Random Journeys in West Cornwall
12 March 2023
ABOVE: First Kernow 53505 (YJ56 AOU) is a 7.1m Optare Solo. It's just starting another trip from Mousehole to Penzance when seen on Saturday 27th August 2022.
If I have learnt one lesson about my bus travels, it has surely been that just turning up doesn't work - it is better to have a plan, and to stick to it.
But have I actually learnt that lesson? I have thought about it, yes, but, if I had learnt it, then surely I wouldn't keep setting off without a plan?
But here I am, in Truro Bus Station, lacking a plan that goes beyond "let's see what turns up and where it takes me". I've come this way because it is evident that there is a variety of services to choose from here. This is reinforced by the presence, in the bus station, of a full printed set of the three bus service guides for West, Mid and East Cornwall, which means that I am no longer reliant on my weak phone signal to check where a bus might be going and how long it might take to get there.
But have I actually learnt that lesson? I have thought about it, yes, but, if I had learnt it, then surely I wouldn't keep setting off without a plan?
But here I am, in Truro Bus Station, lacking a plan that goes beyond "let's see what turns up and where it takes me". I've come this way because it is evident that there is a variety of services to choose from here. This is reinforced by the presence, in the bus station, of a full printed set of the three bus service guides for West, Mid and East Cornwall, which means that I am no longer reliant on my weak phone signal to check where a bus might be going and how long it might take to get there.
An unidentified ADL Enviro200 MMC at Truro Bus Station on Wednesday 24th August 2022.
It's only been a few hours since I was last here, in the course of a trip from Plymouth to Penzance. Again, that trip was only partially planned, but it worked out OK, which is why I've come back this morning.
There's a variation on a familiar children's game being played by a child in a pushchair: "I spy, with my little Y, something with lots of windows"...
And the first bus off the blocks from Truro bus station is - route L3 towards Helston. It's a fairly rare beast, running five times a day (as at the time of my visit), and is perfect for my quest to see something new. I've never been to Helston (my previously-recorded trip on route 34 is yet to happen at this point), and the journey will also cover new ground en route.
Route L3 is operated by First Kernow. Go Cornwall appears to be the dominant operator in the eastern half of the county, but First is in the ascendancy further west. I'm on a Volvo B7TL Wright Eclipse Gemini which has come from Glasgow at some point (based on the words "First Glasgow" on the numberplate).
We leave Truro Bus Station on time at 1025, with about a dozen passengers on board. We come quickly to Lander's Monument, a memorial to the 19th Century explorer Richard Lander, who was born and educated in Truro.
Lander's Monument, on Thursday 25th August 2022
The journey starts down the trunk A39 road, which is initially dual-carriageway. We take an intriguing detour to serve the village of Carnon Downs. It involves leaving the main road at a roundabout, running down a parallel road and then turning right to cross over the main road. After that we turn right again and head back towards the same roundabout, to re-join the main road. The final trick is to pass under the bridge we have just crossed over!
Approaching the Carnon Gate Roundabout, near Devoran, on route L3 towards Helston. It's Thursday 25th August 2022
We deviate from the trunk road to call in at the Penryn Campus of the University of Exeter (Exeter is 80-odd miles as the crow flies). It's noticeable how many cars are parked up on site, even though it's August- could be enrolment time, I suppose.
It's clearly an important seat of learning. There are several bus stops and a whole series of dedicated U-prefixed services to the campus, to ensure that not everyone needs to be dependant on a car. There's a Megabus stop as well for the longer-distance travellers.
The L3 is popular as well. Several people join as we progress, some of whom join at unmarked places which are presumably recognised as bus stops.
Go Cornwall 2201 (YY64 GXJ) is a 9.7m ADL Enviro 200. It's seen here near Helston Tesco, working town service 37, on Thursday 25th August 2022
The majority of people leave at Helston Tesco, and only a handful of us are left for the last lap.
That last lap becomes a little more complicated than expected as, when we reach Helston Sainsbury's, the driver announces that we need to change to another vehicle. The new vehicle - another B7TL, albeit a couple of years older - is waiting for us, but we lose valuable time making the change. Only three of us are still on board when we arrive at the terminus on Coinagehall Street, ten minutes later than scheduled at 1130.
First Kernow 32554 (SF54 OSU) has just covered the last section of the journey on route L3 from Truro to Helston, Coinagehall Street (having stepped in at Helston Sainsbury's when the original vehicle was substituted). My next bus, on Thursday 25th August 2022, is the open-topper in the background, working route L5 to St Ives.
From here, it's a no-brainer as to where I am going next. There's an open-top bus standing in the stop opposite on route L5 to St Ives. I nip across quickly and board, but it turns out that it's not leaving for another five minutes anyway.
This bus runs five trips a day at two-hourly intervals (the mid-afternoon journeys don't run on schooldays). This vehicle is a converted ADL Enviro400. The front five rows remain covered and the rear section is open.
I find it quite intriguing that an Enviro400 has already been converted to open-top, as I regard these buses as very much the current generation of double-decker. But this bus is one of the very early examples, a 56-reg, so already 16 years old - I can't believe Enviros have been around so long! I suppose technically the 'classic' Enviro400 is no longer the current generation, as the MMC version has been around since 2016.
The front seat isn't free, but who needs a front seat when one can sit in the open section at the back!
It's a glorious day, and the trip to St Ives will take 47 minutes. We leave with 14 passengers on board, only one of whom is travelling downstairs!
It's breath-taking (literally) heading down those fast roads with the wind blowing in my face! I put my hat in my pocket and hold onto my bag and phone (camera) very tightly!
Helston, at the junction of the Penzance Road with St John's Road. Taken from the open-top deck of a route L5 bus on Thursday 25th August 2022
At Hayle, we're crossing the route of the Great Western Railway main line, which is also covered by the Tinner bus T1, which I really do need to devote an article to one day.
One advantage of the open-top is the ability to capture unusual sights at side angles, such as the White Hart that adorns the hotel of the same name on Foundry Hill in Hayle.
The White Hart Hotel, Hayle, on Thursday 25th August 2022
We take a detour to serve the St Ives Holiday Village. It's a two-mile long double-run, but well worth it both for the scenery, and for the passengers who are waiting at the Holiday Village for a lift to St Ives.
If you like scenery, there is no better way to arrive into St Ives than by open-top bus. The Harbour is laid out like a picture postcard - the scene captured by a thousand amateur and professional paintings.
Such a picturesque scene, if you can ignore the wheelie bin in the foreground! St Ives Harbour on Thursday 25th August 2022
It's an extremely busy town and the streets are very tight. Buses terminate at the top of the town, at the Malakoff Bus Station - the streets are too narrow for them to penetrate any further.
"Bus Station" might be too strong a descriptor here. It's basically a turning space (requiring reversing) and one has to hope that two buses don't turn up at the same time. There is a covered waiting area / tourist centre (with printed leaflets and timetables!) but most buses, having turned round, pick up at the bus stop just outside the turning circle, on The Terrace.
First Kernow 32621 (SF54 TLX), a Volvo B7TL Wright Eclipse Gemini, turns at the Bus Station in St Ives on Thursday 25th August 2022
Two days later, I'm back in St Ives, having this time arrived on the "Land's End Coaster" service from Penzance. This is perhaps the most important of the various tourist-orientated buses in the region. The full trip is a three-and-three-quarter hours circuit from Penzance, on another open-top bus.
The full circuit runs to St Ives and then follows the north-west coast around Cornwall to Land's End, before heading back into Penzance. Buses run both ways around the circuit.
I've turned up for the 1000 anti-clockwise departure from Penzance Bus Station. I've passed through this bus station several times over the course of my visit to Cornwall, and it's very busy - especially as it's high tourist season. There's plenty of room for the buses themselves, and there's a decent parking area for layovers, but the passenger waiting area is congested, with a long, single shelter serving the six bus stands.
Penzance Bus Station on Friday 26th August 2022. An Optare Solo awaits departure on "The Mousehole" service, of which more below.
On the plus side, there are toilets nearby, a little café van is parked up, and it's all right next to the railway station. Plus we're on the seafront, next to the harbour. Not a bad environment on a bright summer's morning.
A trio of First Kernow Volvos are in evidence at Penzance bus station on Friday 26th August 2022. Centre stage is 32621 again, probably on route 17 to St Ives. The "unique" vehicle on the left is 37183 (SF07 FDU). The bus has often been used on route U4 to Falmouth, so "unique" may be derived from "uni"... On the right is a vehicle on the Land's End Coaster service, with the branding illustrating the places served.
One thing that does strike me is the different styles of the timetable posters for Go Cornwall and First Kernow. The Go Cornwall poster lists all routes on departure times based on which stand they leave from. The adjacent First Kernow poster lists route departures in numerical / alphabetical order (a lot of its routes here have names not numbers), and then provides full route timetables alongside.
I'm also quite amused by how Mon-Fri and Saturday times have been separated out on the Go Cornwall listing, even when both sets of times are often exactly the same. I assume it's for consistency with other parts of the poster where times vary, but it looks quite funny!
Back to the "Land's End Coaster". There can't be many bus stations in Britain where an open-top bus pulls up to the stand and you have to check that it's the right one! But there are other open-top services from here so best to make sure.
The 1000 departure on a Saturday morning in late August may not be the best choice for a peaceful ride, and we leave with a decent load, with me up towards the back of the bus, hat in pocket and bag and phone (camera) once again held very tight.
This bus takes the coastal route through Marazion, on the shores of Mount's Bay, and offers views of St Michael's Mount, an island with a medieval castle and a Norman church. It's one of the various places around Britain that has causeway access at low tide, which is cut off as the waters rise. Marazion Beach is pretty impressive too, in the morning sun.
St Michael's Mount and Marazion beach, in the morning sunshine of Saturday 27th August 2022
I have boarded the "Land's End Coaster" with a vague notion of going all the way to Land's End - which in this direction will take two hours and 35 minutes, as opposed to one hour and two minutes on the clockwise route. But it's not really a full plan (see what I mean about not having a plan)?
Unusually it's a dual-doored vehicle. We pick up people along the way, and are getting extremely busy by the time we reach the St Ives Holiday Village, using the same two-mile double-run as on the L5 a couple of days earlier. The number of people waiting is substantial, and we're loading for several minutes. The upper deck of the bus is now full, and I reckon that the lower deck may be full-and-standing, but I'm sitting on the wrong side to see whether anyone has been left behind.
We're already eight minutes late by the time we pull into Malakoff bus station, and I decide to leave at this point. Everyone else is doing the same so unloading takes several minutes. I'm on a tap-on, tap-off service so need to tap-off here, but the tap-off facility is, inexplicably, at the front door rather than the exit door. The driver has started loading afresh (there feels to be a full bus load waiting to explore the north coast), and people have made it to the bottom of the stairs. The result is a solid wall of people between me and the touch-off reader. I manage to squeeze through somehow, but the reader, like most this week, isn't working anyway!
My two trips out of Land's End both involve the local route 17. This is the direct route, not aimed at tourists like the "Coaster". It runs every half-hour, but something isn't right with the Saturday run, which is scheduled to leave at 1057 or 1127. But my service is pulling out at 1117. It is presumably the 1057 service, running late.
But two stops down the road, the driver pulls up and stops the engine. We're parked here for four minutes while he makes a phone call. It's not clear whether he has a problem, and what that problem might be, and he does not enlighten us.
At St Erth station, it's clear that the bus is not the only route that people are using to get to St Ives, as the number of passengers waiting on the station is testament to.
St Erth station on Saturday 27th August 2022. This is the bay platform from which the service to St Ives operates.
At the adjacent bus station at St Erth, we again stop for several minutes while the driver makes another phone call. We pull into Penzance about 25 minutes later than scheduled; the next 17 comes in, on time, five minutes later.
An unidentified Enviro200 MMC loads at Penzance Bus Station on Saturday 27th August 2022
Time for a quick trip into the fishing port village of Mousehole, on a route that is called "The Mousehole". This First Kernow route normally uses small Optare Solos, presumably on account of the tight roads of the village of Mousehole itself. (Having said that, there was a double-decker out on the route a few days earlier.)
My bus seats 21, and 15 board at Penzance Bus Station. Mousehole is just a couple of miles from Penzance as the crow flies, but of course the crow can fly over the water, which the buses cannot. So it's a semi-circular run through the south-western suburbs of Penzance, before we turn south-eastwards towards Newlyn.
At Rope Walk, on the edge of Penzance, I record the most westerly point of my travels for the whole of 2022 (spoiler alert - I don't get to Land's End).
The roads into Mousehole are incredibly tight. And just when I think it can't get any more challenging for the driver, a three-point turn is undertaken right beside the harbour wall!
First Kernow 53505 (YJ56 AOU) is undertaking a tricky reversing manoeuvre on Saturday 27th August 2022, whilst working "The Mousehole" route back to Penzance. This is Mousehole itself, and my initial assumption was that this was the route out of town. But no, a three-point turn is necessary, and I need to get out of the way!
I do wonder whether the double-decker that was on "The Mousehole" route a few days earlier had to turn round short of the village itself, as the roads are so tight. But it's a lovely village and well worth the 21-minute ride out from Penzance.
The stunning bay at Mousehole, in the early afternoon sunshine of Saturday 27th August 2022
Just after the previous photograph was taken, this is another view of Mousehole, as the next departure of "the Mousehole" bus edges around the corner into North Cliff
When I get back to Penzance, two "Land's End Coasters" are coming in together (one from each direction, presumably). I recognise my "Coaster" vehicle from earlier in the day. The anti-clockwise service, which I left at St Ives, when it was running eight minutes late, has lost a further 22 minutes whilst completing the circuit. It's finally made it back to Penzance half an hour late!