Not a bus rally but, a Park & Ride service! There is very little parking at Avon Valley Railway’s Bitton Station and the situation is exacerbated by cyclists using the small public car park leading to the station entrance as a starting point for rides along the popular Bristol/Bath Railway Path (Route 4 of the National Cycle Network). For an event like Days Out With Thomas the AVR provides extra parking. The original nearby field used for many years with a bus link run by Kelvin Amos and friends, including the Badgerline Enthusiasts Group, is no longer sufficient for the visitor numbers so the service was based at Bristol City Council's Brislington Park and Ride site this year.

Bus services operated between Bristol and Bitton Station via Keynsham, passing but not stopping at Keynsham mainline station and the village of Willsbridge. A good old fashioned country bus style route along lanes with interesting hills and bends ending in a 360° swing round a mini-roundabout to enter the station’s angled entrance road. The significance of approaching slowly in the left-hand lane with the right turn indicator on seemed lost on certain motorists who accelerated into the path of the oncoming bus causing much harsher braking than is really kind to these old ladies. The difficulty of turning left into or right out of Bitton Station called for the 360° manoeuvre to be repeated on the return leg to Brislington.

Click on a number plate in the left hand frame to see notes about the buses involved. Building on my success displaying “my” Silver Bus at Bristol Harbourside in May and the disappointment of being a spectator at West Somerset Railway’s Bishops Lydeard Steam Fayre I finally got to do some old fashioned heritage bus driving. My impressions or excuses for not driving are included in the notes.