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Bus Trippers Photos Jan-Jun 2018

Carisbroke Castle, IOW - Sat 2nd June 2018

Wow! The IOW hovercraft is definitely from the 21st century. Very smooth and much quieter than the old ones. The ticket buying system, however, is still clunkingly and mind-numbingly slow. Luckily, Bus trippers unfailingly take this sort of thing in their stride. This is just as well because our Bus trips nearly always have elements of unpredictability about them. Getting from Ryde to Carisbroke was easy-peasy but where was the castle? Someone spotted a pathway and we set off. What we hadn't remembered was that castles tend to be on hills, so conversation was put on hold as we wheezed and creaked our way upwards. There was an opportunity to collect our breath while staff searched in vain for our booking before finally admitting us on our paper copy. After a very pleasant couple of hours exploring, we headed back downhill for the bus to Sandown where a paddle in the sea, (declared balmy by some and barmy by one), was followed by a walk along the prom and high tea. A very pleasant day trip to the seaside, and not a knotted hankie in sight.


Restaurant 64, Chichester College - Fri 11th May 2018

College training restaurants can occasionally be a little iffy but not this one. Very nice surroundings, excellent service, good to outstanding food and drink, and very reasonably priced at 2 courses for £10 and 3 courses for £12.50. The watercress soup with croutons was delicious, while the vacherin meringue with strawberries and shortbread biscuits was out of this world. We will return. Probably quite often.


Scenic route to Petworth - Fri 4th May 2018

A six-bus trip is always a bit of an ask but the beautiful scenery of the Compass 99 bus route on a glorious sunny day, made it all worthwhile. Just time for a leisurely lunch in Petworth and a ferret around a charity shop or two before returning on a slightly different, but still fabulous, route of the flexible 99. Even the Friday afternoon snail-speed Chichester traffic and the non-appearance of the No 37 didn't dampen our spirits (too much).


Organ Recital, Chichester Cathedral - Tues 24th April 2018

Bus tripping may not normally be associated with culture vulturing, but we're always up for something different. The free, summer lunchtime Tuesday concerts provided an ideal opportunity. Following a pleasant repast in the Cloisters Cafe, we settled into our seats in the cathedral and were entertained by the Assistant Organist for 50 minutes with 5 pieces of music by Mozart, Franck, Bruhns and Bach. All well and good. But to finish, we had Edward Picton-Turbervill. Who? Well, he was born in 1993 so he's still alive and his Pentolaccia was definitely a highlight. It was described as a musical interpretation of the bashing of a piñata by a group of small children in order to release the sweets inside. It must have involved every muscle and bone in the organist's hands, arms and torso flying over the organ keys and stops while his legs and feet danced over and across and up and down the wooden pedals. No wonder he wore dancing shoes. Exhausting! Exciting!


Boulevard Restaurant, East Wittering - Mon 9th April 2018

"Do you ever do a rekkie?" was the question and "No" was the answer. Without a sense of trepidation and adventure, we wouldn't have half as much fun. So, with any new bus route, there is always the query over which side of the road we need to be on, and occasionally, just where is the bus stop?

We have been to Chichester bus station many times but never knew that one of its bus stops was around the back so, when the driver of the 52 kept patiently gesticulating this information, naturally all 19 of us were convinced he had lost his marbles. Eventually, accepting that he wasn't going to allow us to board, and on a mission to prove him wrong, we traipsed round to the back to be met by the number 52 bus stop, and 20 minutes later by the very same driver.

As the Boulevard Restaurant does not accept bookings, there was further excitement as we wondered if we would all get in. Luckily, we arrived just after 12noon and the tables they had very kindly discouraged others from taking, were still available. The unanimous verdict on this establishment was that it was well run, had lovely staff, and served jolly decent food at extremely reasonable prices. We will return.


White Swan + Arts & Craft Centre, Bosham - Tues 13th March 2018

Who doesn't love the British weather? Well, most of us, most of the time but on this occasion, 26 Bus trippers were able to enjoy not only the indoorsy bit of eating, drinking and chatting, but also the outdoorsy side of walking, sightseeing and waiting, thanks to a gloriously sunny day.


Titanic Museum, Southampton - Thurs 8th March

Bus tripping is of course centred around travelling by bus but just occasionally, the rules are bent a bit to make the trip a little more do-able. By sharing lifts to Portchester, nine Bus trippers cut out 2 buses and were able to make an earlier start to arrive at West Quay at 10.58am. Hoorah! Mary and Lena commented:

"Driving to Portchester certainly made the morning trip easy. The X4 bus was on time. The walk to the museum was straightforward and we started with a quick coffee break. The gallery was well presented and concentrated on the Titanic's links with Southampton. Quite a long bus journey but generally worthwhile."

"I sat and watched the trial which was set in a courtroom. You could sit and watch from the side. They even had the judge's seat and table. The film was superimposed on the wall, with files opening and closing."


Cream tea at Barnards - Wed 21st Feb 2018

Bus tripping 2018 kicked off gently with a visit to Barnards in Denmead on a gloriously warm and sunny early Spring day. Any thoughts of a New Year diet went straight out of the window as we tucked in to delicious freshly-baked scones and lashings of cream and jam, washed down with cafetieres of coffee or pots of tea. Our sparkling conversation completed the happy picture. However, a rude awakening befell us when we stepped back outside to find the temperature had dropped by at least 10 degrees and we'd just missed a bus. Bus tripping - sometimes it's a resilience thing.

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