| Bus | From | To | Service | Operator |
| 2705 | Harlescott Park & Ride | Castle St, Shrewsbury | Orange | Arriva Midlands |
| 6008 | Shrewsbury BS | Radbrook, Crowmeole Lane Jct (opp) | 20 | Arriva Midlands |
| 6002 | Radbrook, Radbrook College (opp) | Shrewsbury BS | 12 | Arriva Midlands |
| 2723 | Shrewsbury BS | Whitchurch Road, Rosedale Jct (opp) | 24 | Arriva Midlands |
Matthew had indicated in the week that he wanted to go to Shrewsbury. Mum had been to college on the Thursday to see Matthew using an iPod Touch and software as a communication aid. When asked where Matthew would like to go, he typed "pub" into the iPod. Mum said he go go the a pub on saturday, and he typed "Sat town". Mum reeled off a list of some of the places he usually goes to and when mum said "Shrewsbury", Matthew repeated it back to her. Having made that decision on Thursday, I did some research on buses and times and also to see if Shrewsbury Town were playing at home. Shrewsbury were at home to Dagenham & Redridge, so I knew there would be few extra buses around on the Prostar Stadium park & ride services. Setting off a fraction before 12:00, first stop was to be a pub in order for us all to have lunch. We choose the Elephant and castle pub in Shawbury, just a few Miles north of Shrewsbury.
Elephant & castle (Matthew)
We all chose Breakfast, except Uncle Dave who had a sausage sandwich. The meals were around £5 and were OK. Unusually, Matthew did not photograph his meal or the sink in the toilets! After we had finished, we made the short trip to the Harlescott park and ride car park. Immediately as we got there, there were 2 buses on the Prostar park and ride service. They were Tanat Valley double decker 510, and coach E131 PLJ
Tanat valley 510 (Matthew)
Shortly after this, weed travelled on the park and ride for the first time. Arriva Midlands 2705 was the bus that we caught and, it was painted in the blue Park & ride livery. When we reached Shrewsbury, we discovered that this bus did not go into the bus station, so we alighted and castle street and walk through an alleyway and down some steps to the bus station. The alleyway passes behind the back of the bus parking area, and you can photograph buses quite well of this raised area. Eventually, when in the bus station we spent half an hour just looking at and photographing buses, the best of which was Tanat Valley 509, another double decker on a Prostar Stadium park & Ride.
Tanat valley 509 (Matthew)
Mum was getting bored and wanted to go to do some shopping so we decide to go on a quick out and back bus journey. Bus timetables consulted, we decided to do a #20 to Radbrook College for a #12 back. 6008 turned up on the #20 and we did this to the stop after Radbrook college.
Arriva Midlands 6008 pulls away from Radbrook, Crowmeole Lane Jct (opp) stop (Matthew)
Now, we were using the tiny little maps that are provided on Arriva timetables, which are really useful to see which services travel along which roads. What we did not anticipate is the scale of the map! We crossed the road, and waited at the bus stop, only to see the #12 appear from the next street closer to Shrewsbury...Drat! As we walked back up the hill towards the next stop, the #20 that we had caught out of Shrewsbury passed us on it's return...Double drat! There ensued a best part of 30 minutes wait for the next #12...Still, whilst we were waiting, we did see a coach and saw a Minsterley motors services which we may be able to catch next time we visit Shrewsbury...Eventually 6002 arrived on the #12.
Arriva Midlands 6002 arrives at Radbrook, Radbrook College (opp) stop (Matthew)
Eventually, we get back to Shrewsbury bus station and we passed the reason why that traffic around town has been so bad today. On 3rd January, there had been a gas explosion that I remember seeing on the local news. The demolition work being carried out because of this meant that all southbound traffic towards the Welsh Bridge had been diverted around town. When we got back in the bus station we told Matthew he could catch 1 more bus in the direction of Harlescott. he spent a further 20 minutes taking bus photos, the best of which were Tanat Valley 230 and Arriva Midlands 2359.
Tanat valley 230 in Shrewsbury bus station (Matthew)
Arriva Midlands 2359 Leaves Shrewsbury bus station on an #8 service (Matthew)
He chose to catch a #24 to Moston Road. Once again, I used the Arriva map to try and work out which stop to get off at, before the bus turned into a housing estate off the main road north out of Shrewsbury. Once again I got off at the wrong stop (one stop too short!). Mum said she was going to kick me every time we passed a bus stop between where we got off and the car, for making her walk too far. We passed 3, though strictly speaking, only the one stop was on the #24 route...
Mattthew photographed a plastic sheep, a few buses and then barged his way into the bus drivers crew hut at the park & ride. Thankfully they took it in good spirits! :-)
Plastic Sheep, corner of Harlescott Tesco (Matthew)
Arriva Midlands Park & ride 2707 at Harlescott (Matthew)
All that was left was the drive back home... (Mark)
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