Day 1. Five buses to Pateley Bridge

Hello there. Reporting in on day 1 of my bus pass trip. It was a sunny start to the day. I haven't done any walking today, just sat on my bum on five different buses. My goodness, the state of some of the roads is awful, shakes the buses to bits. It's so uncomfortable. I shouldn't moan because it's free travel, but at what price, a bad back or feeling sick maybe. I was glad to get off the last one.

So, the first bus was a 55, it took me a few miles to the next village. It was a little sixteen seater and quite nice. 

Then I picked up the Fastcat service number 350, to Hull, arriving at 11.15am.

At the bus station I went to the information centre to check the bus times to York. It's a massive bus station so it was easier to ask someone behind a counter for information. There was a choice of two, they take different routes, so I chose the service X4 which was slightly quicker, leaving Hull at 11.45am.

 I arrived in York at 1.40pm. and got off at the railway station. There isn't a bus station in York, there are several different places where buses arrive and leave from. Finding the next bus is a nightmare, there are stands outside the train station which I studied the timetables but everything seemed to be in code. I wanted to go to Harrogate, but the stand for that was 20 mins walk away in another street. I decided to go there, and then I changed my mind and went back to the station to get the bus to Wetherby instead. I took a few pics along the way.

York was so busy with tourists I didn't want to stay too long, so it suited me to get a bus quickly and get the hell out of there. I've seen it all before anyway. Must have been my fastest trip around York ever.

Back to the railway station and along comes the Wetherby bus. Low and behold it goes on to Harrogate as well. That's lucky. The young whippersnapper of a driver was scooting along. We left at 2.25pm, was in and out of Wetherby at 3.05pm, and landed in Harrogate at 3.30pm.

Now I was thinking I might only have time for one more bus ride, I walked along the 13 stands in the bus station to see where the buses were all heading and thought Pateley Bridge would be a good place to get to for the night. I had just missed one and the next one was in an hour, so I had a little walkabout and took a few pics. Lots of interesting architecture like this.

There are masses of flowers out everywhere. 

There are a few yellow bicycles still about after the Tour de France. This one is at the front of the library.

And here we have the world famous Betty's Tea Rooms. I have never been in there, bet it's pricey,  haven't time today.

Lovely flower displays.

I got back to the bus station and there was some confusion as to which stand the bus would come in at. Apparently they pinch each others parking spaces, this is normal, so you have to look for your bus. We left at 4.45pm.

Arriving in Pateley Bridge at 5.40pm, I popped into a Spar shop to get some food for a picnic in my room,, when I find one. I had a walk around and asked a couple of people where I should look. One place wanted £75, far too much. A couple of places said £55, so I guessed that was normal for this area. I have a cosy room at Talbot House, in the High Street.

Tomorrow will be a walking day, as there are no buses going in my direction, so I'm about to get the maps out and plot a route. Breakfast is at eight. Now I'll make myself a mug of hot chocolate. This is the life eh!
Toodle pip.