So, today, the weather turned out to be not so bad after all! Following a trip to the cashpoint (I needed a MegaRider+ at £18.00 this week), 16019 was on the 26 (as ever - that and 16109 seem to be regulars!) from Royston Tesco to Cambridge Drummer Street. My eyes kind of lit up when I saw Trident 17078 parked up alongside Drummer Street. This was one of the old Cambridge Park & Ride vehicles, which were replaced this summer by the Enviro's, as well as being new to East London as TA78. The bus was repainted and retained (all the others were transferred to Devon), and it looks a little different in swoops, especially with the dual doors being retained.
After stopping for breakfast-lunch, I had similar Olympian 16162 on Service 11 from Cambridge to Bury St Edmunds. I'd done Newmarket before, but not the whole of the 11 until now. As we backed out, I could see that a slightly unusual vehicle was covering for the 26 Royston driver's meal break - MAN single deck 22235!
Service 11 follows the direct route to Newmarket, before continuing onto the A14 and Bury St Edmunds, deep into Suffolk. The service takes only 65 minutes, but does give for quite an interesting series of comparisons along the journey. The layover time allows for around 25 minutes here, so I had a look around the bus station (tidy, but lacking information), library (who were doing a promo of a reusable jute bag for £2.00 - or fill it with deleted library books for £3.00!), and shops (where I bought something cold and wet for the run back, but almost got short changed by 15p...) before going back for the same bus. At the bus station, former Moffat & Williamson Mercedes SP 04 FKM is now in use with Mulley's Motorways...
... before I got back on 16162. The driver recognised me as I showed my ticket wallet, and said nicely "I just brought you here, I know you've got one..." smiley. Customer service in this part of the world - at least with Stagecoach - is generally good. Well, a shade better than a few I've had up north. When I got to Newmarket, both the 11 to Cambridge, and the 12 to Ely were due in at the same time, but the 11 arrived a little early, as the road was quite. So, I went from the bus on the right, to the one of the left, 16167...
... where the bus went to Ely, and then continued around the city as the 9A city service, whereas I got off for the shops. A few things purchased, and I came back in enough time for 16435 back to Cambridge on the 9, slightly more direct, although unlike the X9, this one also serves Waterbeach, Landbeach and Milton village. Crossed the bays at Drummer Street bus station, and took PS 20857 on the 10 out to the retail park! Did some serious shopping here. I've fancied a water filter for some time, and as Boots have them on half-price right now, thought it was time! Also, I have a new filter coffee maker, which is similar to the one I had in Dundee, but appears to be a slightly more refined version, for the same price. After I'd done stocking and shopping, MAN 22303 took me back to the city on the citi3. I was able to nab some of the evening peak stuff around the city centre, including a former Stagecoach Perth Volvo/Plaxton coach working the X5, and one of H&D's former Travel Dundee Darts on the 553.
Then it was time to call it a day, in time for the 1740 back to Royston. Bus 16109... again! Caroline seemed to like the new sunspecs...
You can see all the
pics here - I did get rather a large number of former Scottish vehicles in one day, as there were a few more that I saw but didn't snap (in some cases, already had).
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
