WME in Devon - more bus memories

A few notes on the other routes and locations that featured in my Devon adventures...

• Exeter is a hub for regional bus routes operating out of the city's bus station. There is quite a choice, with routes to Plymouth, Barnstaple, Tiverton and Okehampton, but I settled for a ride on the 57 down to Exmouth - a nice little jaunt down through Countess Wear and Topsham (passing the station). Exmouth was my kind of location - the bus and train stations are next door to each other and offer some good photo opportunities. The bus station is quite basic and dated, but I quite liked that as an antidote to some soulless modern stations where you can't get anywhere near the vehicles. At both Exeter and Exmouth there were racks of timetables where you could just help yourself to a few leaflets, very handy for a bit of research and journey planning.
  
• Exeter also has an extensive network of local routes, usually assigned a letter of the alphabet rather than a number. These routes operate from High Street rather than the bus station, and provide the more local kind of exploration I'm used to in the West Midlands.
  I explored routes K and T - the K links Pinhoe and Countess Wear via the City Centre, and I tracked it down the Countess Wear terminus outside the shops, a real local terminal point that was just the kind I like to explore back home. The T is similar to the K but extends to Topsham, providing another treat of a ride. The route terminates on Topsham Quay, surely one of the loveliest bus locations I am ever likely to visit. Having dashed down from the railway station, I had the absolute pleasure of waiting for the bus whilst enjoying wonderful views over the quayside and along the River Exe. Simply brilliant.
  
• The 12/12A is another jewel in the Stagecoach Devon crown - a regular service linking Newton Abbot, Torquay, Paignton and Brixham. I caught the route outside Newton Abbot Station down to Paignton, providing glimpses of the railway station at Torre and a ride through the streets of Torquay before heading along the seafront. The Strand seems to be a good place to find buses in Torquay, although I didn't investigate, whilst Paignton Bus Station was another example of my kind of bus station - basic but photo-friendly with the added bonus of a travel shop where I could top up my ever expanding timetable collection
  
• And finally for now, the 39 - something of an unexpected addition to the Devon bus collection, a happy accident that arose out of finding myself in Newton Abbot and wondering where to head next. The 39 arrived and sounded intriguing, so I took a chance and headed for Exeter. Its quite a haul after a long day of exploring but I still enjoyed it, plus I had the chance for a glimpse of places such as Bovey Tracey and Chudleigh before alighting at Countess Wear to track down that elusive K photo. Whilst not being up there as a great exploration experience, the 39 is still a fine route in its own right.