With a Camera This Time:
A Return to Norfolk (Part Two)
4 August 2024
ABOVE: First Eastern Counties 37569 (AU58 ECN), a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini, is on Yarmouth Road in Caister, working route 1A (Martham to Lowestoft via Great Yarmouth). All photos in this article were taken on Saturday 13 January 2024.
It's a bright and sunny Saturday morning in January, and I'm exploring Norfolk (and a bit of Suffolk - see Part One). From Norwich I have already headed down to Lowestoft, and I'm now sitting in Great Yarmouth, where the First Eastern Counties 1A bus has paused for a few minutes during its run from Lowestoft to Hemsby. We're about an hour in, with half an hour to go.
ABOVE: Another view of the Town Hall in Great Yarmouth, taken from the 1A bus as it heads out of town via Regent Street.
Once out of town, it's a straight-forward drive into the northern suburbs. It doesn't take long to get to the First Eastern Counties bus depot, a traditional garage and office originally owned by the Great Yarmouth Corporation. Built for trams and opened in 1903, buses have operated from here since 1921.
ABOVE: Two First Eastern Counties Wright Streetlite DFs are parked on the forecourt of Great Yarmouth Bus Garage. The one nearer the camera might be 47502 (SN64 CPV) - purely based on its presence there an hour or so later (see next picture)! Note the historical images above the entrance.
This building clearly has historic, as well as modern, interest. You can even buy a model of it to build!
ABOVE: First Eastern Counties 47502 (SN64, CPV, centre) is parked on the forecourt of Great Yarmouth Bus Depot. To the left is 36286 (LX59 DBV), a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2. There's a better view of two of the historic images as well.
This is a holidaymakers' coastline, with numerous caravan and holiday parks dotted around the area. Although we're within a mile (at most) of the sea, it's not visible at most points along this route.
We reach the village of Caister-on-Sea. Visit Norfolk tells us that Caister's history dates back to Roman times; with a fort having been built here around 200 AD as a base for a unit of the Roman army and navy.
There's a saying that "Caister Men Never Turn Back"... Nine lifeboat crew lost their lives in 1901 while attempting a rescue at sea. A monument to the disaster was unveiled in 1903 and Grade II-listed in 2020. There's a pub called "Never Turn Back" in the village, named after the incident.
It's at Caister that the 1 & 1A take slightly different routes into Hemsby. My 1A sticks to the coast, nipping into Scratby where we get a glimpse of the sea. Scratby is dedicated to tourism, with several caravanning, camping and holiday parks, and a "great surfing beach". More about the 1's inland alternative shortly.
ABOVE: Holy Trinity Church in Caister is where routes 1 & 1A split up to take their differing routes towards Hemsby. Route 1 continues along the main road (left), whilst my 1A is about to turn right onto Ormesby Road. Ironically, though, the 1 serves Ormesby itself whilst the 1A does not!
The two routes come together again at Hemsby. We're not quite at the end of the route but I leave the bus here. There's a layby here for all buses that pass through. In addition to a handful of shops, there's a public convenience which is open, and very welcome.
ABOVE: Hemsby, Kingsway Shops
Hemsby is split into two distinct areas - the village and the beach. It's about three-quarters of a mile between the two, but I decide to wander down anyway. There isn't much going on - hardly surprising in January - but one can imagine what this place will look like in the summer. The Palace Casino is open, with all its slot machines ready for business. They must be spending an awful lot of money on electricity with little prospect of getting much back...
ABOVE: Beach Road, Hemsby
Sadly, when I reach the beach, it's closed off - there's some sort of landscaping work going on.
I wander back to the village. Buses on routes 1 & 1A continue to the slightly-inland village of Martham, a large residential area with a population in 2021 of 3,569. Buses on route 1A take a direct route from Hemsby (10-12 minutes), whilst those on route 1 take a detour via Winterton-on-Sea, mentioned by Daniel Defoe in his 1719 book "Robinson Crusoe".
This detour makes the journey from Hemsby to Martham 17-19 minutes. It looks like buses are timetabled to go to Martham as one variant and come back as the other, so up to half an hour's wheel-turning time. I am slightly surprised, then, that, having been dropped at 1149 and not returning until 1240 (51 minutes), it's the same bus and driver that come back for me. Feels like a rather generous amount of layover time built in for a non-London service. (The timetable has changed since my visit, with more running time and less layover time).
Back on board, I have a chance to look at Hemsby village centre from an upper-deck angle, including the 12th-Century Church of St. Mary the Virgin.
ABOVE: The Village Centre of Hemsby, taken from the Kingsway Shops bus stop, with the Church of St Mary the Virgin prominent.
This time, I am on route 1, so it's a slightly different route between Hemsby and Caister. We head through Ormesby St Margaret, not far from the Trinity Broads - a series of five land-locked Broads around the villages of Filby, Rollesby and Ormesby. An un-navigable tributary of the River Bure called Muck Fleet is their only link to the main river system. They were designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1998.
We pass back into Caister.
ABOVE: First Eastern Counties 37024 (YJ06 XKN), a Volvo B7TL Wright Eclipse Gemini, pases along Caister High Street whilst working route 8 (Caister to James Paget Hospitals). BusTimes.org suggests that this vehicle has since been withdrawn from service.
It's only about half an hour's run from Hemsby until we're back in Great Yarmouth.
ABOVE: This is the Great Yarmouth Minster, built during the Norman era and founded in 1101. It is England's third largest parish church, behind Beverley Minster in East Yorkshire and Christchurch Priory in Dorset.
A very quick interchange puts me onto the 1315 departure on route X11 back to Norwich. It's a busy service using an ADL Enviro400, but, like my earlier journey on route X21, the front windows of the bus are filthy (perhaps it's the same vehicle)?
This is a straight-forward run out of Great Yarmouth onto the main A47 Acle New Road back to Norwich.
As we head out of Yarmouth, past the railway station, there are a large number of parked-up and seemingly-abandoned railway carriages and engines to be seen.
ABOVE: Various carriages can be seen here, but note particularly the Class 43 High Speed Train locomotive in original colours (inset, right), and what looks like another one next to it, as well as a shunter.
We're heading across the Norfolk Broads now. Noel Coward seems to have originated the phrase "very flat, Norfolk" in his play, "Private Lives". It's certainly true of the run down the A47, where the scenery doesn't change much from the below (less water in some parts). The railway line runs parallel.
It's a brisk run of 40 minutes back to Norwich Bus Station, where I arrive at 1355.
I decide to use the last full hour of daylight (as it's January) to capture a few views of buses in the City Centre. Here are some of my pictures:
ABOVE: First Eastern Counties 36196 (BN12 JYW), another Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2, passes along St Stephen's Street in Norwich on route 14 to Wymondham
ABOVE: First Eastern Counties 36179 (BD11 CDY, left), another Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2, is in Red Lion Street, waiting time on cross-city route 26, as Konectbus 639 (SN65 OAY, right), an ADL Enviro400, heads off to Dereham and Toftwood on route 8. Looks like an interesting ride...
ABOVE: A moment before the picture above, 36179 turns into Red Lion Street from the wonderfully-named Rampant Horse Street, where the Horse Market was held from 1287. Note the "Bus on Diversion" display.
ABOVE: 36179 is still present in Red Lion Street a few minutes later as ADL Enviro400 622 (SN65 OAA) of Konectbus goes by on Park & RIde service 501. Meanwhile, in the foreground, 36271 (another Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 from First Eastern Counties) heads for Attleborough on route 13, passing fellow 36169 (BD11 CFO, right), working cross-city route 26A. This latter vehicle has since been transferred to First Kernow.
ABOVE: Simmonds is another operator to be found in these parts. Here, Volvo B7RLE MCV Evolution BT13 YWE is pulling across from St Stephens Street into Red Lion Street, working route 2 (Norwich to Roydon via Diss).
ABOVE: A final selection of buses at Norwich Bus Station; the only one I can identify is Konectbus 231 (YY64 TXL), an ADL Enviro200, awaiting departure on route 85 to the suburb of Surlingham.
And that's my day almost done! I finish with a ride to King's Lynn on the Excel bus, but it's already too dark for a decent picture - two trips now on the Excel and I still don't have a decent picture! Maybe third time lucky...?
BELOW: An approximation of the route covered in the two parts of this article.
