Warwickshire with Woody

My August explorations have thus far involved some far-flung affairs taking in the likes of Chester, Rhyl, Nottingham and Worcester, and the theme continued yesterday as I joined Mr Wood for a throughly enjoyable tour of Warwickshire.

• Start at Wolverhampton Station, catching the 9.45 Euston train. Woody joins me at New Street and we alight at Coventry, with the internal train doors trying their best to slice Woody in half!
• From Coventry Station we sample the 585 de Courcey route over to Pool Meadow, with Mark having a further mishap by almost falling over as the bus pulls into its stand. He recovers by taking photos of a route 13 Gemini, and we add further shots on Trinity Street (20, 21 Bendibus and the Matrx route) and sneak a quick look at the Cathedral.
• Now it's over to the 86, where the driver has trouble tracking down the setting for our DayRider Gold tickets. The route takes us to Binley Woods via Gosford Park and Binley Morrisons - we alight on Heather Road and are pleased that the driver has now located the button for our ticket. Fair play to him, he kept perservering until he'd found it!
• Heather Road was one of the filming locations for the BBC comedy series Keeping Up Appearances. We find the bungalow that served as the Bucket residence (sorry, Bouquet residence) and note the house next door where Elizabeth and Emmett lived - both were nice discoveries, although I didn't enjoy getting stung by some mysterious creature as we headed back to the bus stop!
• The 86 again, this time the full route into Rugby via pretty Wolston village. The route seemed quite different from how I'd remembered it, so perhaps its changed a bit since early 2007. It certainly enters Rugby in a new direction and terminated on the opposite side of Clifton Road.
• Lunch time, and its off to the Rupert Brooke Wetherspoon's for a chicken tikka washed down with a pint of Carling for Woody and a pint of Wychert real ale for me, all good stuff. Our Rugby explorations then take us down Railway Terrace for a look at the Stagecoach bus depot followed by a wander around Rugby Railway Station. I thought the station was quite impressive actually, a nice modern frontage, clean interior and a hint of traditional heritage provided by the older platform buildings.
• Next up is the bladder bus (also known as the 63) for the ride down to Leamington Spa. Without Rog or Andy, the bladders were very well behaved and we enjoyed an angst-free tour of Dunchurch and Southam before alighting on Upper Parade.
• Leamington was its usual elegant self, with the charming streetscapes providing a great backdrop to our bus photos. We also called in at the Tavistock Inn for a quick drink and an update on the Chelsea v Hull game.
• The X17 soon whisks us off to Warwick via Warwick Hospital and Cape Road. The old Market Street bus stops have been replaced by a new bus interchange which looks very smart and proves to be another useful photo location. We have a stroll up to the market square and call into the local museum. Whilst exploring the local and natural history exhibits, Woody finds a proper bear to pose with - I always wondered what happened to Bungle when Rainbow finished!
• It's time for another pint, so we seek out the Tilted Wig in the marketplace. Mark sticks to the Carling, whilst I can't resist trying out a pint of Tilted Pig, an ale brewed with a nod to the pub's name by the local Slaughterhouse Brewery. Like the Wychert earlier, it was a very nice pint, although rather soured by the news Wolves were losing 1-0 to West Ham at Molineux.
• Back to the bus station we wait for the 18 to Stratford, with temporary traffic lights causing a fair bit of congestion. The 18 arrives nearly 15 minutes late but does offer a nice double decker ride through countryside and villages such as Wellesbourne.
• Stratford was our final call for the day, a fact we marked with a visit to the Golden Bee Wetherspoon's to partake of a Beer and Burger meal. We also found more bears courtesy of the local teddy musuem - Bruce will be jealous! A gentle stroll takes us up to the railway station for the ride back to Birmingham, whereby we kept a weather eye on the state of some of the request stop stations and Woody was suitably horrified by the prospect of Bordesley.
• Back at Snow Hill, we catch the local Stourbridge service and I take my leave at Galton Bridge as another excellent day out draws to a close. Its been an eventful month, and today's outing certainly maintained the recent high standards with Woody's plan once again providing a great foundation for getting out and about when further afield. We did Warwickshire justice, and I look forward to seeing where we pitch up next.