Wednesday 31 August 2011

Mystery bus trip

Another group I belong to is called The Weekly Wind Up. Membership is free! They meet at a pub in South East England every Thursday evening, usually at least one mild ale is available.  Occasionally a bus is required to get to the pub.
On Thursday 25th July the meeting was a mystery bus to a mystery pub. All I knew was it would be departing Sevenoaks station at 1830. I arrived at Sevenoaks station about 1715 and walked up the hill to Wetherspoons pub. The best thing about this pub for me was the name ‘The Sennockian’. The only guest beer was Hogs Back HBB which was okay.
Soon it was time to head back to the station to see what the mystery bus. An ex Malta bus no less. I later learned that the owner had spent about a year restoring this bus and it looked excellent. I climbed aboard and after leaving 10 minutes late to wait for someone who had got the wrong train, we headed off.

Our destination turned out to be the Padwell in the village of Stone Street. My beer of choice for the evening was Tonbridge – Ebony Moon. The pub had only re-opened about 3 weeks previously but was looking good, although they still had work to do. I didn’t take photos of the pub inside but took some photos of the bus outside the pub. All in all a great evening out and my first trip on a Maltese bus.

Outside Sevenoaks station






2 comments:

  1. This is the 2nd time I have typed this the first getting lost in the registration process grrrr.
    Excellent blog Ian and a great idea.
    It's a shame that all the buses on the island have now stopped due to the EU emissions law. All the buses were owner driver operations with the routes being divvied up at a fortnightly meeting by a workers co-operative. Now all the routes are run by Arriva Spain and their light green livery.
    Some of the buses were in superb condition and I wonder if any will end up in England.
    When I retire hopefully in about 15 months I hope to make a regular appearance on the wind ups.
    Tony Lea

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  2. Thanks for the comments. Am now working on my recent week in NW England.

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