Trip Log - Saturday 10th June

More glorious weather as Rog came across to Wolverhampton for a World Cup Exploration...

• Meet at Wolverhampton Bus Station for a few photos - Rog tells me he has already been to the pub!
• 527 to Ashmore Park via Park Village and Wood End (I didn't quite manage to get the route photo so another outing may be required)
• Ashmore Park - a look at the moat remains and the local park, enjoying the sunshine and admiring lots of England flags
• 559 to Wolverhampton via Wednesfield and Heath Town
• 513 to Bantock Park - a WN Metrobus, down Chapel Ash
• Bantock Park - a game of pitch and putt. I won 101 shots to 114, so we were both equally useless. Turned out to be good fun actually, with a few photos of us trying to look like we could actually play golf!
• 543 from Bantock Park to Castlecroft via Finchfield
• Lunch at Castlecroft in the oh so glamorous bus shelter
• Football at The Firs - unfortunately we missed the England goal and had to sit through the rubbish England served up for the rest of the match. Nice pub mind, even nicer cider
• Celebrate England's 1-0 victory with a drink in The Chestnut Tree at Finchfield, another nice pub with more nice cider (well, I was thirsty!)
• 543 back into Wolverhampton, a quick drink in O'Neills and Rog catches the 256 back to Stourbridge

Mission accomplished - England won and we had a good local outing, exploring a couple of routes and a couple of pubs. Need to practice the golf though, and I can't even use the cider as an excuse...

Wolverhampton Route Changes

Travel West Midlands have announced a number of route revisions that will affect bus services in Wolverhampton from July 23rd onwards. The changes are designed to improve service reliability and include:

• 513 reduced in frequency to every 20 minutes
• 526 reduced in frequency to every 30 minutes
• 525 and 544 will have increased running times
• 527 will be absorbed into a revised 528 service
• 545 section between Merry Hill and Dudley is withdrawn
• 613 will revert back to linking Bradmore and Northwood Park
• 682 will revert back to linking Finchfield and the City Centre
• 683 is withdrawn

From a personal point of view, the changes affect routes I have enjoyed exploring over the years. Top of that list is the 527, an old favourite of mine from various visits to Wood End and Ashmore Park. I don't have any photos of the route at Ashmore Park whatsoever, so it would be nice to ride it again and get some shots before it is incorporated into the 528, giving the route a good send off in the process.

The changes to the 545 mean that Wolverhampton will now only have one direct connection (the 260) to the Merry Hill Centre, and follows on from the shortening of the 541 a few years back. The 545 is a long route, which I've always thought was part of its charm - a twisting tour of the Black Country that provides great exploration connections. It won't quite seem the same when it just goes to Dudley, and the local network will seem a little more boring as a result.

The 613 changes mean I'll have to get the camera out and head down to Fordhouses whilst the route still terminates there. The changes do have an upside, as they return the service to the route I explored back in May 2004 when I caught the bus from Northwood Park to Bradmore but somehow managed to miss out on getting any photos - I might now be able to fill those holes in the archive.

The 682 and 683 changes provide a different conundrum - both are members of the rare breed of Wolverhampton bus routes I have never ever been on (yes, there are some!), although I did get a photo of the 682 at its Finchfield terminus. I'll certainly have to investigate the 683 before its consigned to history, and with the 682 terminating at Finchfield again rather than being a circular, I might be able to add to that earlier photo.

I'm never quite sure what to make of route changes - in one sense they freshen up the network and provide different exploration opportunities, whilst they can remove favourite services, connections and locations from the bus landscape. At least these changes give me an excuse (did I ever need one anyway?!) to get back out there exploring the Wolverhampton bus network, so it can't all be bad!

A Wombourne Walk

Hasn't it been glorious weather recently - it certainly makes a change! Dad and I took the opportunity to enjoy the sunshine by sampling another walk out of the Express & Star, this time taking us across to Wombourne for a stroll around Lower Penn and Orton. It gave me a chance for some more June photos, including a few shots of The Greyhound pub - scene of a rather exotic banana curry when I visited with work last year. It had been a while since we'd done a walk, so it was great to get back out there, sampling the Staffordshire countryside just a few miles from Wolverhampton. I'm looking forward to our next walk already, so I'll keep an eye on the Saturday night paper to see what other suggestions might appear...

Trip Log - Friday 2nd June

Making the most of the sunshine yesterday with a great outing...

• Train from Wolverhampton to Walsall - nice quiet ride as always
• Walsall - a few bus photos and a bit of shopping
• 377 Walsall to Streetly - Metrobus magic on a favourite route
• Streetly: proper local exploration - Parson & Clerk, the Library on Blackwood Road, Foley Arms, Hardwick Arms, Streetly Gate
• Streetly Buses - photos of the new 993 route at its Hardwick Arms terminus, then back to the Foley Arms to photo and catch the 113X
• 113X - North Birmingham Busways from Foley Arms to New Oscott
• New Oscott: only a short stay, trying to get a decent pic of the Beggars Bush
• 451 New Oscott to Scott Arms via Kingstanding, Pheasey and Queslett Horns
• Scott Arms: another brief stop, looking at the pub and the shops
• 406H Scott Arms to West Bromwich via Hamstead and Sandwell General Hospital
• Quick change onto the 402 to Central Avenue - People's Express bus, via Greets Green and Great Bridge
• More good local exploring around Central Avenue, Wallbrook and Daisy Bank
• Into Bradley to catch the 525 home outside the Iron Master

It certainly was quite an outing - on reflection, I realised I'd actually visited areas in Walsall, Staffordshire, Birmingham, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton - almost a full house, with hopefully some good photo material for a number of WME galleries