Trip to Bolton / Horwich 17-08-2013

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
1873	Bolton BS	Egerton, Blackburn Road/Egerton Post Office (NW-bound)	1	Transdev Lancashire United
1874	Egerton, Blackburn Road/The Globe (SE-bound)‎	Bolton BS	1	Transdev Lancashire United
15570	Bolton BS	Horwich, Church Street/Bridge Inn (W-bound)	125	Stagecoach Lancashire
15573	Horwich, Church Street/Leisure Centre (E-bound)‎‎	Bolton BS	125	Stagecoach Lancashire
15583	Bolton BS	Montserrat, o/s Hse 1126 Chorley Old Road/Montserrat Road‎	125	Stagecoach Lancashire
15575	Montserrat, Chorley Old Rd/Montserrat Rd (SE-bound)‎‎	Bolton BS	125	Stagecoach Lancashire

Today we decided to revisit Bolton. I wasn't sure why he wanted to go to Bolton this week, but given a list of places Matthew chose Bolton. I checked the football fixtures and they weren't playing at home today, they were away at Nottingham Forest. Other research for today consisted of studying the Bolton bus map and checking the weather which was for heavy rain! Matthew got up around 10:00 today. He had a slice of toast and some orange juice for breakfast. We set off around 11:45 today, going via Heron Cross and Fenton to pick up uncle Dave. we saw First Potteries 42726 on the #23A service. We got onto the A500 and we passed Ambassador Coach Travel FN52 HRG going the other way. We got onto the M6 and headed North. There was quite a bit of traffic on the road but it was moving well. We went east on the M62 and then onto the clockwise M60. We did this the short distance to the M61 and then onto the A666. At the edge of town we turned left and headed around to find a car parking space. We parked in a small car park off Deansgate within sight of the bus station. Right by the car park was one of the new buses for First Manchester 67406. It was being used for publicity on Black Horse Street, to demonstrate the quality new buses at First's Bolton depot. Matthew went on board to investigate and he was given a balloon and some stickers. I explained that we weren't local and Matthew like buses. I asked him if we were doing First or Arriva buses today and he said Arriva. That didn't go down too well! In the end as it will be seen he chose neither. I went to take the balloon back to the car and while I was unlocking the car the balloon escaped! Matthew just watched in amusement and said 'bye bye'...Matthew took an arty picture of First Manchester 67406.

First Manchester 67406 in Bolton

We saw 67403 work past on a #501 service and then we headed towards the market to get something to eat. Matthew used the temporary toilets by the market and then we went to eat at the place called the cosy cafe on the outside of the market. Matthew had a breakfast washed down with a bottle of Coke. it was at this point that I realised that I did not have my phone! i had left it on charge at home. This meant no accurate time (I don't wear a watch), no electronic memo to record bus sightings and haulage on, no communication to tell mum when we were done and no checking on which buses we had been on. Mum purchased a notebook and we had a pen and a watch off her. We agreed to meet in the bus station by the news stand at 17:00 unless I called her from a phonebox. We said goodbye and we set off through the bus station. The first ting we saw was Arriva NW&W 4058 was parked up in the bus station. As Matthew had recently done a Transdev bus or two in Blackburn I thought he may want to do one today. So I had looked up how far the bs could be done on a System One ticket, which was Egerton. We saw required Transdev Lancashire United 1873 on a #1 service and I asked Matthew if he wanted to do it and he said yes. He got a picture of it before we got on.

Transdev Lancashire United 1873 in Bolton

As I got on I thought that they might not sell System One tickets with them only visiting Greater Manchester on this service. Luckily they did, so we booked our tickets and sat down near the back. It was a very well used service with most seats being filled on the start of this journey. We set off up the very busy corridor towards Astley Bridge. Most of the other service are operated by Arriva NW&W in this direction. We saw JH Coaches minibus V949 HKW as we climbed the big hill out of Bolton. I looked at the map so we could see how we were progressing along. When we got into town as such we got off and then crossed the road. At the stop we saw there was another hourly service, which turns out is operated by First, but we had just missed that one. The next one back was due at 14:36 and was another #1 service. A few minutes later we saw the bus approaching from down the hill. It got closer and we saw it was required Transdev Lancashire United 1874.

Transdev Lancashire United 1874 in Egerton

We got on and sat down near the back. The inbound service was almost empty, a big contrast to the one we caught up to Egerton. We soon got back into town and when we got back the bus emptied out and Matthew got a picture inside this bus.

Inside Transdev Lancashire United 1874

When we got back we had a bit of a wander around taking bus pictures. We walked over to the Arriva side of the bus station and we took a picture of Arriva NW&W 4058.

Arriva NW&W 4058 in Bolton bus station

We then walked back into one of the middle stands. Arriva NW&W hybrid 4496 was out on the #534 service. I asked Matthew if he wanted to do this and he said no. We took pictures of this bus anyway.

Arriva NW&W 4496 in Bolton bus station

Behind 4496 arrived Stagecoach Lancashire 15570. At this point with no phone we didn't know if it was required. It turned out that it was required. I asked Matthew if he wanted to do this bus and he said yes. He got a picture of the bus and we walked over to it.

Stagecoach Lancashire 15570 in Bolton bus station

We booked to Horwich and went upstairs. The rear of the top deck as empty and Matthew got a picture inside the bus.

Inside Stagecoach Lancashire 15570

The bus set off through town and it started to rain. As we left the bus station we passed First Manchester 33701 on a #501 service. We also passed First Manchester 12001 on a #471 service. We headed up through Brownlow Fold and up over Montserrat Brow. We passed an unusual bus on the #125 which was Stagecoach Lancashire 15839. We then headed down the hill into Horwich. We got off one stop later than we had done on our previous bus because I though that we would have a choice of service. As we got off Matthew took another picture of 15570.

Stagecoach Lancashire 15570 in Horwich

We walked back towards the crossing and the stop back to Bolton. We had got ff too soon again as the only extra service from this stop was the #517 to Leigh. As we were about to cross we spotted and photographed Stagecoach Lancashire 15573 on the Bolton bound service.

Stagecoach Lancashire 15573 in Horwich

We casually walked over the road and the bus was still waiting at the stop. We got on the bus and went upstairs. The back of the bus was empty so Matthew took his picture here.

Inside Stagecoach Lancashire 15573

We sat down and the bus set off back towards Bolton. when we got down to Brownlow Fold we passed 33729 on the #519. we passed the Market Hall and Matthew was looking over at it. A bit further along we saw a distant Arriva DLA which was probably 4058, as it had gone by the time we got back to the bus station. When we got off the bus Matthew decided to walk back to the market hall through very heavy rain! We went up the escalators and down in the lift, and then back up the escalators when we realised where the toilets were! After using the toilet Matthew went into a few shops to say hello to people. He also took a picture of Moss. A new suit is required perhaps...?

Moss inside the Market Hall Bolton

We came out of the Market Hall and headed back towards the bus station. At this point we saw required Arriva NW&W 2565 go by towards Bolton. Matthew decided to say hello to someone and had me running about 200 yards after him as went to catch them up. We stopped at the car briefly on the way back to get a bottle of Irn Bru and to update mum on the current bus situation. By the time we reached the bus station we were all soaked through. Arriva NW&W 4057 arrived in the layover area, parking up where 4058 had been earlier. Required Arriva NW&W MPD 894 had also parked up. Arriva 4496 had returned again and I asked Matthew if he wanted to do it and again he said no. I asked if he wanted to do the stagecoach bus behind and he said yes. It was Stagecoach Lancashire 15583 which I thought might be dud and it turned out to be true.

Stagecoach Lancashire 15583 in Bolton bus station

We got on and sat down upstairs. We had been on this bus before back in June.The bus was quite well filled and as such he didn't get a picture inside. It was now 16:30ish and we knew we couldn't do it very far. as we left the bus station we saw another bendy bus on the #471 service, first Manchester 12010. We decided to do it up to Montserrat so we had a choice of buses to go back to Bolton on. We passed First Manchester 33729 on the #519 so we knew we wouldn't get that bus today. We got off and crossed the road. The next bus back was in around 5 minutes. Both the #125 and the #519 we due at the same time. Stagecoach Lancashire 15575 came first and we decided to do it.

Stagecoach Lancashire 15575 on Montserrat Brow

This bus turned out to be dud too. We had been on 15575 on the same day in June that we had been on 15583. The bus was empty Matthew got his picture straight away.

Inside Stagecoach Lancashire 15575

We headed back into Bolton in an almost empty bus. We got back in no time and we decided to take a few pictures and dodge in and out of the stands to try and avoid getting wet again. One of the picture we got was of First Manchester Bury's 69137 on the #524 service.

First Manchester 69137 in Bolton bus station

We also spotted South Lancs Travel 57 on a #574 service.

South Lancs Travel 57 in Bolton bus station

On the opposite side of the bus station stand was Stagecoach Manchester 36075. We walked back to the car which was now parked by the Job Centre as mum had moved it closer. The newsagents by stand A in the bus station was closed so we had to find somewhere to get lottery tickets. There was a newsagent around the corner so we drove back around the block and parked as close as we legal could It was still raining heavily. I went to get the tickets thinking Matthew wouldn't want to go out again in the heavy rain. I was followed shortly by mum and Matthew and we left uncle Dave in the car. As well as the lottery tickets we bought 2 cans of Coke, and a Galaxy Caramel. Back in the car we headed out of town and onto the A666. visibility was awful, but people were still driving like it was a dry clear day. we got onto the anticlockwise M60 and the matrix sign was flashing to say that the M6 had long delays from junction 21A to junction 19. Having seen this sign I decided to carry on around the M60 down to the M56. We crossed over Manchester ship canal and then passed through Northenden passed the Britannia Hotel, where we had stood waiting for Stagecoach Manchester 19405 to Altrincham back February 2012. We got onto the westbound M56 and then onto the A556 so we could join on the M6 at junction 19. The problem had caused the Northbound A556 to back up too. We sailed down the A556 and onto the M6. We carried on down to the A500 and then onto the A50. At Z carz today there were only 3 buses. First we saw new coach ALZ 8539.

Z Carz ALZ 8539 in Longton

Behind that was airport transfer minibus DL03 HHU.

Z Carz DL03 HHU in Longton

Parked behind DL03 HHU was OV05 WSW. There was nothing in the Willow Row side of the depot and we headed back down Longton Hall Road. We followed First Potteries 40010 on a #22 to Newcastle down through Blurton and we passed First Potteries 53830 on a #23. we got home a little before 19:00. For a late tea Matthew had bangers and mash followed by a choc ice. He then chilled out on his computer before bedtime around 00:00...Mark