Richmond to Richmond by bus Part Two

Richmond to Richmond: Part Two

25 June 2023

ABOVE: Kinchbus 150 (YX20 OHE), an ADL Enviro200 MMC, approaches Derby Railway station, en route to Leicester on the "Skylink Derby" service, on Tuesday 13th June 2023.

THE STORY SO FAR...
Your intrepid blogger is making a trip, using only local bus services, from Richmond, North Yorkshire, to Richmond, Surrey. In Part One, we travelled through Yorkshire - through small towns where parking was paid for through honesty boxes, via Ripon's Market Day, where 54 people rolled into town on the number 36, and south on a nearly-new bus with a not very pleasant smell! Now, we're in Barnsley, having just missed the X17 bus towards Chesterfield...

The population of Barnsley at the last Census wasn't far short of 100,000. It's a town that has seen some redevelopment in recent years, and the square that one wanders into, immediately after leaving the Transport Interchange, is modern and sophisticated, and comes complete with a 'pet' for the community.

ABOVE: The modern feel of the centre of Barnsley. Centre stage is "Charles the T-Rex", apparently named after our Monarch. Taken on Thursday 8th June 2023.

I arrived here intending to travel south on the Stagecoach X17 service to Chesterfield, but there’s a 76-minute gap in the service now, until 1735. This is a quirk of many bus timetables throughout the country - as the School Run and evening rush hour extend journey times, operators widen their basic frequencies rather than adding an extra vehicle to the allocation.

But there is another way out of Barnsley. Stagecoach Yorkshire route 2 to Sheffield is just boarding for its 1715 departure as I reach the bus station. It will make the overall journey slightly longer, but will give me a couple of more interesting variations (and for anyone counting the cost of the overall journey, it will cost an extra two quid)!

It's a busy departure - not surprising given the hour - on an Enviro400 (with what sounds like a Scania chassis underneath).

ABOVE: A Stagecoach Enviro400 on Cross Hill, Ecclesfield, whilst working route 2 (Sheffield to Barnsley) on 8th June 2023.

The 2 and the X17 start off down the same road out of Barnsley - the A61 - although the X17 is limited stop over this section. They go their separate ways after Worsbrough, with the X17 homing in on a section of the M1 motorway to speed its way into Sheffield, taking 54 minutes compared to our 81.

We continue on a broadly-southern trajectory, through Birdwall, Hoytown, Chapeltown and Ecclesfield, with the rural nature of the first part of the journey gradually becoming more urban in nature as we approach the City Centre.

Stagecoach Yorkshire 36714 (YN62 BHX) is an ADL Enviro200, seen here at Milton Road, Hoyland, working route 67a (Barnsley to Wombwell) on 8th June 2023.

There’s a family group of six or seven on board, including a pre-school child who keeps swearing out loud. She knows it’s wrong, because she keeps laughing as she does it and, and she gets told off repeatedly.

I don’t know whether to feel embarrassed for the family or to wonder where she has picked up the words from in the first place! I can’t work out the exact relationships within the group, but they seem to find the whole scenario amusing rather than shocking.

ABOVE: Stagecoach Yorkshire 19199 (NK57 DWD), an ADL Enviro 400, works route 88 (Ecclesfield to Bent Green), passing a First South Yorkshire Wright StreetDeck HEV on route 1a (Chapeltown to Herdings), at the Northern General Hospital, north of Sheffield, on 8th June 2023.

The passenger numbers thin out gradually as we progress, and we're down to a mere handful by the time we reach Sheffield. I leave in Haymarket, immediately to the north of the main city tram line.

ABOVE: I just have to take a photo of a tram whilst passing through Central Sheffield on 8th June 2023. By chance, this is one of the Tram-Train units bought for use for the Sheffield Supertram extension to Rotherham via National Rail tracks. It has just served the Fitzalan Square / Ponds Forge stop in Commercial Street and is only two stops from the Cathedral terminus.

I have a rough idea where to catch the bus to Chesterfield from, and am glad when my hunch pays off. I’m at the stop in Arundel Gate, just beyond the tram route, which is also served by the X17.

One comes through as I arrive; this is the same service that I would have caught from Barnsley if I hadn’t jumped onto the number 2.

But I’m no longer looking for the X17; I have my eye now on the Stagecoach Yorkshire service 43, which provides a more ... comprehensive ... run into Chesterfield. The next service is due at 1842.

The bus that turns up is an Enviro400 MMC, in Stagecoach Gold livery and branded for the X17. There are only two passengers on board, but both front seats have already gone – that's just not giving me a sporting chance!

With a grand total of three passengers at the start I am anticipating a quiet run, until we reach the next stop and pick up another seven or eight. As we progress out of the City Centre, the bus gets steadily busier.

Again the X17 has some quick runs down dual carriageways to reduce the journey time. It will take 43 minutes compared to our 62. But those extra 19 minutes are well worth it to me, because we venture into the towns that sit between Sheffield and Chesterfield.

South of Meadowhead, and just before crossing the major Bowshaw Roundabout (which could probably do with some traffic lights to control the flows), I am finally leaving Yorkshire, which has been with me since the start of this journey.

We enter Dronfield. The name reportedly comes from the Old English 'Dranfield', meaning an open land infested with drone bees (source: Peak District Online).

ABOVE: A general view of Dronfield (and doesn't it look lovely), on 8th June 2023.

Both front seats become available at the same time and I am able to take up pole position for what will be the best part of the journey. The hilly terrain makes for a very scenic drive where one can often see for miles around.

ABOVE: Stagecoach Yorkshire 15825 (YN12 GYP), a Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400, in Dronfield on its way to Sheffield, on 8th June 2023.

The route of the 43 re-joins that of the X17 at Whittington Moor, and there's an X17 just in front of us. This will be a service that left Sheffield at 1902; so the service after the one I would have been on (the X17 runs half-hourly beyond Sheffield).

By this point the bus has emptied out considerably and, as Chesterfield comes into view, I am the last person on board.

Here, I can see the famous Parish Church of St Mary and All Saints, with its crooked spire.

A view of the famous "Crooked Spire" parish church of St Mary and All Saints, seen from Holywell Street, in the mid-evening sunshine of 8th June 2023.

There are numerous theories as to why the 14th Century spire is crooked. Heat from the sun, the weight of lead (added in the 17th Century), subsidence, strong winds or even earthquakes have been mooted as possible causes.

And of course, there are plenty of local legends as well. In one story, a Bolsover blacksmith mis-shod a hoof of the devil, who leapt over the spire in pain and angrily kicked it out of shape. Another suggests that the spire, so captivated by the beauty of a bride, leant down for a closer view but became locked in a twisted position. My favourite is the suggestion that the devil twisted the spire when a virgin married in the church, saying that he would untwist it when the next virgin got married there (still awaited, apparently).

There are about one hundred twisted bell towers in Europe, according to Wikipedia, including six others in the UK!

Here is where I stop for the night. The bus has arrived about seven minutes early, at 1935. I have been travelling for just under nine-and-a-half hours.

The next day starts bright and sunny as I make my way to the array of bus stops in New Beetwell Street. My first departure today is the Trent Barton “Comet” service to Derby.

The service I want is due at 0815, but advice on the Trent Barton website about service changes implies that the service has been retimed to 0805, which is a little worrying:

Despite the assertion that the service is going to run 10 minutes earlier, it is still listed for 0815; on Traveline, on Trent Barton's website, and in the bus stop itself.

"Comet" services are usually operated by Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse Urbans, but the vehicle that turns up this morning is a short Optare Solo.

ABOVE: Trent Barton Optare Solo 482 (FJ09 MWK) substitutes for the normal vehicle on "The Comet". It is seen here in New Beetwell Street, Chesterfield, on Friday 9th June 2023. The Coach Station is just out of shot, to the right (beyond the Give Way lines).

As eight people board at the first stop, and two more join soon after, it feels as though capacity is going to be tight. It is indeed 0815 when we leave Chesterfield.

There are a few strange markings on the window, which fit into an overall livery that intrudes across the windows. It might make sense from outside but just looks silly from within. There are also still signs on display insisting on the wearing of face coverings.

By the time we reach Alfreton, there are 15 passengers on board. Most leave here but a new group replace them.

This is another route that is a very straightforward north / south run. There's less passenger churn on the second half of the journey and it remains rural as far as Little Eaton, just over three miles from Derby City Centre. Despite my early concerns, the capacity has been sufficient after all.

ABOVE: Crossing the Exeter Bridge on the final approach into Derby, on 9th June 2023.

We arrive into Derby on time at 0944. This journey is timed to take 10 minutes longer than any other on the route, but an examination of the timetable shows that to just be a longer stand time at Alfreton Bus Station rather than anything more significant.

At Derby Bus Station I jump straight across to a waiting "Skylink Derby" service, to Leicester. This is run by Kinchbus, another subsidiary of Wellglade Group alongside Trent Barton. The buses on this service are high-quality ADL Enviro200 MMCs of 11.8m length.

I had been aiming for the 1000 service, which is still 15 minutes away. As I board this bus I realise that waiting might have been better - there are no inside seats left. I assume this is the 0940 service, although it's closer to 0945 as we leave.

ABOVE: A busy scene at Derby Bus Station, on the morning of 9th June 2023. As my "Comet" arrives, another (longer) Trent Barton Optare Solo, 495 (YJ12 NBD) reverses off the stand to start its run on route 32 to Illkeston. An Arriva Scania is pulling off as well. Hidden behind the route 32 vehicle is the "Skylink" service that I will shortly be catching to Leicester (you can see the outline of the yellow livery)!

Anyone watching me over the first 15 minutes of this journey might wonder what I'm up to, as I change my seat three times! The first passengers to leave the bus do so at Derby railway station, so I make my way to a vacated seat, right at the front of the bus (so as not to crowd anyone for any longer than necessary).

But then a seat comes free towards the back, so I move there. But the legroom is poor for a journey that is scheduled to take one hour and 42 minutes from end-to-end, so I have to move once more when the opportunity arises!

(A few days later I am back in Derby briefly, at the railway station. Although the station is a little way out of town, there doesn't seem to be a good bus service linking the two. I wait more than 10 minutes before I see anything at all, and then it's a bus that terminates at the station and doesn't actually go into the City Centre. There must be several bus routes that link the two, but there's no obvious co-ordination. An opportunity lost...?)

It's surprising how many short-distance passengers are travelling on the "Skylink", and we're much reduced in numbers by the time we get out into the open country.

The main traffic objective on this route is nominally East Midlands Airport, but the "Download" Festival, a rock festival, is running at nearby Donnington Park. To help traffic flows, the bus stop serving the site is closed, and a shuttle bus is running from East Midlands Airport. This doesn't seem very helpful to those arriving by bus, who have to pass the site, carry on for another 10 minutes or so, and then get another bus back. There is a special recorded announcement on the bus about these arrangements, though.

As with any airport, it takes a few minutes to work our way across to the main Departures stop, where there's a small bus station (actually known as the Coach Park). Announcements around the airport are presented in three languages (the other two sound like Spanish and Italian, although I can't be sure). No French or German, though - I wonder what influenced the choices?

ABOVE: At East Midlands Airport Coach Park on 9th June 2023 are Scania L94UB Wright Solar 669 (FH05 TKK) of Trent Barton, and Kinchbus 152 (YX20 OHG), an ADL Enviro200 MMC. The former is on the "Skylink Express" route to Nottingham, whilst the latter is operating a journey in the opposite direction to mine on the "Skylink Derby" service, terminating in Derby.

This stage of the route highlights the potential confusion caused by the lack of route numbers for buses in this area. There are three "Skylink" services, and they all call here (for obvious reasons). There's the "Skylink Derby" (my service today), the "Skylink Nottingham", and the "Skylink Express", which also runs to Nottingham, but with a limited-stop section. Would a visitor, confronted by a bus labelled "Skylink" potentially get onto the wrong bus here? I know the drivers on these services are a friendly bunch, who would probably nip any errors in the bud, but it still strikes me that some route numbers to distinguish would help.

ABOVE: Another Derby-bound journey on the "Skylink Derby" service on the approaches East Midlands Airport on 9th June 2023. The distinctive towers of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station stand out in the background. There's a railway station right beside the power station, but you won't find it listed under Ratcliffe-on-Soar - it's East Midlands Parkway station!

It's a quieter journey once we have left the Airport. We call into Loughborough for a driver change, after which there is a limited-stop section down the A6 into Leicester.

We terminate at the new St Margaret's Bus Station, which certainly looks a lot better than it did on my last visit.

ABOVE: Leicester, St Margaret's Bus Station, on 9th June 2023. Nearest the camera, 4535 (YX16 OKO) of Arriva Midlands prepares to depart on route 127 to Shepshed.

This new bus station looks fit for purpose in every way, and even has a café. I have arrived on time at 1122, so have a bit of time to pass before my next bus at 1207.

I do need to trot down the road to the Haymarket Bus Station (there are two bus stations in Leicester). Haymarket is an extremely busy place, with 23 bus stands.

ABOVE: Leicester, Haymarket Bus Station, a few minutes' walk from St Margaret's, on 9th June 2023. The group in the foreground will join me on the X7 departure towards Market Harborough and Northampton shortly.

I'm taking the 1207 Stagecoach Midlands X7 service to Northampton. It arrives just in time for a punctual departure and leaves with around 20 passengers on board. This is a Scania K230UB ADL Enviro300 (and has to be a single-decker, as there is a height restriction on the route in the form of a low bridge at Kibworth Beauchamp).

The main intermediate point is the lovely town of Market Harborough. There is some churn here although I am not the only person doing this route from end-to-end (the £2 fare is clearly proving to be attractive).

ABOVE: This striking building, in the heart of Market Harborough, was built in 1614 as a schoolhouse.

It's a quieter journey as we cross from Leicestershire into Northamptonshire. There are some very scenic stretches on this part of the journey, and a glimpse can be caught of Lamport Hall, a classical-style country house developed from a Tudor Manor.

The bus arrives on time, at 1342. The first thing I see in Northampton Bus Station is a uno service; undoubtedly an operator that I associate with the southern half of England, and emphasising that I am making clear progress with my quest.

Northampton Bus Interchange is a site of two halves. Bays 1 to 14 are in the building that most of us would think of as a Bus Station, but to access Bays 15 to 22, you have to leave the main building and go into neighbouring road / shopping street The Drapery.

And that's where my next bus is leaving from - Bay 18 in The Drapery. But it's as well to check first.

I'm slightly west of the direct "crow flies" line from Richmond to Richmond (by about eight miles), and Northampton is the point where I veer slightly off what might appear as the logical route, which would probably go via Bedford, Luton and Watford. I don't want to sound conceited, but I've done all those rides before and I want to do something new.

So I'm going to catch the X6 Stagecoach Midlands service to Central Milton Keynes. It's due at 1402 and I want to verify that I have the correct bus stop information. But the board at Northampton Interchange tells me to go to Bay "MR" - where's that?!

I have no idea what "MR" means (and the same comment applies two weeks on). The Free Dictionary lists well over 100 possible descriptions of the acronym "MR", but none of them fit. There is a road called "Mercers Row" in Northampton, but it's beyond The Drapery and doesn't have any bus stops in it.

I decide to go to the Bus Stop shown on Traveline - Bay 18. I arrive at the stop at roughly the same time as the X6 pulls in. It's another Scania Enviro400, in Stagecoach Gold branding, and there are a lot of people who want it...

ABOVE: Stagecoach Midlands 15940 (YN63 BYG), a Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400, has a busy load to pick up in The Drapery, Northampton, on 9th June 2023.

On a Friday afternoon, it's not really unexpected to find a lot of college students on this service. Loading takes a few minutes but we're under way broadly on time. A couple more stops heading out of town bring in yet more passengers, and the bus has very few seats left (the seat next to me remains vacant, but that's because there's something sticky on it...).

I'm expecting the majority of these people to go into Milton Keynes, but they don't. There's a mass exodus at Grange Park, an estate on the outskirts of Northampton. And I do mean mass exodus. From the top deck being almost full, we're down to three passengers now. I presume that the lower deck has seen a similar drop in numbers.

ABOVE: Fellow Stagecoach vehicle 15935 (YN63 BYA) is also working route X6 on 9th June 2023.

We're back into the open countryside for the next part of this run. There's a half-hourly service on the X6 as far as Roade, a village that is currently seeing the development of a rail freight terminal and associated improvements to neighbouring roads - the evidence of all of this is all around. The freight terminal is to be located here because of its proximity to the West Coast Main Line railway; a road bridge crosses this towards one end of the village.

ABOVE: Lovely countryside near Grafton Regis, on 9th June 2023.

The X6 continues to Milton Keynes on an hourly basis. We call into Grafton Regis, population 253 at the 2011 Census. The village was a Crown possession, hence the "Regis" annotation.

From there, the X6 takes us onto the A5 dual-carriageway for a four mile non-stop run to Milton Keynes Central (the railway station), and then on to Central Milton Keynes, the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire.

Milton Keynes is a fascinating place - one of the "new towns" of the 1960s (although it became a City in 2022).

It's famous for its "grid" of roads - named "H" for horizontal east-west roads and "V" for vertical north-south roads - with a roundabout at every intersection. There's a 'locale' in between each of these road junctions.

I always have a feeling of vast space when I travel through MK (as I and many others call it), and it's well worth a visit if you've never been.

And at the centre of it all is ... erm ... the Centre:MK, one of the largest shopping centres in the UK (the 16th largest according to a list on Wikipedia). Whilst Central Milton Keynes doesn't have a bus station (there is one at the railway station), a series of bus stops sit outside one of the main entrances to Centre:MK, providing an interchange called "The Point".

ABOVE: The Point, the main bus interchange area for Central Milton Keynes. The building behind is one of the main entrances to the Centre:MK. It's now mid-afternoon on Friday 9th June and the temperature is soaring.

And that's where I have just stepped off the X6, into what is now blistering heat. The bus has arrived on time, at 1454, and I have the option to continue on the next leg of my journey with a 1500 departure, unless I would like to stop off in the Centre for a break?

I'm 168 miles as the crow flies from Richmond, North Yorkshire, and it really feels like I've covered a lot of ground now. Richmond, Surrey is only 45 miles away (again as the crow flies). The finish line is in sight...

To be continued...

Richmond to Richmond Journey Log, Parts One and Two
From Richmond, North Yorkshire

159 to Ripon 1008-1135 87 mins 29.4 miles
36 to Leeds 1203-1335 92 mins 27.6 miles
110 to Wakefield 1353-1428 35 mins 10.4 miles
96 to Barnsley 1505-1618 73 mins 18.5 miles
2 to Sheffield 1715-1828 73 mins 16.4 miles
43 to Chesterfield 1842-1935 53 mins 16.3 miles
"The Comet" to Derby 0815-0944 89 mins 24.3 miles
"Skylink Derby" to Leicester 0945-1122 97 mins 35.5 miles
X7 to Northampton 1207-1342 95 mins 38.0 miles
X6 to Central Milton Keynes 1402-1454 52 mins 20.5 miles

746 mins 236.9 miles
Mileage figures estimated using Google Maps

Next Article: Richmond to Richmond Part Three >>>