1. Sennen Cove but a stone’s throw from Lands End provided a backdrop for a Bristol FLF operated by the Western National Omnibus Company (WNOC) as it struggled up the steep ascent towards the A30 trunk road. It was something of a grey and mildly stormy day as shown by the white froth of the waves over the beach and rocks. No doubt the bus has long gone, and maybe also the lifeboat station, the slipway of which can be observed to the right of the bus.

2. Another perhaps typical West Country-weather high summer’s day in July 1978. Here one of the named fleet of Bristol VRs operated again by the WNOC subsidiary of the National Bus Company (NBC). Route 514 ran along the North Cornwall coastline and served the many small communities between St.Ives and Lands End including Sennen Cove. Here 514 passed through an area known as Towednack Turn on the way back to St.Ives with a family on the top deck determined not to let the conditions spoil their enjoyment of open top-deck travel.

3-4. On the other side, the south side of Cornwall is the Lizard Peninsula. Two images here illustrate buses used by the WNOC during July 1978 on route 537 that ran between Helston via the many villages and hamlets on the Peninsula down to the Lizard Point. The two buses here, both products of the Bristol and Eastern Coachworks (ECW) combination are shown as they negotiated the awkward turns on either side of the road that ran through Poldhu Cove north of Mullion. The LH model number 1622 was about to pass over sand that had been blown up onto the roadway in a previous storm, whilst the RE number 2745 positioned itself on the offside of the roadway in order to swing through the tight turn at the bottom of the hill, from the north side of the cove.

5. One can almost feel the chill of the early morning Devon mist and murk on the top side of Dartmoor as this Plymouth City Transport Mercedes-Benz number 287 passed by Pork Hill on the B3357. Remote and unforgiving terrain was all around but two young souls sat on the back seat as they were transported down to Tavistock maybe for a days work in the shops.

6. Moving east and into the delightful county of Dorset. Perhaps one of the best ways to appreciate this county’s coastline is a journey on the X53 route. Marketed as the Jurassic Coast service this runs from Poole/Bournemouth via Weymouth to Exeter and affords some spectacular views almost all the way from end to end. Operated by FirstGroup nowadays with Wrightbus bodied double-deckers, it ran originally with single-deckers such as this Scania, number 62408 here as it climbed the steep hill on the west side of Abbotsbury. Behind the 12-mile long pebbled Chesil Beach stretched out to the Isle of Portland on a beautiful day in June 2003.

7-8. Some twenty years earlier though and on the Isle of Portland itself two quite different types of double-decker were in use. First on a local service from nearby Weymouth, a Leyland Atlantean number 927 one of the original “Sea Dog” named class of convertible top buses once operated by Devon General in the Torbay area, led a selection of saloons up the long hill from sea level to the upper landscape. Admiral Hardy in fine afternoon sunshine carried a small loading of passengers as it retained the NBC Devon General livery even though it had passed into the hands of the WNOC.
In contrast though was an ECW bodied Bristol VR adorned with a sort of Spartan livery and dedicated for work on limited stop service X35. This service marketed as the Southern Coastlink linked Portland with Weymouth, Poole and Bournemouth.

9. Climbing hills on the mainland side of Weymouth in May 1994 one of the fine fleet of Optare Spectra double-deckers of Wilts & Dorset, red and white livery contrasted with the flowers of the rape seed crop in the fields behind. Here 3113 ran a short afternoon journey back from Weymouth to Milborne St.Andrew on the 184 route, instead of going the full route back to Salisbury. Weymouth has since been chosen as a major venue for the water sports associated with the forthcoming 2012 Olympic Games and a new road has been cut through the hill behind to assist with the expected increase in traffic.

10-11. Something of a deviation now, as we cross the English Channel to the States of Jersey. June 1999 and this handsome Duple Dominant bodied Bedford SB5 was in use on one of the many tourist trips. Here it had stopped for a while just below the top of the hill that led down to Corbiere Point on the south side of the island.
In contrast a Wadham Stringer Vanguard bodied Ford R1015 service bus was observed as it descended the hill down into the seaside hamlet of Greve de Lecq on the opposite side of the island with a fair selection of passengers.

12-13. Back across the Channel to an island closer to the English mainland, the Isle of Wight. Two contrasting vehicles although both are open-toppers; first up one of the Bristol Lodekkas that once operated prolifically across the island in both closed and open-topped form. Number 500 here negotiated one of the tight hairpin bends on the awkward climb up from Alum Bay onto the Needles Battery. An almost maximum loading of passengers sat on the top deck on this cloudless summer’s day in June 1993 with magnificent views across The Solent towards Portsmouth and Southsea.
One of only two such Bristol REs to my knowledge that received attention from the ‘man with a can opener’ that subsequently appeared in this form. One was operated by United and then East Yorkshire up on the East Coast in the Scarborough and Bridlington area, the other further south here on the Isle of Wight. Route 44 linked Shanklin town with the Esplanade and in 1993 was solely in the hands of Southern Vectis bus number 864 shown here as it made a mid-day descent onto the Esplanade complete with animal motif and signwriting for the “Shanklin’s Pony”. To ride this vehicle was something of an experience, especially if one sat on the seats towards the back end. In motion one almost felt that the cab area was acting like a nodding pony as it swayed from side to side almost independent of the rest of the bodywork.

14. Flying in the face of photographic conventions this image was achieved despite pointing towards the sun as evidenced by the shadow at the front of the bus. However, despite this the result does not appear to be spoilt as a Plaxton Beaver bodied Mercedes-Benz Vario ascended the steep climb out of Dovedale, on the south side of the Peak District National Park in deepest Derbyshire during July 2002. Route 202 was a long and circuitous service that eventually wound its way back towards Mansfield in Nottinghamshire and was part of the once extensive summer Sunday and Bank Holiday Peak Park route network.

15. Early autumnal sunshine in September 2010 found Alexander bodied Volvo Olympian number 16495 in the Chesterfield fleet of Stagecoach, make the long climb up Slack Hill in Derbyshire towards Matlock Moor. Route 17 as it was then ran between Chesterfield and Matlock along the A632 and in doing so had a series of fairly steep hills to ascend and descend along the way. Behind the bus on the other side of the valley lay the small village of Kelstedge. The route has since been extended to and from Sheffield as the X17 with the Volvos replaced by new Scania/Enviro400s.

16-17. Sixteen years earlier and in the village of Kelstedge up the other side from Slack Hill one of the Leyland Nationals in the then privatized fleet of Chesterfield Transport (although bearing a Whites of Calver fleetname), turned off the main road and through the village on the 64 route from Matlock to Clay Cross.
In comparison this Leyland successor in the shape of a Lynx from the Hulleys of Baslow fleet made a fine sight as it roared its way up from the valley below onto the top of Monsal Head in April 2003. Two weekday journeys each day leave the basic route of the 173 between Bakewell and Castleton to operate via Monsal Dale and Cressbrook. In doing so they parallel for a short distance, the former railway line through this spectacular countryside. Previously it served the conurbation of the West Midlands, this was certainly different terrain for the bus to operate.

18. For years the route between Nottingham, Derby and Manchester has been operated by the Trent bus company one way or another in several forms. More recently this has been as the TransPeak service and used a fleet of Plaxton bodied Volvo B10M coaches such as number 61 shown here. With future development of operations in the High Peak area of Derbyshire during 2012 these coaches have been replaced by a mixture of ageing step-entrance and low-floor buses. Back in March 2010 the route was firmly in the hands of these aesthetically liveried coaches, this one near Chelmorton south east of Buxton, with winter snows still evident on the Peaks in the far distance.

19. On the other side of Buxton an Optare Excel operated by D&G Coaches climbed the long hill out of the town when on way to Hanley via Leek on the 118. This along with all other routes in the area, are regularly disrupted through the winter months by inclement weather conditions. Not so on this particularly sunny day back in November 2009 when this former Travel London vehicle was observed, a far cry from the 1990s when the bus had originally operated over route 211 through the central area of the English capital.

20. The final bus from the Derbyshire Peak District is this Mercedes-Benz midibus operated by Bowers of Chapel-en-le-Frith. Basically a schoolday-only service this route does made a useful connection for walkers. Away in the far distance behind the bus as it climbed out of the Edale Valley, lay the southern end of the long distance Pennine Way. From here one could trek all the way northwards eventually to the small village of Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders.

21. From Derbyshire and now over the border west into deepest South Wales. In 1987 Islwyn Borough Transport acquired a small fleet of East Lancs bodied 25-seater dual purpose Dodge GO8 midibuses. As fleet numbers 47-52 these were used almost exclusively on the route that traversed the Bargoed Hill. On a gloomy day in October 1990 number 47 was hard at work on the route. Not a bad result as the camera was pointed through the windscreen of a car in which I travelled at the time.

22. In marked contrast but on an equally steep hill number 5 in the Great Orme Tramway fleet made the climb up from Llandudno in April 1996 with the assistance of underground cables. The first section of the tramway was opened to the public in 1902 and completed to the top of the Great Orme the following year. With the steepest gradient set at 1 in 4 it operates in funicular style with carriages that have been lovingly maintained. Llandudno is set out below with its fine promenade that leads the eye across to the Little Orme in the distance.

23-24. From Wales it is now up to Cumbria and the fleet of one of the website’s sponsors. The AEC Regal from Cumbria Classic Coaches of Ravenstonedale headed towards Ash Fell in 2005 as the Howgill Hills provided a backdrop when it ran the seasonal service down to Hawes in Wensleydale.
Shortly beforehand this Stagecoach operated Volvo B10M with Alexander PS bodywork, passed beneath the summit of Ash Fell 5-miles south of Kirkby Stephen on route 564 to Sedbergh and Kendal. This type of step-entrance bus had been the staple diet for many of the subsidiaries, but is now much in decline.

25. Some eight years earlier and around thirty miles to the west, fleet number 78 in the Stagecoach Cumberland fleet in September 1998 descended towards the hamlet of Seatoller from the east side of the Honister Pass. The 77 is a seasonal circular service based on Keswick and several of the Cumbria fleet at that time operated throughout the Lake District with a similar livery.

26. The Mercedes-Benz midibuses have since been replaced by a couple of new Optare Solos in corporate Stagecoach livery and number 47721, seen here in April 2010 operated the anticlockwise version of the route as a 77A. The bus was about halfway up the east side of the Honister Pass with the snow-capped Helvellyn range of mountains in the far distance.

27. Not strictly a service bus, but something of interest was this Marshall bodied Volvo B6, one of fifteen such buses previously operated by the Cambus subsidiary of Stagecoach in the university city of Cambridge. In April 2010 it was owned and operated by the Honister Slate Mine to transport staff and tourists to and from the mine workings high up on the mountains. One can observe how high up the mountain the bus travelled by the track shown above the vehicle.

28. Again not strictly a service bus, but the Mountain Goat Hire company provides a plethora of guided tourist trail services around the whole of the Lake District. Using a fleet of high specification mini and midibuses, the driver of one held back his vehicle on the west side of the pass to allow Stagecoach Solo 47720 to wend its way towards the summit.

29. South and east from the Honister Pass lay the Kirkstone Pass with Windermere on one side and Ullswater on the other. These are linked by a B-classified road and in September 1996 a brand new Kassbohrer Setra in Redwing livery led other tourist traffic up towards the summit from the Ullswater side. This was one of six acquired that year by the Pullmanor company of Camberwell in south east London.

30. From one side of the country to the other and up onto the North Yorkshire Moors and another touring vehicle is shown. Wearing the almost all-white livery of the NBC and operated by the West Yorkshire subsidiary, this unidentified Leyland Leopard coach climbed its way up out of Goathland during the late 1970s.

31. Some twenty odd years later and about to pass the same spot from the other direction, a smart Wright bodied Volvo B10BLE number 446 in the Yorkshire Coastliner fleet. This relatively small fleet of vehicles is predominantly double-deck, but there have always been a small number of single-deckers such as this one, as it made a return journey back to Leeds having travelled out to the North Yorkshire coastline town of Whitby in April 2003.

32. Another bus making a stiff climb was this ECW dual-doored Bristol RE, number 1609 in the United fleet on a local service back to Whitby many years earlier in August 1979. In the right foreground can be observed the lines of the heritage North Yorkshire Moors Railway over which the bus has passed as it left the village of Goathland. Many will recall that this was the location for the fictional community of Aidensfield in the once long-running “Heartbeat” television series set in the 1960s and 70s. The bus would have not been too out of place had it passed through during filming.

33. No self respecting article would be complete without perhaps a nice big red London bus. With all the industry talking about the New Bus for London and plenty of references to replacement Routemasters and “Borismasters”, RM 652 had a surprise deviation from its usual haunts on route 15 through east and central London and made a flying visit to the Derbyshire Dales. Route number, along with intermediate and ultimate destinations along with the name “Rodney” between the decks were references to the vehicle’s usage with others when employed on services in Glasgow during the 1980s. A special occasion to celebrate a significant birthday of a notable worthy in the transport industry, required the services of this bus to carry him, his family and friends from the outskirts of Chesterfield to the National Tramway Museum at Crich. Here the bus made mincemeat (note seasonal reference), of Slack Hill one Saturday in March 2010. Along the way it would have made several long and steep ascents and descents, a far cry from its usual haunts, even though one would be Tower Hill.

To view the picture without words, put your mouse over the picture.

34. And finally, a sort of tenuous link from this to a feature that will appear on the website in 2012. This will concentrate on bus services ostensibly through Wensleydale in North Yorkshire, including some interesting seasonal heritage operations during the past few years. As a taster a fine ECW bodied vintage Bristol L operated by Vintage Omnibus Services trundled back towards Hawes during August 2010 after a run out to the Settle & Carlisle line at Garsdale.