Back in my arms, where you belong

Last morning at Ingoldmells, and I was up and about bright and early – before being woken by a Metrobus! David & Jacqueline were still asleep, so I woke them up briefly before I left, and said goodbye for now. Walked up towards Roman Bank, and headed for Skegness. The best hair dryer in town was the open top Metrobus on the 3 coastal service!

I stopped at Tesco Skegness (right beside the bus station) for breakfast (sit down for a moment before the long trip) and a new SD card reader, before heading for the next stage of the trip – National Express Service 449. The bus was operated by Stagecoach Viscount, and was former East Kent Volvo/Paragon 53003.

The bus passed through various villages, and Boston & Spalding town centres, before ending up on the main road into Peterborough. The coach driver then used this point to make his announcement for through passengers, to advise them about the bus heading off to the depot for refuelling. He mentioned that it was safe to leave items on the bus, and added “We do this every day, and we’ve not lost anything yet… We have sold a few items though…” He then followed this up with the warning about no hot food on the bus, and rounded it off with “If you are going to bring anything back that’s hot, make sure she is young, willing, and likes coach drivers…”

(lol, if that had been a few months ago… I’m joking!)

I’d never been to Peterborough, and I didn’t have much time between the bus arriving into the bus station (one per day) and the train leaving for Cambridge (various). The travel information centre was closed, and thus therefore saved time. I followed the signs from the bus to the railway station, bought my ticket, and lugged over to the platform, and all in enough time to catch the Central Trains train to Stanstead, although I was getting off at Cambridge. The train arrived bang on time, but then the guard managed to stick the doors (interlock wouldn’t open), so we left five minutes late in the end. After that, we kept to time well, but still five minutes down. Caroline said she was in the 20-minute waiting area waiting for me, so imagine my surprise when I find her on the platform…

… so, we made it out to the car, and put my luggage in the back. We then made up for the time that we’d missed each other, before we decided what to do next. I thought some time around the city would be a good idea, so she decided to take the car to the Park & Ride site (the car was parked in a pick up/drop off point outside Cambridge railway station, not suitable for long term parking). We took the car to Trumpington Park & Ride on the south side, which is closest to the road we’d be taking after our shopping excursion. This is a somewhat impressive facility, close to the A14, A10 and M11 approaches. The interior passenger facilities include the hire of shopping trolleys with Park & Ride branding...

... as well as the option of borrowing a book – under the “Park & Read” banner. Trumpington has a shuttle service to/from the City Centre (Emmanuel Street) and the Grafton Centre, using blue ex-London Trident/ALX400’s. The other four sites are served by red or green Tridents on a cross-city basis. There is also one gold Trident, for use on any service when the need arises. On a Saturday, the service is supposed to be every 10 minutes. We ended up waiting a little longer than that, before Trident 17009 came in with a healthy load, and left with an equally respectable one! We drove out of the Park & Ride site, and the lifting arm barrier (on one side of the carriageway only) is meant to lift, to allow the bus access to Waitrose, and then onto the roundabout… well it didn’t, so the driver overtook using the opposite side of the road! To add to the Saturday afternoon blues, we arrived at Emmanuel Street on 17009, only for 17011 and 17008 to arrive in hot pursuit! That’s right, you wait ages for one, and three come along at once!

We walked through the pedestrian area, before heading for a coffee stop. We then headed for the bookstores, before ending up at the market. After a lot of happy shopping, we stopped at Christ’s Pieces Park, and sat down in the grass. Someone managed to get very snugly in my lap!

After taking it in turns to rest on each other, we headed for the Park & Ride site, and got 17008 south. After that, changed to the car, and we headed for home. We put the bags down, and had a nap on the bed before Caroline prepared a somewhat spicy stir-fry!