So yesterday, a friend and I were planning on going to Plymouth from Totnes at around 13:30. "No problem", we thought, as there's a First Bus X80 at 13:45. Obviously, because of Tweenaway, it was going to be late, but not too late, we imagined.
Anyway, my friend had the bright idea of getting the train to Plymouth. So off we set from Coronation Road to the railway station. I texted National Rail on the way, only to discover that the next train wasn't for 50 minutes. End of that idea.
So we ran to the next bus stop up the road, where I said we'd get the 88 or X80, whichever came first. If the 88 came first, we'd go to Exeter (after just missing a 13:50 X64 to Exeter anyway). Or if the X80 came First, then Plymouth it was.
The 88 came first, and so we jumped on that, about 20 minutes late. We pulled out and were halfway across the road, when all of a sudden, a man came running up and banged on the doors. He said he'd given up after waiting for so long, and he got on. Journey wasn't off to the best of starts!
So I looked up the time of the X38 from Buckfastleigh to Exeter, which was 15:30. Oh. That was an hour and half to wait. So we had to scrap that idea and decided to take it all the way to Newton Abbot.
So we were sat there comfortably and in peace coming up to Dartington. Then a boulder decides to come down from the bank and smash into the side of the bus. We swerved and shook quite a bit. No one knew what it was at first, until the driver pulled in at Dartington to go and have a look. I wish I had had a chance to take a photo: half a side panel had been ripped up, leaving a very jagged point sticking out.
Anyway, off we went to Newton Abbot, where I thought we'd be able to get a 39 just in time. Nope. As soon as we pulled out of Ashburton Road, there was none other than the 39 itself, made worse by the fact that it was a brand new leather-seated Enviro 400! Of all the vehicle choices for a bus to miss!
So we had no other choice than to get the 2. There was one in, and it left promptly at 14:55. I checked the timetable to find that it arrived in Exeter at 16:37. Great. Scrap that idea.
We hadn't had lunch, so we jumped off at Tesco in Kingsteignton, grabbed a sandwich, and began to walk back to the train station, where we were going to catch a train on an 18 minute journey into Exeter.
"Okay," we thought, "we're on the way now." But of course, something else just had to happen, didn't it?
As we departed Teignmouth, an announcement came over: "I'm sorry to announce that due to a line equipment failure, we are having to proceed with extreme caution." So what was an 18 minute train journey landed us in Exeter at 5 miles per hour only 10 minutes before the 2 service would have done - without having to buy two train tickets! So 3 hours from Totnes to Exeter. Oh dear...
After getting the H into the centre (nothing happened on this journey!), we wanted to go down to St.Thomas. So we waiting for an A by South Street. When one came, what should it do other than crash into the shelter with its wing mirror, shattering a huge glass panel! Oh, the wing mirror fell off, too. So we waited for either an E or an F. That was without incident - finally!
So we got on the X46 back to Torquay on the 18:50 (last bus back), and then caught the 12 from Castle Circus, which was 13 minutes late.
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| Oops! |
As the 12 pulled round past the Pavilions and pulled into the shelter, it whacked straight into a tree. Okay, so a bus was now stuck in a tree. We managed to pull away fine, but the last time a bus did that, it was quite a struggle!
So in short, that was honestly the most ridiculous set of buses I have ever taken! And yes, I would do it all again. There's something strangely exciting about bus journeys going ridiculously wrong.
