ABOVE: Sanders Coaches 546 (M20 FXO, Lauren Hemp), a Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora, in Norwich Bus Station finishes the incoming journey on route X55 from North Walsham. The bus was new, in 2020, to Dabbs, t/a Felixstowe Travel. All photos in this article were taken on (Easter) Saturday 4 April 2026.
A Tale of Two Setbacks
Setback Two
6 June 2026
The bus that is approaching me in Norwich Bus Station, to take me to North Walsham, is named "Lauren Hemp". So why is an English professional footballer who plays for Manchester City commemorated on a bus in Norfolk? Well Lauren Hemp MBE, who has chalked up a remarkable career in club and international football, despite still only being 25 years old as I write this, was born in North Walsham.
Wikipedia also notes that a 23-foot high mural of Lauren was unveiled on the side of a cafe in her home town, painted by a street artist to honour her achievements. But there's no record on that page of the honour of having had a bus named after her as well - surely the ultimate accolade?
I have already made a morning trip out to Attleborough and back that ended up taking me slightly further than expected after a setback. I am hoping that the afternoon will be easier, but there is another setback on the horizon...
Meanwhile, though, the Sanders Coaches service X55 is loading up, and it's going to be a busy run by the look of it. A slightly peculiar timetable is broadly half-hourly in the morning and late afternoon, but, at this busy time of day, reduces to every 45 minutes. And this 13:27 departure is busy from the word go, the Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora barely big enough to cope.
It's always a bit of a slog to get out of Norwich and this bus is no exception. We eventually escape into the country and pass through the village of Coltishall, a settlement of 16 houses at the time of the Domesday Book of 1086. Nearby RAF Coltishall was opened in 1939, and placed, the following year, under the command of flying ace Sir Douglas Bader.
Despite having lost the lower parts of both legs in a flying accident in 1931, Bader became a front-line fighter leader during World War II, with numerous achievements. His story is well worth a read.
As we approach North Walsham, I catch a glimpse of one of North Walsham's two Water Towers:
The busy run has been compounded by a (non-confrontational) 'battle' for the wheelchair space at the front of the bus. When a wheelchair user boards, the owner of the pushchair that is in the space does not want to fold it up. A compromise is reached that allows both parties to squeeze into the environs of the space, but the pushchair is spilling well out into the aisle.
It's as we approach North Walsham, after I have spent the best part of three-quarters of an hour on the bus, I suddenly notice that there are seat numbers identified on the windows. Very unusual for a local service bus.
We reach North Walsham, on time, at 14:15. I am on the ground here for very nearly 30 seconds, as my next bus is loading up on the adjacent stand at the Travel Hub - actually a row of three drive-through stands next to the Fire Station.
I'm heading for Cromer on one of the two CoastHopper services. These routes, as is suggested by their name, provide key bus services along parts of the North Norfolk coast. The CH1, from Cromer to Wells-next-the-Sea, barely leaves the coast. My CH2 does though, starting just under five miles inland in North Walsham.
My bus is another Sanders Coaches Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora. The inland section is quiet but it does start to liven up as we reach the coast at Mundesley. The River Mun flows into the sea here, and Mundesley won North Norfolk District Council's "Battle of the Beaches" in 2022, to be recognised as the top beach in North Norfolk.
The local Coronation Hall dates from 1910 (the Coronation was in 1911 (King George V) but they would have known it was coming in 1910!
The CH2 continues along the coast towards Cromer (where it connects with the CH1), although we don't have a sea view all the way along. The bus is getting steadily busier, including three dogs (and their owners) who join in quick succession. Fortunately they all get along, and so do the dogs!
This bus has audio announcements and visual 'next stop' displays, so, when they announce that "Cromer Travel Hub" is the next stop, I am confident that Cromer Travel Hub is where I am...
But I'm not. Despite the announcement, this is one stop short. I am on Beach Road, and need to walk down the road past a (very busy) Car Park to get to the Travel Hub. At least there are some useful essential facilities available at one end of the Car Park, and the bus has dropped me on time (15:16).
ABOVE: Sanders Coaches 532 (BV23 NUW, Norfolk Broadsman), a Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora, in Beach Road, Cromer, having just dropped me off towards the end of the journey from North Walsham on route CH2. Note that the bus carries branding for routes 6A/X6.
It's here that the second setback of the day occurs. I have decided to go back to Norwich on the Sanders Coaches 44A service that is loading up opposite the Travel Hub (buses towards Norwich pick up on the opposite side of the road to the main Hub itself). There's heavy traffic and I need to fight my way across to the bus.
The driver has just closed the doors as I get across the road. Two other passengers beat me to it so there are three of us now at the bus stop standing right in front of the front door, waiting to be admitted.
But the driver refuses point blank to reopen the doors, even though he's at the bus stop and is going nowhere because of the traffic. He won't even make eye contact. He's staring resolutely ahead, waiting for the traffic in front to clear. He absolutely will not look towards us.
The stand-off lasts more than two minutes, before the driver is able to move forward towards the junction. I take a number of photographs of the driver. I am tempted to send one to the operator but I decide that I can't be bothered, and I've decided not to publish one here either - not sure why. Suffice to say, the date stamps on the photos here show 42 seconds between the one above and the one below - both taken from the bus stop.
ABOVE: Sanders Coaches 131 (VR24 VAR, Valerie Anne Ridley), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, leaves the Travel Hub at Cromer (the main site is just out of view to the right), to cross Prince of Wales Road in Cromer in order to access Hamilton Road and Church Street beyond.
Finally, the bus clears the junction and is on its way - just without three prospective passengers that the driver could and should have picked up. It's very disappointing from a small independent operator, and, where margins are always going to be tight, the loss of a prospective nine pounds of revenue could be the difference between profit and loss. The other two people wander off, talking about catching a train.
That bus was the 15:19 service. Although there are other buses to Norwich, over different routes, the next 44A is at 18:03. The next bus of any sort to Norwich is half an hour away (and will be a single-decker when it comes). I consider chasing the 44A to the next stop - I might have a sporting chance given the traffic - but I have no idea how far away, or where, that next stop actually is.
I decide to give up on the Cromer to Norwich route for today and go back to North Walsham. The 6A is another Sanders service, scheduled for 16:00. I have been at the stop for 36 minutes since the 44A incident, and I'm still fuming.
This is a slightly older vehicle - a 66-reg Volvo B8RLE MCV Evolution, and will be a quiet run through to North Walsham.
But first, we have to get out of Cromer. The traffic has eased a lot in the last 36 minutes, and it's easier to get across to Hamilton Road and Church Street, where I find the spectacular Cromer Parish Church (St Peter and St Paul). This 15th Century church is Grade-I listed, and was built on a grand scale, to reflect that Cromer had been one of the prosperous north Norfolk ports in the late Middle Ages.
My picture is taken through the window of the bus. For a better picture, see Google Streetview.
The 6A is a lovely drive through the countryside of the Norfolk Broads. It's a quicker run than the CH2 to North Walsham, taking a much more direct route. We're most of the way back when I photograph some typical scenery- no idea where I am, but it's nine miles out from Cromer!
The North Walsham Travel Hub is slightly outside the Town Centre and the 6A gives us a bit of a tour on the way in. My picture is blurred but gives a good idea of what this town looks like - it looks very inviting.
North Walsham, an Anglo-Saxon settlement, and the neighbouring village of Worstead, became very prosperous from the 12th century through the arrival of weavers from Flanders, Belgium. The two settlements gave their names to the textiles they produced: 'Walsham' became the name of a lightweight cloth for summer wear, and 'Worsted' a heavier cloth.
My first visit to North Walsham, earlier in the afternoon, lasted about 30 seconds, but now, I'm not even getting off the bus! The 6A is due in at 16:26, and I want to catch the 16:30 departure on route X6 to Great Yarmouth. It turns out that the same bus will be turning into the X6 and continuing to Great Yarmouth. This trip has been fairly light on passengers, and we arrive in North Walsham with seven on board. Four leave here but we are joined by seven new ones for the continuation of the journey.
The audio 'next stop' announcements and visual displays have not been functioning until now but suddenly kick into life as the route changes!
This is a very rural part of the country, and the X6 spends the next 70 minutes meandering through one village after another. It's all very lovely - but where am I?
That's the wonderful thing about these sorts of routes. I know where I'm heading, but I don't know what I am going to discover on the way. And trying to make sense of the photos afterwards is often a matter of studying maps and timetables - working out where I should have been at any particular time and extrapolating from that!
And that's how I pin down the location of this next photograph! This is Wayford, near the Wayford Bridge Inn, and the 'water feature' is a canal rather than a river - namely the North Walsham & Dilham Canal, which seems to lead into the River Ant just south of here.
Sometimes it's easier to work out where one is - such as here in Catfield, a name that may have come from the Old English for "open land frequented by wild cats":
Two miles south of Catfield is Ludham, part of the Ludham to Potter Heigham National Nature Reserve. The village gave its name to a minesweeper, "HMS Ludham" and also, in geology, to an age ("the Ludhamian") in the British regional subdivision of the Pleistocene Series/Epoch, 2.52 to 2.25 million years ago. This was all derived from a geological research borehole, drilled in 1959 nearby, from which continuous core samples of late Pliocene and early Pleistocene sediments were recovered!
More spectacular to see is the village of Potter Higham, at the other end of the Ludham to Potter Heigham National Nature Reserve. We cross the River Thurne at Potter Heigham Bridge, a medieval bridge, believed to date from 1385.
Hickling Broad, to the north, was used as a seaplane base during World War I. Part of Ludham Airstrip, a now shrunken remnant of a larger World War II airbase, is also built on parish lands, and there were a number of defensive structures around the medieval bridge.
Because we're crossing the medieval bridge, I can't get a view of it. There's a modern road bridge nearby - I get a view of that but it's hardly the same! The view is nice, though...
There's a Google Streetview image of the medieval bridge, taken from the road bridge, here.
We move to the south-east, getting ever closer to the coast. St Michael Church in Ormesby St Michael appears to be called "Ormesby Manor" from the photo below, but that is just a sign for a different building off the main road.
We pass through Caister-on-Sea, where we unexpectedly pick up four passengers. This is a sign that we have not only come into the suburbs of Great Yarmouth, but also that other bus routes are now available for this last stretch. These passengers haven't come for the X6 specifically - they have just come to catch a bus and the X6 has come first!
We reach Great Yarmouth. on time, at 17:40.
ABOVE: Sanders Coaches 539 (DM66 DRM), a Volvo B8RLE MCV Evolution, in Great Yarmouth, after the run from Cromer / North Walsham. The main Market Gates Bus Station is just out of sight to the right.
It's a bit of a culture shock to be standing in the bustling, lively town centre of Great Yarmouth after 100 minutes of driving through the small, rural villages of the Norfolk Broads! It's even busier here than Cromer was.
It's turned into an interesting day out, with as many twists and turns as the X6. But it's time to head for 'home', meaning Norwich in this case, where my hotel awaits. There are various fast "X" routes that run along the main A47 road from here to Acle, on the route to Norwich. But it's flat, empty land and isn't very exciting. Is there another way to do the last leg?
Yes, there is. At 18:15, there's a departure on First Bus Eastern Counties route 7 to Norwich - a route that does not use the A47 to Acle. I need to do this one!
What I suspect is going to be the bus, although marked "Not in Service", is already on the stand 10 minutes before, and the driver is in the cab. But he's not going to let anyone on until the last minute, preferring to read his book until departure time. Finally, he sets the displays to show that he is on route 7, and welcomes all three waiting passengers on board.
ABOVE: First Bus Eastern Counties 37139 (SN57 HCY), a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini, is seen on the outskirts of Great Yarmouth, working route 7 from Norwich. According to BustImes.info, this bus has since been withdrawn from the Eastern Counties fleet.
It's quite a rare beast, route 7. This is the last of six journeys that are scheduled today, Saturday (seven run the other way, including a late journey at 23:20). Every two hours from 08:15, except that the journey that you would expect two hours before this one actually leaves at 16:00 rather than 16:15 for some reason. Despite its rarity, double-deckers seem to be the order of the day - this one is a Wright StreetDeck Ultroliner.
We head back into Caister-on-Sea, which gives me another chance to have a go at capturing the lovely vista of Holy Trinity Church, next to the East & West Caister Village Cemetery. So perfectly poised for a photograph from the top of a bus:
Being a bit north of the A47 certainly improves the scenery! Approaching Acle from the north-east instead of the south-east brings us to the River Bure crossing, beside the Acle Bridge Inn, just over a mile before Acle itself. This bridge is the only crossing of the River between Wroxham, seven miles to the north-west (as the crow flies, and a lot further by any other route), and Great Yarmouth itself, a similar distance to the south-east.
This brings us into Acle itself. The town was granted a market charter in 1253. In Tudor times, hundreds of oaks were felled here for timber to construct Queen Elizabeth I's warships.
ABOVE: Acle Town Centre, where New Road becomes The Street. The road to the right is Old Road.
There are few alternatives to the A47 west of Acle, so even the 7 has to get onto the dual carriageway to lap up a few miles. By the time we come off the A47 we are on the outskirts of Norwich.
The area of Norwich we have entered now, just after the village of Thorpe St Andrew, might be known as River Green, as the name turns up on the map, and on one of the local businesses here (the River Green Pantry). We're close to Whitlingham Country Park, on the other side of the River Yare which is flowing along beside the road, and with a wide stretch of water, Whitlingham Great Broad.
Before we know it, the bus is back in the City Centre of Norwich. We pass a Konectbus at Castle Meadow, a major interchange at the foot of Norwich Castle.
The Castle, built by William the Conqueror, was used as a prison for over 650 years, from the 13th to the 19th Century. It is now a Scheduled Monument, and Grade-I listed.
We reach Norwich Bus Station, journey's end, one minute early at 19:21. Despite this having taken 66 rather than the 40 minutes on the direct X1 route, I've not been the only passenger to go end-to-end!
These last two / three rides of the day (depending how you count the 6A / X6) have all been delightful, and they only happened because a discourteous bus driver left me standing in Cromer.
So perhaps things that look at first glance like setbacks can turn out alright - or perhaps even better than was expected. Today certainly has.
BELOW: A representation of the route described in this article
