temporarily closed for resurfacing, so I’m dropped off in the Town Centre. The advice on the website suggests that buses are picking up from “Promenade”.
The south side of the Harbour is just around the corner, but there’s nothing on the bus stops there to suggest that this is the right place. It isn’t. It turns out that the stop I have been dropped off at is the one I need (and Bridlington’s “Promenade” is not quite on the seafront)!
Bridlington Harbour
From here, my plan is to travel the full length of route 121 back to Hull. But fortune intervenes again, in a positive way…
Just a few minutes after the 121 is due is a journey on route 136 to Driffield at 1430. This only runs five times a day and the fates have allowed me to sample it. (The fates will re-balance things near this very spot in just over 24 hours’ time…)
It turns up on time, and is an Enviro200 MMC – an 8.9m model. It’s branded for the route. We’re soon heading out of town with six passengers on board; the first of whom leaves on the edge of town. The remainder are here for a longer ride, though.
If the ride seems familiar, that’s because it is! We’re exactly retracing the route of the 130 – including all of the various holiday parks and double-runs. Back to the South Shore Holiday Village, then another three-point turn in Barmston (at least it’s worth it this time as three passengers get off). Back on a circular tour of Lissett, then another trek down to the Seaside Caravan Park in Ulrome.
Some of the stopping arrangements on this route are wonderfully informal. On the main road just after Barmston, a passenger rings the bell and asks the driver to “just drop me at the layby”; she does so.
The 130 and 136 could clearly complement one another, but the timetables don’t seem to do so. Monday to Friday departures from Skipsea (after the Skipsea Sands double run) towards Bridlington on the 136 are at 0752, 1012, 1312 and 1612 (only four journeys north), whilst those on the 130 are at 0947 and 1247. So some journeys in really close succession, then hours without a service at all.
The last passenger on the 136, other than me, gets off in Skipsea, leaving just the driver and me to enjoy another run down to the Skipsea Sands Holiday Park and back.
All Saints Church, Skipsea. The 'light sabres' running through the tower are actually reflections of the fluorescent lights on my bus!
After Skipsea, the 136 diverges from the 130, through Beeford and on towards Driffield.
The Tiger Inn, Beeford (taken from a moving bus, in fading light)
We run alongside the River Hull for a couple of miles, but the fading light means that none of my photos of this stretch are good enough to post here.
We lose a couple of minutes at a level crossing near Driffield station; the junction here is busy and tight, and the driver actually stops the bus on the railway line for five or ten seconds because she can’t clear the junction. Hmm...
A view of Driffield Station, taken from the level crossing, where the bus has stopped for a little longer than would be ideal...
By the time I reach Driffield, about five minutes late at 1545, it is already getting dark. I have been the only passenger since Skipsea, but there’s a decent crowd waiting here for the return journey.
Go East Yorkshire 515 (YX19 OVS), an ADL Enviro200 MMC, has just brought me to George Street, Driffield. A bigger crowd awaits the return service than the maximum of six that we carried from Bridlington.
All that is left now is for me to return to Hull, and the 121 bus will do that for me. It’s due in about 20 minutes and picks up just around the corner, on Middle Street South.
Or does it? I reach the stop and find an extremely unhelpful notice:
As it is 1st December, has the stop reopened today, or is it still closed until tomorrow? Where do I go instead?
I walk down the road towards the railway station, and come to a bus stop further down Middle Street South. There’s no closure notice and there are people waiting, so this looks hopeful. Behind the bus stop is a Hand Car Wash business, in a cavernous building that looks just like an old bus garage (and it turns out that it was indeed an East Yorkshire depot until a few years ago).
The good news is that the 121 bus turns up, on time at 1604, and it comes out of a side road, suggesting that my walk down Middle Street South was sensible. It’s a smart Volvo B5TL MCV eVoSeti.
I walk down the road towards the railway station, and come to a bus stop further down Middle Street South. There’s no closure notice and there are people waiting, so this looks hopeful. Behind the bus stop is a Hand Car Wash business, in a cavernous building that looks just like an old bus garage (and it turns out that it was indeed an East Yorkshire depot until a few years ago).
The good news is that the 121 bus turns up, on time at 1604, and it comes out of a side road, suggesting that my walk down Middle Street South was sensible. It’s a smart Volvo B5TL MCV eVoSeti.
Go East Yorkshire 807 (BF67 GHK) is a Volvo B5TL MCV eVoSeti, and is about to form the 1420 departure from Queen Street, Bridlington, on route 121 to Hull
For school run time, it’s surprisingly quiet, but it gets steadily busier as we head south. Having taken the 136 detour, I’m an hour later than I would otherwise have been, and this journey is wholly in the dark. Beverley, the main town between Driffield and Hull looks attractive, even in the dark. I must stop off here one day.
I take a shortcut at the end of the run, getting off on the Beverley Road at Evergreen Drive, at about 1655, rather than going on to Hull City Centre. From here, a 20-minute walk will take me back to my hotel at Kingswood Retail Park. It’s a challenging walk, which I shall talk about in Part 3, where we will also travel on what I think is one of the most scenic bus routes in Britain...
To be continued...