Everyone loves the 36 bus. It’s the one that takes us from out in the sticks of Ripon, via Harrogate to Leeds. It’s the one with plush leather seats, 4G wi-fi, USB points at every seat. It’s the one with a book-swap shelf where I always hope to find a new title to enjoy, while bringing in one of my own to swap. And best of all, we old fogeys travel for free on the 66 mile round trip.
Best get to the terminus early though. Everyone’s jockeying for the best seats, the ones at the front of the top deck, where you can watch as the bus drives through the gentle countryside separating Ripon from Harrogate, via Ripley, a village which the 19th century Ingleby family remodelled in the style of an Alsatian village, complete with hôtel de ville. After the elegance of Harrogate and its Stray, there’s Harewood House – shall we spot any deer today? Then shortly after, the suburbs of The Big City, which gradually give way to the mixture of Victorian and super-modern which characterises 21st century Leeds.
We had lots to do in Leeds today (more of that later, much later) and had a very good time being busy there. But much of our fun for the day came from sitting high up in that 36 bus, watching the world go by. For free.
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
Wow wifi?! Buses have changed a lot since I last went on one! I remember the year the town hall was given a clean-up, it was all anyone could talk about, no-one realised what it really looked like as it had been covered in so much soot and grime for so long.
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Ha! The good old days, eh?
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Ps Bookswap, what a great idea!
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It is, though I’m not sure how many people use it.
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Brings back memories of catching the 36 at some silly time in the morning to go to work in Leeds. Then back again in the afternoon. No wifi in those days! Book swap a terrific idea.
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You’ll have to start using it again Penny, like me. I keep forgetting to take my little pile of books put aside for the purpose though 😦
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Ah, but I’ll still be paying for my ticket for a while longer! x
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Oh you young thing, you!
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Your bus system is so different (and better!) than ours! No wonder traveling by bus here is avoided and everyone uses their car all the time. I like the idea of someone else doing the driving and I really like the idea of being on the top deck in the front!
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Not so very much better. Here in our village we have 4 buses a day into Ripon or Richmond, and 4 buses back. Nobody’s allowed out after 6 p.m. and definitely not on Sundays!
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Europeans surely know how to get around in style! I love the idea of a book swap on the bus – we often go by bus when traveling (bus tours) but no double deckers here in the US. 😦 (unless you are in NYC). The US can learn a lot from your transportation service including train travel.
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I think you may be seeing us through rose-coloured spectacles – we’re very far from perfect. Your German roots are the place to look 😉
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Well compared to what we have here Europe is alot more “rosier”. 🙂
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That sounds like a fun bus to travel on. We have no local transport here only dial-a-ride buses (not on Sundays) or taxis. If we walk 4 miles we can get to a main road with a bus service once an hour or if we walk to a village a couple of miles away there is a bus that visits 2 or 3 times a week that takes us to the nearest market towns and then back again. We drive our cars everywhere! I like the idea of a book exchange on the bus. We have those in our churches and in old phone boxes in the villages.
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I LOVE book exchanges in phone boxes! We no longer have a phone box here, or who knows….? Yup, here in the sticks we’re badly served by public transport. We have, on the whole, to drive into Ripon first.
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Nous sommes, nous français, les meilleurs du monde, pourtant nous aurions tant à prendre et apprendre des autres peuples du monde.
Merci Margaret pour ces bonnes nouvelles d’Angleterre, un peu d’exode et d’air frais venus de votre Pays où l’art de vivre semble inscrit dans vos gènes. Un exemple dont nous devrions parfois nous expirer.
Beaucoup de belles promenades et à bientôt de vos nouvelles au travers de ton site.
Bien le bonjour à vous tous …
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MercI! Cette adresse mail je ne connais pas, mais c’est vrai qu’on a des bons souvenirs des années en France, et des bons amis.
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Si Margaret, vous me connaissez et même assez bien !!!… Vous avez en effet avec votre époux passé d’excellents moments en Ariège et nous en votre compagnie.
Nous ne vous serons jamais assez reconnaissants de vos efforts faits, de votre volonté à vous mêler à notre culture, notre langue de Molière dont vous maitrisiez parfaitement l’ usage courant, contrairement à moi même pour votre belle langue.
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Oh, Marcel! Bien sur que c’est toi! Toi que me taquines toujours. Voilà, tu as une autre adresse mail, et pourquoi pas? Mais nous nous demandons quand vous proposez de venir en Angleterre, vous randonneurs de Laroque. Les jours, les semaines, les mois, même les années passent … il faut absolument que vous veniez! Tu comprends 🙂 ? Bises a tout le monde.
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Voila !!! je suis découvert !!! … Pour notre voyage, les derniers tristes événements vous concernant ont quelque peu retardé les préparatifs pour notre traversée de la Manche, qui “devrait” être rediscutée au cours de nos randonnées.
Toutefois Henri et Guylaine randonnent l’été avec Tarascon, nous n’ en parlerons certainement pas avant cet fin d’automne ! … Nous vous teindrons au courant.
Bien le bonjour et vous toutes & tous et bon courage à vous.
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Merci … et a bientôt??
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