A day out with Cuffy

Well the day started off uneventfully for a change for the run into Plymouth on the first bus of the day, this sadly being 40002 the Torpoint Dennis MPD driven by a bloke who's nearly as good as Jamie Limb!

The 08:52 was again an uneventful jounrey upto Exeter. This was only £1.50 because we booked in advance. Though as we needed to go back to St Thomas, and this was only 45p return!! The only problem was the frequency! It was over an hour wait to get a train back so this meant a walk back to the station.

We then waited for the connection to Okehampton. A choise of 3 services was avalible, the X9 run by FDC with Enviro 400s, the 510 by Western Greyhound with even newer Enviro 400s or the X90 run by Hookways with some nice oldish B10Ms. The first bus that turned up was the 510 though to be honest this was no contest. We hung on for another 10 mins in the pouring rain to have the liberty of a ride on a FAR SUPERIOR Volvo B10M in the form of L948 CRU. This was a very enjoyable blast along the A30 and even though we left 15 mins after the Western Greyhound we still beat it by around 10 minutes. This therefore making the X90 25 mins quicker than a 510. And you get there in a lot more comfort!

We then met up with Cuffy who was on his meal break at Okehampton. He showed us where to get a good pasty, while we waited until we could take over the bus. We took her over dead on time for the run to North Tawton, but with the divertion bit on it different from other services. Then it was a trip back to Okehampton. Then a service round some housing estates. Then a service 'up a hill' then another service to the railway staiton. This was repeated 3 times and we were completely confused by the end. But Cuffy was in control and he kept the very apropriately named "Busy Bus" on task.

Along the way there were plenty of photo opotunityies and we had a lot of fun on route. A lot better than I expected it must be said. There is also a fair bit of variety with regular coaches from Hookways, Enviro 400s from FDC and Western Greyhound, Optare Versas from Beacon bus, Solo from Carmal along with Varios, and Stagecoach with some Volvo Olympians!

After we'd finished it was a drive down the A386 in Cuffy's Astra, a mode of transport I have not used for a long time I must say! Then it was about an 1hr and 15 min wait for me in the city centre until the 19:56 81C which aparently according to the realtime display goes to "Innsbrooke Road" better known to everyone else as "Insworke". Sadly this bus also goes round Goad Avanue and then also extends to Crafthole. And even worse it was the Dart!!!