Saddleworth Moors

Just a few pics on top of the moors. I didnt take many going up coz i was busy trying to stop my lungs jumping out and i couldnt when i was coming down as it was too much fun i didnt want to stop. The 30 mins up there was beautiful scenery though.

Nothing special

Not much to report good ride here if you like long down hills as well as a challenge going up hills. Bus station looks the same as last time i came. Can't see any stagecoach buses here. Anyway home on the train done enough today. In at 4am tomorrow on staff taxis.

Not too bad

I finished work at 1230 today. I just headed upto greenfield and over the moors. I'm currently about to start the brilliant decent into meltham. It's glorious out today. It's the first time i have had chance to test my fitness over these hills and it warm't as bad as i thought. Anyway i'm heading to huddersfield for lunch now.

A very good morning

Just at stalybridge about to do the first bus to glossop. It's weird. Sometimes you can go weeks not doing a certain route then you end up on it for a full week. Today is similar to yesterday with a glossop, town, glossopdale school then ashton. A 330 after my break for good measure too. Out on my bike later so i hope this sunny but cool weather continues. not sure where to head today. I have not been up the ashton canal for a while so might head up that way. stalybridge has a lot of buses in the morning but none seem to pick many up from here. There is a 219,220,237 and a 217 all within 7 minutes of each other around 7am. Suppose the train is too much competition for it.

Look at the time!

Well they say variety is the spice of life lol. Done two shifts that finished at 1am. Yesterday finished at 9pm. And 4 days now i am resigned to getting up between 3 and 4am. I was looking forward to getting on my bike today but had a little injury in the gym yesterday so i'm having an exercise free day. I finish at 12 today lunchtime which is nice although i think a back to bed might be in order. There are some people at work do the same hours everyday for various reasons including the inability to get up early in the morning. I like the variety. Glossop limited stop this morning first trip. It's on the destination blinds now as a few people seemed to have not read the big posters on the bus or the information on the web site. Or noticed that the numbers were missing off the bus stops and decided to insult the drivers for there own ignorance. I don't mind the abuse sometimes, it makes a sometimes uneventful day interesting. Anyway time to get up. Taxi bus picking me up at 520am. Lets hope the weather reports are wrong and the sun comes out.

Here we go again

On my second of two lates tonight. Same finish time of 0046. It's the last bus in the depot. Glossop ashton all night. Last night was painfully quiet. Am sure tonight will be as interesting. Will be glad to be back to normality of sorts with a 4am start on wednesday. The body clock will love that one.

New buses

I know there is lots of talk on here about speedwell new services. If you have not seen the 54 plate enviro 300s they have then this is it. Looks a nice bus. I have never driven one but the drivers who have say it's a nice drive. I think we have some 59 plates in liverpool. Finished for 2pm today. Simple day too, just glossops and a couple of trips to haughton green. Working weekend this week. Got 3 lates after today finishing at 1245am. Not good.

Random Day Off.

Not much to do today so as usual i jumped on the Mountain bike and headed out. Went upto Oldham Edge Never realised how secluded it was up there considering its so close to the town.. Then i went down broadway and over Victoria Ave to Heaton Park. Then down Bury New Road and back up the Ashton Canal. Nothing exciting really clocked a good 29 miles though which is always good for the weight loss. Here are a few Random Pics of the day.

Where Am I (very easy)

Three here for you. On the way to work this morning and on the way home. But where are these pics taken. the last one on the road is normally alot busier than this!!

Very pretty

I cycled to work today. Thought i would come through park bridge and head up dean terrace. This building caught my eye i think it used to be a school or a church. Looked very picturesque anyway. The nasty brick path to ashton has been beaten down a little but it's still more of a bridle path that a cycle route. I was supposed to be in at 430am but managed to get a swap for a 7 - 3. Just in the middle of 5 hours on the 217 218. Lots of p t e time checkers around mossley and stalybridge today. They are the people sat at bus stops with a yellow hi vis jackets on that say survey. They will have a busy time up there as a saw one s50 being followed by 3 350. It's doing well. Anyway 1 trip on a 330 this afternoon so a pretty simple day.

Bank hols

Just got to work after a couple of days off. Usual sunday service today on a bank holiday. I'm doing the usual late on the glossop service which is a very simple duty. Roads look a bit busy though on the way in so i'm hoping they calm down in the next hour or so.

Silly man

We pick some real odd people up in this job. It's a rule that we do not allow people to travel with a tin of paint. This is because the damage it can cause if spilt can cost thousands to clean and repair the damage it causes. So anyway this morning i'm on the 330 just before Gee Cross when a guy gets on with a tub of paint! After i advised him of our conditions the chap got off and launched the paint onto the footpath then started shouting at me. I'm guessing he was having a bad day lol. After he finished he had the strange idea that he was going to travel on my bus. This idea was soon dismissed by me. Funny old day. That was the first part of my split. I'm hoping the next part on the 347 is just as funny. The picture shows the tub and the mess it made of the path.

Sunny day

Weather is looking very good for today. Just managed to grab a shot before the sun comes up. Not sure how it will look on a computer but it looks nice from here. Busy trip that first one. Although i wish people wouldn't think we carry as much change as a bank especially at 5 in the morning!

Oh! It's early

Just passed through ashton market cycling to work. Can't understand why all these lights are still on. There really isn't any need. Set off at 4am from home. It's nice out so i'm hopini for a nice ride upto dovestones later will see how i feel when i finish. Got 216s first thing which finishes at 840. Bit early for lunch so i brought my cornflakes lol.

St George's Day Parade

Was a bit bored so thought i would have a little ride into Manchester to strech the legs. I came across the St Georges Day Parade. Thought it was a but poor to be honest but it's still nice that some people made the effort. Off today back in at 5am tomorrow which aint fun for a Monday morning but it means i am done for 3. Not all bad.

Busy busy

Piccadilly is very busy today with shoppers and protesters lol. Can't write too much i'm almost about to leave on my 218. Nice easy day today. So different from the rat run that was yesterday.

Unwind time

Not quiet the end of the week yet but i thought i'd cycle upto alexandra park to get some sun. Been a horrible long hard duty today 3 on a 347 then 3 on a 216. It's one of the longer duties we do and it ain't nice on a friday when rush hour comes earlier than usual. I'm in tomorrow at 830am. A full day on the 217 218s, nice! Anyway no beer on this st georges day so i will have to make up for it tomorrow night at the karaoke.

Secrets revealed.

If you ever wondered how the free metro newspaper got on to the bus well this is it. Hardly technical stuff. Just a portacabin and a shopping trolley. It's overtime work for us starting at 4am. I ended up with it today for the first time. Got my own work to do next too which finishes at 1. Good exercise though for first thing in the morning. Yesterday turned fun on the 347 with some guy not wanting to get off my bus with his out of date ticket. The police came and he was removed within a matter of seconds. All good fun though. Especially the cheers off the passengers when he was removed.

Oh it's cold

Am just waiting for my first bus. Two trips on a 347. It's a few minutes late now so i'm guessing crown point is busy. 5 hours on the 7 later too. So not such a bad day although i'm a bit cold today lol.

Still quiet.

Am just sat in stockport waiting to go back to ashton on my 330. This is a 22 which goes to bolton. I have never been on it because it takes forever. Not like the old trans lancs 400 service. This one goes all over the place. It's a shared route with first and stagecoach running it. Off to glossop next from town nice drive upto the hills.

Almost there

Well it's been a pretty tedious week which is almost over. Most schools have been off this week so everything is quiet. Today i'm on the 347 for two trips. Normally not a bad route but anyone who had a school duty is sent out on there instead. Great for the people of haughton green and denton. Not so for me who has times to run too bus noone to pick up because there are so many buses running on there. Later i got 3 trips on a 216 which is completly the opposite on friday and i'm sure by 2pm i will be more than ready for home time. Am off this weekend luckily as the manchester derby hits eastlands so expect huge delays on the new road if you are getting a bus at saturday lunchtime. Not in until monday at 1330 so almost 3 days off. Shame it's going to rain lol

Sneaky

This is burlington street near ashton pool. It's handy to know that if you have to be in ashton early it's a normal street with no parking charges or restrictions. I use when going to the gym. Don't say i didnt tell you lol. It's been a very average week this week. Nothing special happening apart from my 347 having a fuel leak on monday. I found this out when a very panic stricken 219 driver started beeping his horn and waving his hands at me. I'm not in until 1pm today on one of our shorter duties which sees me doing the 1750 glossop bus out of town. Although i'm sure the 3 people who travel through will love stopping at every stop to drop the 216 passengers off. On another move i notice speedwell are running there new s48 service this week free of charge. It's only running for a week and then launches sometime in june i think for a quid like the s50. Good luck to them i say.

Manchester Bike Ride

Maybe Something New!!

I had great plans for this post but it all gone wrong. I use Nokia Sports tracker on my phone which tells me where is am, how many calories i am burning, distance etc etc. It also records every picture you take and places them onto a map so you can see where i was and the time etc that the picture was taken. However for some reason it won't upload so i will have to play some more to see if i can link it up on here.
Anyway yesterday was a very mixed bag. No work so i headed into town via the Rochdale canal which i have never been down to get to Manchester and to be honest is nothing special. If anything i think most of it is pretty crappy. Anyway after that i thought i would do a bit of power cycling to see if i could get to Ashton in the 31 minutes is takes a 216. All was going well was keeping up with a bus until i got to Snipe and i lost 3 spokes on a bump so had to stop and hobble the bike home. Bad day as its glorious outside and i have no bike now. I heard that Wellington Road was closed yesterday following a very severe accident which closed the road outside the bus station for 4 hours. Luckily upto now no one has been killed but someone is in a bad way in hospital so im sure it was chaos around there yesterday, Won't go into the details as i didn't see it. Back in work tomorrow morning at 7 not sure what im on but im sure it will be hard work. I'm not a fan of monday mornings at all. This picture by the way is the new metrolink station at Edge Lane/ Ashton new road in case you wondered. Will try to post more from yesterday when i get chance but there was no great scenery like i have posted before.

Nice try

Got this on the bus this morning on a 330 in hyde. It seems to be pretty common in hyde at the moment. I seem to keep seeing the same idiots trying to get on with altered day riders and now mega riders. This was given away by a number of things including the fact it's valid for 17 days! What great value lol. Only last week there was a lot of 20 quid fines issued to overriders and fare dodgers which is always nice as we have discussed on here before. But it's a case of catching the same people over and over again. what makes my chuckle is the abuse we get when we take there tickets off the idiots as if it's our fault we caught them out lol. Oh well been gym going for dinner then a trip and a half on a 7. Weekend off so bike ride and beer in order.