"Beer and buses" as dubious trio set sail for Isle of Wight...part 2 19/10/14

After a good night's doss in possibly the comfiest bed your blogmaster has ever sampled in his almost quarter century on this earth (sadly the hotel wouldn't let us take it home), we rose from the pit and ventured off into Central Newport to pencil in the other Wetherspoons we hadn't visited the previous night to indulge in a hearty fry-up.

Using Tim's guide, we planned more moves for the day ahead, before having a wander (or in my case a sedate waddle after a suitably fat breakfast) back over to Newport Quay to view the arrivals for the annual Isle of Wight Bus Museum open day element of the weekend. After the previous day's fast pace, and with religious scriptures of society telling us that Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, the day took on a more sedate, relaxed pace, still with plenty of winner buses to be had.

So around 1000hrs Paul, Tim and myself boarded Southern Vectis series 2 Bristol VR 628 (SDL638J) for a return trip to Havenstreet and the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, and I can safely say she didn't disappoint! When we returned to Newport Quay, Tim and Paul disappeared on ECW B51-bodied Bristol RE VHK177L while I joined Southern Vectis' 'Old Girl' 702, 1939 Bristol K CDL899, now the quaint old age of 76 and still in service today with its original owner - quite an achievement!! For the princely sum of £5, we enjoyed an open top tour of the Island, taking in a quick stop at Carisbrooke Castle to admire the view over the Isle of Wight, before returning to Newport Quay. With my travelling companions nowhere to be seen, I decided to board newly preserved Southampton Citybus Leyland Olympian/East Lancs E289HRV for an almost two hour mystery tour of the Island, in which we took in Ryde and East Cowes. And believe me, it made some awesome noises, particularly the 'sneeze' of the gearchange!

I appear to have lost my travelling companions completely by this point, so resigned myself to making short leaps on shuttle service 'X' between Newport Quay and the Bus Station, taking in such delights as Southern Vectis Bristol Lodekka 563 (SDL268), newly-preserved Metrobus Volvo Olympian/East Lancs Pyoneer R834MFR, Southern Vectis/Solent Blue Line VR 37 (NDL637M), and Southern Vectis Iveco N243PDL, the sole survivor of a batch of such vehicles new to the company in the late 90's and an era not well represented in preservation (now for me personally, I used to recoil in horror when I used to see these 'breadvan' type small buses pull up at a stop as a kid, so its ironic I now go chasing such 'anti-pram' step entrance minibuses in the modern era to get away from the plastic-ness of things like Optare Solos!!!)

Upon my return to Newport Quay, I regrouped with Tim - who had gone for his Leyland 510 fix on board the Stroud Valleys National once again - and had a wander around the museum site before Paul joined us and we decided our final vehicle of the day would be...yup, you guessed it, Trent RE 337 once again, expertly driven by Reg Vardy. During the photo stop at Havenstreet while waiting for a connecting kettle (steam train), 337 was very kindly dressed for a service it would have worked while based at Nottingham depot in the 80's, and one close to my heart as I grew up on this now-decimated service as a kid, and with '331 Nottingham' on the blind it was only right that a seminar photo of our group was taken. Once again cheers Reg, good to meet you at last!

And with the day's events drawing to a close, we rejoined Southern Vectis Lodekka 570 for the return to Ryde, said our goodbyes to Nigel Harris and his conductress, before retiring to Wetherspoons for food and alcoholic refreshments (in mine and Tim's case) for the 18:45 crossing back to the mainland and the long journey home. All in all, a real adventure, and one enjoyed by all involved...