Autumn 2021 : Bus Passes at the Ready - East of England

This was our first Big Bus Trip - and we decided to go to the English East Coast back in September 2021. September of that year was a couple of months after all the legal Covid restrictions had been lifted in England (19th July 2021) so it was a chance to stretch our legs a little.

It was never going to be a pure bus trip because to get to our intended start & finish points (Cleethorpes & York) we needed to use trains - but we have a Disabled Rail Pass between us. As you will see below we also did one hop by car as well.

We set off on a Wednesday by train to Cleethorpes by way of Sheffield, This should have been easy but for some log forgotten reason the train was terminated short at Chesterfield and we ended up on a cramped Northern Rail service the rest of the way. The rest of the journey by TransPennine was trouble free - through the fields of North Lincolnshire and past the post-capitalist ruins of Scunthorpe & Grimsby.

We may had been to Cleethorpes before but it wasn't familiar. It's a lovely English seaside town with everything needed for a family holiday - there's even a narrow gauge railway!

After a couple of nights in Cleethorpes we went by train to Barton on Humber where I made the mistake of misjudging the distance between the station and the Humber Bridge viewing point - it was fine for me, but was several steps too far for my wife. We got the bus from Barton over the Humber Bridge to Hull (or Kingston on Hull to use its Sunday Name) - a very interesting ride.

Hull was a bit of a mixed bag for us. We had a nice central hotel, but eating out was a problem - we went to a Chinese restaurant (after seeing the crowd of police outside Weatherspoons) one night which was dreadful, and had a posh meal the next. The posh meal was a pre-theatre dinner before we went to see 'School of Rock' at one of the local theatres. Before the theatre we'd been to the transport museum which was well worthwhile, but again a lot of walking.

On the Sunday we went to Bridlington. This involved a train (packed solid) to Beverley - which is a great little town. My wife met the Lady Mayor at the Minster (sadly not by appointment - just a chance meeting). We had lunch al-fresco in the town and waited at the bus station for the bus that took us onwards.

My memories of Bridlington are clouded by the fire-trap that we had booked. It's not often that I feel unsafe in holiday accommodation, but I reported this place to the local Fire Service.

The bus trip was a bit of a trip down memory lane as we'd spent holidays as a family in places like Primrose Valley many years previous.

We had a small house to ourselves in Filey which worked really well. We were met by our daughter who had driven up to Filey and was staying with us. This was an excuse for a posh Afternoon Tea at a clifftop hotel. We were driven by her on to Scarborough for a night in a room over a pub. Our daughter drove back home the next day leaving us to continue our journey on our own. We'd been to Scarborough quite recently before this trip which was why we only stayed one night.

From Scarborough we went by bus, initially to Robin Hoods Bay and then on to Whitby. The original plan was to walk down into the village at Robin Hoods Bay but sense prevailed and we had a nice lunch in the tea rooms at the top of the hill and looked at the views from there.

The bus trip between Scarborough & Whitby is very scenic and well worth doing for the journey alone.

Whitby, again, is somewhere that we must have been to before but had no memories of!

It's a strange place - lots of interesting bits, but no coherence! The steam railway has a station there, there's the ruined abbey and the fishing port. We were staying in a hotel on top of the hill - and of course - it's a long way up! We eventually worked out the bus services. The abbey and the views are impressive. We were blessed with excellent weather during our stay (as with most of this trip).

From Whitby we were definitely stepping into the unknown! We go the bus to Saltburn (another place with a bloody great hill) where the funicular railway was out of action - but as compensation we saw quite a few people dressed up for a Steampunk weekend. Saltburn pier is very nice.

Going on to Redcar - my memory is hazy but I'm pretty sure we used the bus, but I have a strong memory of the terminus station at Saltburn as well.

Redcar is a curious town - a seaside place that in 2021 was trying hard to attract visitors. It was clean & pleasant along the front, but rundown and unwelcoming away from the sea. It's a town that has also suffered from the decline of industry and the neglect that follows. It's got a great beach and a lot going for it - I hope it succeeds to reinvent itself in the years to come. We stayed in a curious hotel that didn't quite know what it was - comfortable enough but not quite 'professional'. Still, it was only for the two nights.

We left Redcar by train - once we'd worked out which of the two platforms we were meant to be on! This train took us on to York.

York was busy & bustling in the heat of September. Far too many tourists in the daytime, but the evenings were pleasant. We spent quite a lot of time sitting and people watching! We'd booked a very good, rather expensive, hotel to round off our journey and were thoroughly disappointed. Our room - although it overlooked the river - was small; the food offering in the hotel was meagre, and the majority of other guests were coach parties (who tend to clump together and make a lot of noise) - what's more there was nowhere to quietly relax in the hotel.

To get back home we travelled by train again. This involved a simple change at Sheffield again - and this time was trouble free.

It was a thoroughly good trip, and we learned a few things that we have incorporated into our later journeys (not least - check the walking distances!)