Alton Adventure Part 1: Bristols, Beer and BBQ's 19/07/14

Time to divert our attention away from 2599 for the next two posts now...every year on a Saturday in July, the Hants & Surrey Bristol RE Group organise an excellent weekend of quality Bristol (and some Leyland) thrash around the Hampshire region, based on Alton, running shuttle services linking several real ale pubs along the way. Now this is an event your blogmaster has personally wanted to attend for some years, and sadly for the last two attempts has fallen short at the last minute for circumstances beyond his control. This year however, was 'third time lucky'...and wow! We were certainly not disappointed with what we found...

We set off, at an ungodly hour of the Saturday morning for the long drive to Alton Station, arriving at just after 11am. Upon parking the car in the station car park, we were greeted with the sight of Bristol RE's, VR's, and a solitary Leyland Atlantean, everywhere. Proper buses as far as the eye could see! After a wander around taking the customary photographs, we boarded our first chariot, Oxford South Midlands Bristol VR 105 (NUD105L), a now rare dual-purpose example beautifully restored in the NBC half white/half red livery it was new in, and set off in the direction of Cheriton. Looking at the motely selection of Oxford Bus Company's Plaxton Panthers of varying ages and Van Hool Astromegas of Stagecoach now plying for trade between Oxford and London in 2014, it seems hard to believe that this route was in the hands of vehicles such as 105 back in the early 70's!!

Once at our destination, after the customary photographs of 105, we wandered the few hundred yards to our first pub, The Flowerpot, for a well-earned pint of real cider (in my case) in the sun. After sinking a couple, we wandered back to the bus stops just in time to photograph and board our second chariot, Jason Rayner's Southern Vectis Bristol VR 669 (UDL669S), a vehicle your blogmaster is very familiar with having been owned locally by a good friend of his in years gone by). 669 is now restored into a ficticious Tilling reverse cream and green livery which certainly looks the part, and put in a faultless and spirited performance as our group returned to Alton.

Our focus then transferred to our next vehicle, one which the 2599 group had been following the restoration progress of with much interest, ex-Trent (although new to North Western) Marshall-bodied Bristol RE 337 (SJA352K), making its debut on the rally scene after a thorough restoration by the Hants & Surrey Bristol RE group. We climbed aboard and enjoyed a return trip to Chatwon, stopping off while the bus ran to its terminus and back at The Grey Friar for food and more beverages (another cider in your blogmaster's case) before rejoining 337 to return to Alton. Suffice to say, apart from a couple of teething troubles one would expect from a brand new restoration as we left Alton on the outbound journey, she never missed a beat! Credit to her owners.

 We then joined our next vehicle, Ulsterbus Bristol RE/Alexander 2190 (POI2190), preserved in the later Ulsterbus 'Mk2' livery from the 1990's. We enjoyed a spirited run around Hampshire's country lanes, before stopping off at The Star Inn at Bentworth for a couple more beverages, and to take advantage of the barbecue on offer outside in the afternoon sun. Reflecting on the previous journey as the cider (or coke in our leader Paul's case), we all said that we hope our own 2599 looks as good once she is fully restored. Cider/BBQ consumed, and reflective moments aside, we then returned to Alton on board Western National flat-screen Bristol RE 2731 (POD830H), before joining Southern Vectis ECW coach-bodied RE 302 (XDL122L) for the short journey back to The Grey Friar at Chawton, where as the cider flowed and we lost track of time as we got talking with interested parties keen to hear of our progress on 2599, we missed the return on 302, settling instead to return on board 2731 once again an hour later than planned. If Brian 'O Doherty and John Deegan read this, was a pleasure to meet you lads!

After a wander around Alton, and a fish and chip supper, we were asked if we would like a short trip around the local area on Jason Rayner's ex-Southdown Leyland Atlantean/Park Royal 731 (SCD731N) - like we were going to refuse! She certainly went down a treat with all on board, and after returning safely to Alton we set off for our accommodation for the night in Reading (trust me, hotels and B&B's around Hampshire and beyond book up quickly for this event), letting 731 and Ulsterbus RE 2190 head off for the evening on a pub crawl of Hampshire well into the night.

On behalf of the Ulsterbus 2599 group and friends, we had a fantastic day here! Well done to Steve Thorpe and all involved for putting on such a well organised and co-ordinated event for us. Same time next year lads, would be nice if we had an Ulsterbus RE of our own to bring along...