600 on the 159 (or some of it at least)

Dave Sheppard at the wheel

The highlight of my day was a trip on 672COD on the 159. As with may of the trips you had to be quite forceful to get a seat on her as there must have been at least 50 people wanting one of her 30 seats.

Typical of the narrow lanes and sharp corners along the route down to Beesands. We actually had a twenty minute stand off with us and 275KTA just ahead of us, and a black Mercedes car and a Tally Ho coach that couldnt / wouldnt move. This put us well behind schedule so we had to leave out several stops along the way which was a real shame.

We did eventually get down to Beesands where we meet up with our old friend 275KTA

the two buses proving quite popular with the photographers

Another quick photo stop at East Prawle

Next stop was just before South Pool where we were asked to decamp and walk down to the village leaving an empty 672COD to follow us down the steep hill

 

the very pleasant scene awaiting us when we got there. To be honest it was such a lovely day the walk down the hill was a welcome bit of adventure!

 

672COD finally arriving safely at the bottom of the hill

A lovely little bus dwarfed by a big tree, ready to take us back to Kingsbridge so David could get a cuppa tea and a short rest before going back out again on another trip.

The whole day owes such a lot to the many owners for the hours (and pounds!) they spend working on their buses and the drivers who seemed to enjoy the challenge of driving buses down such incredibly narrow lanes. I may be wrong but I suspect that 672COD along with most of the other buses in use on the day don't have power steering!

Thanks to those who have sent in pictures from the day. Thanks to a Virgin internet breakdown earlier this evening I have not had chance to process them yet but there will be more posts on Kingsbridge to follow over the next day or two.