Lost in the Moment
Part One
12 January 2025
ABOVE: Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire 15230 (YN65 XEE), a Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400, turns from Chapel Road into Station Road in Hesketh Bank, working route 2 (Southport to Preston). All photos in this article were taken on Friday 28 June 2024, unless otherwise stated.
Such is my enjoyment of travelling around Britain by bus that I occasionally have one of those 'moments', where all my worries momentarily disappear from my mind. One such moment occurred on a Friday morning last summer, where I suddenly found myself thinking: "I don't know where I am - and I don't care"!
Of course, that statement has to be put in context. If the bus had dropped me off at the roadside at that precise moment, I certainly would have cared. And I would have panicked! And I would certainly have hoped that my phone had a signal!
But let's rewind a couple of hours. I'm in Blackburn Bus Station waiting for the 0800 departure on Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire (SM&SL) route 59 to Preston. I'm intending to go on to Morecambe on route 41, for my 100 British Bus Routes series.
The departure board shows that my bus is due imminently, but I'm more intrigued by the two buses reportedly scheduled within five minutes of each other at 0825 & 0830. To be honest, it reminds me of the bus stop display I found in Liskeard, where both the Schoolday and School Holiday buses were listed, when only one was ever going to be running...
But an examination of the timetable (amended since my visit) suggests that both services will be running. One seems to be a schoolday duplicate for the other, and, on the updated timetable, they run together at 0820. BusTimes.org suggests that they both serve Stand 12 in Blackburn Bus Station. That must be interesting... And the same thing happens again, ten minutes later!
The bus doesn't start here (it comes from Accrington), so its not being on the stand a minute before departure time isn't as bad as it might look. It turns up on the dot. I have been second in the 'queue' on this occasion, but the woman who is first in line is so engrossed in her phone that I have to bypass her for fear that she costs us both the bus.
This is a Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400. The bus is decked out in Stagecoach Gold colours - a 'superior' brand with a rather inconsistent application at best (route 59 is not listed as a Gold service, incidentally).
It's a busy run to Preston although there's little intermediate passenger traffic. On the way, I stumble across an old acquaintance that I will be revisiting in a few days' time - route 280 from Preston to Skipton.
ABOVE: SM&SL 27156 (SN64 OJE), an ADL/TransBus Enviro300, is on the Preston New Road, approaching Junction 31 of the M6 motorway, a short way east of the Brockholes Bridge across the River Ribble, on the long route 280 from Preston to Skipton, North Yorkshire
The fact that route 125 (Preston to Bolton via Chorley) has new buses may explain the sudden flood of Gold vehicles onto the 59. I see another one outside Preston:
ABOVE: SM&SL 15244 (YN65 XEV), a Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400 with route 125 branding, passes the London Road bus stop in New Hall Lane, Preston, on a route 59 working to the Royal Blackburn Hospital.
We reach Preston on time at 0845, but I am, as expected, just too late to catch the 0845 departure on route 41 (the 59 drops off at stand 38 whilst the 41 goes from stand 2 - which is exactly as far as it sounds)!
I know I could have set off half an hour earlier on the previous 59, to guarantee the connection, but I knew this would probably happen. What I hadn't anticipated is how little there is to do in Preston City Centre at this time on a Friday. I wander around a bit but nothing catches my imagination. Plus it's raining, and also feeling quite chilly for late June. So, rather than wait an hour for the next 41, I decide to defer my trip to Morecambe for another day.
An examination of options in the Church Street / Fishergate area highlights the imminent arrival of a route 2 bus towards Southport. This duly turns up and I jump on. It's another Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400. There's a strange tint on the front windscreen which doesn't improve the forward vision on a dull and drizzly morning.
This is a quiet run that seems to pick up an awful lot of small villages between its two major traffic objectives. About four miles in is the village of Longton. During the Middle Ages, Longton was known as "a sort of Holy Land" because the monks of nearby Penwortham Priory tended their lands here.
The village is home to the Golden Ball public house, where a twist in the road allows a decent view from the bus of a finely-presented building:
ABOVE: The Golden Ball of Longton village, and neighbouring houses.
A few miles on is Tarleton. The name is derived from the Old Norse Tharaldr, a personal name, and the Old English 'tun', a farmstead or enclosure. The village has 18 listed buildings including barns, houses, farmhouses and St Mary's Church, which are of historical and architectural merit. I don't consciously find St Mary's Church, but the Holy Trinity Church is prominent:
ABOVE: Holy Trinity Church, Tarleton
We come next to Hesketh Bank. This village had a substantial brick-making industry using the local boulder clay, with bricks being transported by the West Lancashire Railway, which ran along broadly the route we are following, from Preston to Southport.
It's here that I have my 'moment', as described above. I now know that this was Hesketh Bank but, as I actually pass through, I look out over the open fields ahead - clear in the knowledge of where the bus is going, but with no idea of where I actually am.
But why should I worry? The day is young (it's not even 1000 yet - plenty of time to find my way back to my hotel in Blackburn), the skies are clearing, I'm not due back at work for another week (yes, I did go back on a Friday), I have another four days of bus riding scheduled after this one - what's not to like? (This is how you can tell that I am 'hardcore'.)
ABOVE: Shore Road, Hesketh Bank, looking west
As I head through this area, and to the right of the bus, somewhere behind the hedges, is the Dunkirk Dib, a tributary of the River Ribble, and we shortly cross another tributary, the Carr Heys Watercourse. The Ribble itself is less than three miles away, fast-approaching the Ribble Estuary.
In fact the whole area to the north hosts a range of tributaries, as well as the Hesketh Out Marsh, a rare saltmarsh habitat that is home to a variety of wildlife. Previously used for farming, it was repurposed by a partnership of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Environment Agency and Natural England, to create a new saltmarsh habitat for wildlife, and to build stronger flood resilience.
Four miles from Southport is Banks, which I suspect many will refer to as "Banks, Lancs". Banks is believed to have been named for the many artificial embankments built in the north of the village to protect it from winter floods from the River Ribble and the tide. Most of the village is only slightly above sea-level and parts can be susceptible to flooding, although there are drainage systems across the area.
We pass the Parish Church of St Stephen in the Banks:
ABOVE: The Parish Church of St Stephen in the Banks
We're now moving from Lancashire into Merseyside as we reach Crossens, believed to be the point at which 2,000 horsemen from a retreating Royalist force crossed the Ribble estuary following the Battle of Marston Moor. After a long stretch where there have been few other buses around, we now enter more fertile land...
ABOVE: Cumfybus 145 (YJ12 GXC), an Optare Solo hybrid, passes the Rufford Road stop in Crossens, Southport, working town Route 40. Behind it is an Arriva Merseyside VDL SB200 Wright Pulsar 2 on route 44 (Crossens to Southport Hospital or Formby)
We're approaching Southport itself, where, after approximately 79 minutes, this journey is coming to an end. I now seriously need to ponder my next move.
ABOVE: SM&SL 27298 (SN65 OET), an ADL/TransBus Enviro300, passes the Cambridge Road junction on Preston New Road, north-east of Southport Town Centre, working route 347 to Chorley.
Southport was founded in 1792, and the area became popular with tourists due to the easy access from the nearby Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and by 1848 had a railway connection. It contains examples of Victorian architecture and the main street, Lord Street, was developed as a wide, tree-lined shopping street. Southport Pier is the second longest seaside pleasure pier in the British Isles (after Southend, of course).
This delightful town centre is where I find myself pondering my next move. Having abandoned the plan to go to Morecambe, this day has become unplanned, and my regular reader knows that I can get into all sorts of scrapes when I don't have a plan.
So where to next?
ABOVE: Lord Street, Southport, on Wednesday 2 June 2021
TO BE CONTINUED...
BELOW: An diagram of the route described above
