We awoke the next morning, and after checking out of the hotel we filled the bus with propulsion fluids and made our way towards Anstey Park, stopping off along the way in Alton Town Centre for some photographs of 2599 outside the local church, and our own propulsion fluids, a hearty breakfast and coffee in the local Wetherspoons (a pub tick for your blogmaster, who signs such establishments, but I digress...)
It was fascinating while sat in the pub tucking into a fry-up watching scores of heritage buses passing by, and very soon we were amongst them joining the queue to enter Anstey Park. After a long and intense day on the Saturday (especially for our leader Paul), we had opted to keep 2599 static at this event, so that we could enjoy the day's proceedings at a more leisurely pace. The first port of call on arrival for myself while everyone settled in was the public conveniences, where your blogmaster ditched his jeans for a pair of shorts (health warning duly issued for those of a nervous disposition I may add), taking advantage of the baking hot July sun that we had been blessed with. Returning to the bus, we secured our belongings and locked up, at which point Paul set off in one direction, while Michael, Calum and I set off in another, wandering around the site taking photographs of the large numbers of exhibits, frequently becoming separated as we stopped to photograph different exhibits or to be greeted by friends of the group.
After wandering around in circles on the rally field for what seemed like hours, Michael, Calum and I ended up in the 'Bus Station' area, where Michael's attention was grabbed by ex-London & Country Volvo Citybus G610BHP waiting to a trip to Hedge Corner on service 38, a vehicle type he had become well acquainted with during his early driving career working for Arriva Derby. We enjoyed a spirited run on this quality machine, and arriving back at Alton Sainsbury's Michael and I left Calum to continue back to Anstey Park while we crossed over and eventually boarded Cresta Coaches Leyland Tiger KPV810, an East Lancs Myllenium rebody for Strathtay Scottish that had subsequently seen service with Wootens' Tiger Line operation. A spirited run was enjoyed to Lasham on service 28, and we vacated at Alton Railway Station to see what delights awaited us next.
Having tried to board two Leyland Nationals with no success due to large loadings, we settled upon a Stagecoach South Coast Volvo B10M, Alexander PS-bodied 622 (L622TDY) for the short hop back to Anstey Park, and I for one was certainly disappointed that I could not have sampled a longer ride on this quality motor, a vehicle type I am most familar with thanks to my local Stagecoach division, East Midland, running large numbers 'back in the day'. Back at Anstey Park, I was stood talking to Michael as a red and cream ex-South Notts Bedford OB (KNN314) owned by Lee Simmonds came into view, at which point he turned to me and said "either my eyes are deceiving me Mr Stone, or that is Mr Waplington driving a Bedford OB!". After a cursory glance and advice to seek the guidance of an optician in Michael's direction, the mystery driver turned his head slightly, and the distinctive stripe in the hair revealed it was indeed our leader, at the helm of an OB!!! Still eating my words, and uttering my apologies to Michael, Paul stepped off the platform to a barrage of "how the bloody hell have you managed to get a drive of that, you jammy git?!?!" 
It was after this we said our goodbyes, sought the opportunity for a quick toilet stop and a final group photo before we left for the long drive back to Nottinghamshire. A slight detour was made at Alton Station to say goodbye to Steve Thorpe and the Hants & Surrey RE lads before we left, and a customary 'buses and beer' seminar took place to mark this. The return took around 6hrs in total, with a couple of stops thrown in and an unusual shunting exercise at Northampton Services to get 2599 positioned under a cracking sunset, arriving back at HQ just 20 minutes shy of Midnight.
